This is just what we need, ultra right-wing extremists enlisting in our military and getting training on how to kill effectively. Let's spend taxpayer dollars to train these extremists so they can be even better at killing citizens who are minorities.
This is part of what the Department of Homeland Security Report was trying to warn us about that the conservatives got so pissed off about.
— (U//LES) DHS/I&A has concluded that white supremacist lone wolves pose the most
significant domestic terrorist threat because of their low profile and autonomy—separate from
any formalized group—which hampers warning efforts.
Now our military has been allowing these white supremacists to entry the US Army. These people are being trained to destroy what the Army is supposed to be protecting.
From Salon:
Neo-Nazis are in the Army now
June 15, 2009 | On a muggy Florida evening in 2008, I meet Iraq War veteran Forrest Fogarty in the Winghouse, a little bar-restaurant on the outskirts of Tampa, his favorite hangout. He told me on the phone I would recognize him by his skinhead. Sure enough, when I spot a white guy at a table by the door with a shaved head, white tank top and bulging muscles, I know it can only be him.At 15, Fogarty moved with his dad to Tampa, where he started picking fights with groups of black kids at his new high school. "On the first day, this bunch of niggers, they thought I was a racist, so they asked, 'Are you in the KKK?'" he tells me. "I said, 'Yeah,' and it was on." Soon enough, he was expelled.
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..... the military ran in Fogarty's family. His grandfather had served during World War II, Korea and Vietnam, and his dad had been a Marine in Vietnam. At 22, Fogarty resolved to follow in their footsteps. "I wanted to serve my country," he says.
Army regulations prohibit soldiers from participating in racist groups, and recruiters are instructed to keep an eye out for suspicious tattoos. Before signing on the dotted line, enlistees are required to explain any tattoos. At a Tampa recruitment office, though, Fogarty sailed right through the signup process. "They just told me to write an explanation of each tattoo, and I made up some stuff, and that was that," he says. Soon he was posted to Fort Stewart in Georgia, where he became part of the 3rd Infantry Division.
Fogarty's ex-girlfriend, intent on destroying his new military career, sent a dossier of photographs to Fort Stewart. The photos showed Fogarty attending white supremacist rallies and performing with his band, Attack. "They hauled me before some sort of committee and showed me the pictures," Fogarty says. "I just denied them and said my girlfriend was a spiteful bitch." He adds: "They knew what I was about. But they let it go because I'm a great soldier."
In 2003, Fogarty was sent to Iraq. For two years he served in the military police, escorting officers, including generals, around the hostile country. He says he was granted top-secret clearance and access to battle plans. Fogarty speaks with regret that he "never had any kill counts." But he says his time in Iraq increased his racist resolve.
"I hate Arabs more than anybody, for the simple fact I've served over there and seen how they live," he tells me. "They're just a backward people. Them and the Jews are just disgusting people as far as I'm concerned. Their customs, everything to do with the Middle East, is just repugnant to me."
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The lax regulations have also opened the military's doors to neo-Nazis, white supremacists and gang members — with drastic consequences. Some neo-Nazis have been charged with crimes inside the military, and others have been linked to recruitment efforts for the white right. A recent Department of Homeland Security report, "Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment," stated: "The willingness of a small percentage of military personnel to join extremist groups during the 1990s because they were disgruntled, disillusioned, or suffering from the psychological effects of war is being replicated today." Many white supremacists join the Army to secure training for, as they see it, a future domestic race war. Others claim to be shooting Iraqis not to pursue the military's strategic goals but because killing "hajjis" is their duty as white militants.
Soldiers' associations with extremist groups, and their racist actions, contravene a host of military statutes instituted in the past three decades. But during the "war on terror," U.S. armed forces have turned a blind eye on their own regulations. A 2005 Department of Defense report states, "Effectively, the military has a 'don't ask, don't tell' policy pertaining to extremism. If individuals can perform satisfactorily, without making their extremist opinions overt … they are likely to be able to complete their contracts."
We are effectively cutting our own throats by allowing white supremacists and other extremists to enter our military services. This needs to stop, and stop now!
There is much more to this story. It is well worth it to read the entire article.
Go here to read the rest.
25 comments:
I find it highly offensive that a neo-Nazi, skinhead, white-supremacist, know-nothing, pea-brain would be accepted into our military to fight a war to supposedly protect my "freedom." I want to be protected from people like him! He's the type who dismisses any thoughts I may have about freedom by responding that he "protected" me. BS! We need protection from murdering bastards like him.
Nancy - I have the same concerns that you have.
According to Army regulations, no one from any hate group, such as white supremacists, are not supposed to be allowed into the service.
They are ignoring their own regulations by taking these people in.
