Photo Credit: Metro PoliceNASHVILLE, Tenn.- A retired ATF agent who headed up the agency's Nashville office took to the Internet and blasted the three-day "terrorism training" workshop arranged by Rutherford County Sheriff Robert Arnold for his deputies.
The workshop was put on by a member of the Virginia-based Strategic Engagement Group, a known anti-Islam organization. The instructor has also been quoted as saying that Muslims do not have a First Amendment right to do anything.
In a blog posted for the Southern Poverty Law Center, A-T-F special agent Jim Cavanaugh criticized Arnold's decision to schedule the training, saying:
"...he should reconsider his position here and think deeply about what it means to train law enforcement officers to violate the civil rights of certain Americans...He chose as a trainer a man who apparently wants to teach hatred, someone who would legitimize bigotry and the demonization of the world's one-point-three billion Muslims."
Special Agent Cavanaugh worked firebombings at both the Islamic Center of Nashville, and the Islamic Center of Columbia.
