Wild accusations sound familiar

Vernos Branco, Las Vegas

Friday, Aug. 17, 2012 | 2:02 a.m.

Republican Reps. Michele Bachmann, Trent Franks, Louie Gohmert, Tom Rooney and Lynn Westmoreland have gone off the deep end by requesting that fellow citizens within the government be investigated, claiming they are connected to the Muslim Brotherhood. Their claim is based on rumors generated over the Internet. Odd as it may sound, Bachmann, Rooney and Westmoreland sit on the House Intelligence Committee.

You can’t be anymore un-American than accusing other Americans of being unpatriotic.

The last time this country endured this type of insanity, many innocent Americans had their lives destroyed by rumor and innuendo. This was accomplished by a buffoon representing Wisconsin, Sen. Joe McCarthy.

McCarthy had gone as far as accusing the United States Army leadership of cooperating with or being Communists. McCarthy was censured, ending his career.

I know some will say the Venona Project was proof of espionage in the United States, but there was no evidence produced to prosecute suspects, according to former FBI Assistant Director Alan H. Belmont.

Information at best was ambiguous and, as the late attorney William Kunstler pointed out, unverifiable, just as it is with the loose accusations thrown about by Michele Bachmann and her cohorts.