Another letter has been sent to the secretary of the Army, demanding answers about training slides labeling pro-lifers as terrorists — and this time, disturbing information was revealed about just how long soldiers have been receiving this inappropriate training.
Photos of a slide shown to soldiers at Fort Liberty in North Carolina were recently leaked; the slides portrayed National Right to Life and Operation Rescue as potential terrorist groups. Bullet points on the slide said being “anti-abortion” and “Pro Life,” as well as opposing “Row v Wade [sic]” were potential indications of terrorist ideations. The slide contained various examples of pro-life advocacy, like demonstrations, protests, life chains, “the truth display” (displaying photos of abortion victims), and more. Counseling at pregnancy centers and on sidewalks was also mentioned, and the slide even included pro-life license plates.
An anti-terrorism brief was held on Fort Liberty (Bragg) today where they listed several Pro-Life organizations as “terrorist organizations.”
The slide you see here followed right after a slide about ISIS, a terror group in the Middle East.
The organizations labeled by the… pic.twitter.com/vlO6XjyGzE
— Shoe (@samosaur) July 11, 2024
A letter, dated July 12, from the House Armed Services Committee was sent to Army Secretary Christine Wormuth; another letter was likewise sent to Wormuth on that date, spearheaded by Senators James Lankford and Ted Budd, and signed by over 50 members of Congress. Both letters demanded answers to lists of questions, with a reply required no later than July 29th.
“The American public expects the Department of Defense and its personnel to defend the homeland from actual terrorists, not Americans who seek protections for children in the womb. Labeling Pro-Life organizations as threats challenges servicemembers’ moral obligation to defend and protect even the smallest among us. In fact, around half of all Americans identify as Pro-Life,” the letter said.
It continued:
It is no wonder that the Army is struggling to recruit young men and women to join its ranks when it appears the service attacks their values and promotes a woke agenda rather than improving readiness and lethality.
We understand that the anti-terrorism slide was in fact briefed to a group of soldiers as recently as July 10th. What is unclear is how long these slides have been utilized at Ft. Liberty and whether similar briefings have been used at other installations.
We also understand from a statement released by Ft. Liberty that these slides were not vetted by appropriate approval authorities.
In a follow-up tweet, however, Budd disclosed disturbing information: this biased and outrageous ‘training’ has been going on for at least seven years.
In response to our letter, the Army Secretary disclosed that the training slides labeling pro-life Americans as terrorists have been used for at least 7 years.
Totally outrageous and unacceptable.
The Army must fully renounce this attack on pro-life Americans and conduct a full… pic.twitter.com/XWnzOyJ07p
— Senator Ted Budd (@SenTedBuddNC) July 18, 2024
“In response to our letter, the Army Secretary disclosed that the training slides labeling pro-life Americans as terrorists have been used for at least 7 years,” Budd said. “Totally outrageous and unacceptable. The Army must fully renounce this attack on pro-life Americans and conduct a full investigation to ensure similar materials aren’t being used at other installations.”
The letter from members of Congress demanded answers to the following questions, which were not identical to the questions sent by the House Armed Services Committee:
- Is it official Army policy to identify Pro-Life Americans and Pro-Life Organizations as “terrorist groups”?
- How long have these slides been briefed to soldiers and how many soldiers have been briefed with these slides?
- What is the current process by which the Army reviews anti-terrorism training materials disseminated on Army bases?
- Who are the appropriate approval authorities charged with vetting training materials disseminated to soldiers across the Army?
- What action is the Army taking to investigate the distribution of training materials depicting Pro-Life Americans as terrorists?
- What statutes or Army regulations were potentially violated and what action is the Army taking with regard to any offending employee?
- Will you commit to an installation-by-installation review to ensure that these or similar materials are not being disseminated elsewhere and that Army anti-terrorism training aligns with DoD anti-terrorism standard guidance and training?
- Will you commit, in writing, that these slides will no longer be used and all future training materials reviewed will align with current DoD anti-terrorism guidance?
