Extremists in the Military
http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelre****t/article.jsp?aid=664
Forty members of Congress wrote U.S. Secretary of Defense
Donald Rumsfeld in late July, asking that he launch an
investigation into racist extremists in the military and
discharge soldiers involved in racist activities or groups.
The letter (PDF) came in reaction to an Intelligence Re****t
investigation revealing that large numbers of extremists had
infiltrated the armed forces in recent years by taking
advantage of recruiting standards that were relaxed due to wartime
manpower shortages.
In the letter, which cited the re****t entitled "A Few Bad Men,"
the congressmen urged Rumsfeld to "implement the recommendations of
the Southern Poverty Law Center to adopt a zero-tolerance policy
when it comes to white supremacy and other forms of racist ...
extremism in the military." The letter was initiated by Democratic
congressmen Elliot Engel of New York and Artur Davis of Alabama.
The 40 signers represented 20 states around the country.
The re****t was initially released on the Internet on July 7 and generated
a flurry of media attention, including stories in The New York Times
and other major venues. It was also the cover story in the Re****t's
Summer 2006 issue.
Separately, U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby, Republican of Alabama,
also urged Rumsfeld to adopt and enforce a zero-tolerance policy.
"Military extremists present an elevated threat both to their
fellow service members and the public," Shelby wrote (PDF).
"We witnessed with Timothy McVeigh that today's racist extremist
may become tomorrow's domestic terrorist. Of all the institutions
in our society, the U.S. military is the absolute last place
extremists can be permitted to exist."
Another response to the Re****t's investigation came from the president
and three senior advisors of VoteVets.org, a nonpartisan political action
committee of veterans of the war in Iraq. The group wrote Senate
Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner to call for
"immediate hearings to examine the impact of low recruiting standards
in the military." The veterans of Operation Iraqi Freedom --
two Democrats and two Republicans — added, "We cannot overstate the
corrosive effect ... lowered standards have on our military.
They are hurting readiness, morale, and unit cohesion by allowing
criminals and skinheads to permeate the ranks."
When the re****t was first released, Richard Cohen,
president of the Southern Poverty Law Center, which publishes
the Intelligence Re****t, wrote Rumsfeld to request a zero-tolerance
policy toward extremists and a study of the level of extremism in the
military.
No response had arrived as of twelve weeks later.
Since the re****t's release, the Intelligence Re****t has continued to
track neo-Nazis online who claim to be active duty military personnel.
One such person, who identifies himself as 18-year-old Marine
infantryman Jeremy Arnold from Coral Springs, Fla., also uses the
online alias "Skin Diesel." He says he is a member of an online network
of nearly 100 neo-Nazis claiming to belong to an underground
organization called the American Society for Aryan Preservation.
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Cindy Sheehan can claim her son
died alongside America's "Best of the Best"?
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