July 7, 2006

At least they're keeping out the gays!

From today's New York Times:

Hate Groups Are Infiltrating the Military, Group Asserts

A decade after the Pentagon declared a zero-tolerance policy for racist hate groups, recruiting shortfalls caused by the war in Iraq have allowed "large numbers of neo-Nazis and skinhead extremists" to infiltrate the military, according to a watchdog organization.

[snip]

"We've got Aryan Nations graffiti in Baghdad," the group quoted a Defense Department investigator as saying in a report to be posted today on its Web site, www.splcenter.org. "That's a problem."

[snip]

The report quotes Scott Barfield, a Defense Department investigator, saying, "Recruiters are knowingly allowing neo-Nazis and white supremacists to join the armed forces, and commanders don't remove them from the military even after we positively identify them as extremists or gang members." [Emphasis mine]

[snip]

An article in the National Alliance magazine Resistance urged skinheads to join the Army and insist on being assigned to light infantry units.

[snip]

"Light infantry is your branch of choice because the coming race war and the ethnic cleansing to follow will be very much an infantryman's war," he wrote. "It will be house-to-house, neighborhood-by-neighborhood until your town or city is cleared and the alien races are driven into the countryside where they can be hunted down and 'cleansed.' "

He concluded: "As a professional soldier, my goal is to fill the ranks of the United States Army with skinheads. As street brawlers, you will be useless in the coming race war. As trained infantrymen, you will join the ranks of the Aryan warrior brotherhood."

12 comments:

  1. mcviegh was in the service too. geez, our tax money going to train home grown terrorists and the government is still having hissys over gays!

    i support the southern poverty law center. i read their magazine and it is a wake up call!

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  2. Yeah, but just beliving something is not a crime. "Knowlingly recruiting" is a double edged sword. If skinhead recruits engage in illegal practises they should be prosecuted (and by the way, military justice is not nearly as kind as the civilian kind). Maybe being in the military will open the eyes of some racists, in much the same way that integrating the army in the 1950's paved the way for the Civil Rights movement. Just because the New York Times gets all aflutter don't mean there's real smoke there (to mix metaphors...)

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  3. Ed -

    The problem is a lack of unit cohesion and the risk of incidents like these back in 1972.

    The idea that combat can open the eyes of racists is a stretch. With guys on their second and third tours and a lack of help with PTSD, adding this to mix is risky and dangerous. Any CO will tell you that all you are asking for trouble. It’s not just the unit but also those on the ground we are supposed to be helping.

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  4. DJ, yeah, there are certainly problems with racists organizing to join the military. You bring up one it would have taken me a while to come up, the unfortunate tactical effect on small units.
    I will say that what I was reacting to was the sort of strategic view the Times article was taking. By repeating the rhetoric of the skinheads about joining light infantry to be more useful in the coming race war, I think the Times was implicitly making the skinheads seem more dangerous on that strategic level. My thought was that some fraction of skinheads would come out the other side of their tour with different views. It’s hard for me to imagine a better method of exposing skinheads to new ideas than for them to have rely on African Americans to watch their backs, while the skinheads are similarly expected to protect other members of their platoon.
    The light infantry thing strikes me as particularly ironic. As I understand it, Rumsfeld wants to use light infantry as the army’s new primary fighting tool. Encouraging skinheads to sign up with the light infantry might result in their being less skinheads.
    Ed

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  5. you know it strikes me as an odd coincidence that the army just relaxed(or at least i heard they did) their prohibition on certain tattoos, size and placement. makes me wonder now.ever see how many skinheads have?

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  6. sherry what the hell do you care? you are a god damm lesbian anyway.

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  7. honey lamb, i'm not a lesbian, tho i have gay friends, always have, bet you do too only you don't know it!

    i'm a mother and a grandmother and nope, thus far, i'm still majorly attracted to guys(guys with a brain and a sense of humor and some manners)actually, my sex life isn't anyone's concern but mine.

    but, even if i was , what would that have to do with my political views? just curious.

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  8. Maria, you're just rabid about politics, aren't you?

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  9. What? No comments on the "story" that has been circulating that Bush stole the Mexican election? You guys are so slow.

    I can't wait to see your take on this one.

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  10. Wow, speaking of closeted types......Braden wants all of you to pay attention to his lastest blog rant: 'Newsmax' has made up a story about the Mexican election.

    Maybe the Army wife will visit your site and read your crap Braden.
    Boo hoo no one leaves me love notes on my Star Trek Jim Quinn wannabe hate site!

    Anon #2

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  11. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  12. Again, any comment where one person calls another person here an expletive will be deleted.

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