They're probably letting them in due to all the wars we're currently fighting in (Iraq, Afganistan, border patrols, secret missions, etc). Maybe there's just not enough warm bodies now to join the military - thanks to the Bush admin. In the meantime, I'm still offended and do not want people like him defending our honor.
Nancy - I think it's pretty stupid to be sending someone like that to one of those countries. We're trying to fix the problems that people like this have created over there, not make it worse.
As far as I'm concerned, we don't need anyone like this in any branch of our military. This doesn't help with how the rest of the world views us.
To have armies and to fight unnecessary wars are against my philosophy in the first place. To have scary individuals, such as the Neo-Nazi's in the army adds salt to the injury....
I agree with you Nancy. Who exactly will protect us from them?
OMFG! But patriotic gays aren't allowed. Fuck me!
Nevin - Once these Neo-Nazis get out of the service, I guess it's going to be up to the FBI, Federal Marshals, and local law enforcement to protect us....and we all know how well that has worked in the past.
This is nothing new. The show "Gangland" on The History Channel did an episode on white supremacists and neo-Nazis in the military a year or two ago.
As long as they don't have any swastikas or white power tattoos that show in short sleeves, it's OK.
Riot Kitty - You got it!
They won't let patriotic gays in because they don't want any "damn perverts" in uniform.
But they'll willingly take in people who they know want to kill other Americans because of their sexual orientation, the color of their skin, their political affiliation, their religious beliefs, or their views about abortion.
Gordon - It's still bullshit! That's all we need to be doing. Training home-grown extremists to kill Americans.
@Riot Kitty - We can't have gay people in the military. I mean, imagine how weak we would look to the rest of the world.
I'm sorry but our military has an image to uphold.
Phuck Politics - Well they're doing a pretty goddamn shitty job of upholding that image by taking in these fucking assholes!
Who else would go willingly these days?
Other than the poor looking to make big money there, of course.
This is just what we need, ultra right-wing extremists enlisting in our military and getting training on how to kill effectively.
Thanks for covering this. It needs to be broadcast constantly in blogtopia!
S
Gangs have been putting members into the military for decades, the thing is they are usually not readily identifiable...call them sleepers if you like, they are there to learn military tactics so that they can bring their knowledge back to their gang. These are people who have been groomed for this "mission." We are not talking about people with swastikas tattooed on their foreheads, or anywhere else, we are talking about young Americans, they all look clean cut after they get that boot camp crew cut. Just remember, the people in the military are just people, each one of them with a different reason for joining, not all of them good, patriotic reasons.
Sidhe - That may very well be true.
If you follow the link and read the rest of the article and see the picture of the guy in the story, you'll see that he didn't look like, or act like, a clean cut American kid.
Suzan - Even if there aren't a lot willing to go that doesn't mean we need to allow these extremists in.
Ed, the Army needs warm bodies and is getting less and less particular about where they find them. Of course it's not right, but it's the way it is.
The 'clean-cut kids' are getting less and less willing to be turned into killers and perhaps die in the service of a lie.
Go google up 'Project 100,000' and read about their solution to a manpower shortage in years past.
Gordon - I understand what you're saying. But why prep these white supremacists to help them do the dirty deeds they want to do to the rest of us?
This "volunteer" military is, predictably, growing more and more alienated from the People it is supposed to serve.
Along with the racists and the white supremacists, there's also a growing strain of religious apocalypticalism.
These wars are having their dewsired effect: identifying the soldiers who will shoot, no matter the target, if they are ordered to.
I'm with Woody Of The Really Long Handle. We need a draft again, or as it is more popularly called now, National Service, with both a civilian and a military component. If we had a citizen army like we used to, with kids from a wider spectrum of society, things like Iraq would create an uproar and likely wouldn't happen. Their parents wouldn't let it unless there was a real need, which there rarely is.
@Grandpa Eddie - You're right. We need to enlist more convicted felons in order to balance the scales.
Woody & Gordon - I think maybe we should go back to the draft so we have the type of Army we are supposed to have....a civilian Army instead of a professional one.
Of course, if the last few Rethuglican administrations hadn't been so gung-ho on war, we wouldn't be in this predicament.
Phuck Politics - That's not the answer either.
Now it appears that our government is enabling these racists in their causes, by allowing them in the military. In my deepest imaginings, there have always been the racist factor in the military - for those who have served in foreign countries and wars, there are many who come back with the "gook" mentality. After the Vietnam war, I heard that word so much I wanted to smack someone. A scary scenario is in play here.
themom - Yes, racism has always been a part of the military, and I thought was at it's worst during and post Vietnam....I guess I was wrong. Taking these people into the military, and sending them somewhere other than Western Europe, has only increased their racist rage.
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