Some active-duty soldiers members of white supremacist social network
There is no doubt that in a military force of the size of the US Army there are bound to be a few borderline crackpots. However I think that the idea that a fair number of them are also members of white supremacist social networking services should be just a tad discomforting.
The Southern Poverty Law Center, a Alabama base watchdog service that tracks hate groups has compiled a book that contains the online profiles of at least 40 newsaxon.org users who proudly display that they are members of the US Armed Forces. On Friday the SPLC will be presenting its finding to the key members of congress who chair the House and Senate committees overseeing the armed forces. At that point they well be urging the Pentagon to crack down on these affiliations.
“In the wake of several high-profile murders by extremists of the radical right, we urge your committees to investigate the threat posed by racial extremists who may be serving in the military to ensure that our armed forces are not inadvertently training future domestic terrorists,” Morris Dees, SPLC co-founder and chief trial counsel, wrote to the legislators. “Evidence continues to mount that current Pentagon policies are inadequate to prevent racial extremists from joining and serving in the armed forces.”
Source: Stars Stripes – Watchdog group: Dozens of active-duty troops found on neo-Nazi site.
Mark Potock the editor of the report isn’t expecting much of a reaction from the Pentagon given past experiences where the Pentagon has basically shrugged it off and refused to look into the matter in any serious fashon.
On the newsaxon.org website, which Potok termed “a racist version of Facebook run by the National Socialist Movement,” many participants list their branch of service, base location and hometown on colorful pages festooned with Nazi art and Confederate battle flags. Some say they have served or will soon be deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. Several include pictures of themselves in camouflage combat uniforms.
One participant under the username “WhitePride85,” who said he is a 24-year-old staff sergeant from Madison, Wis., wrote: “I have been in the Army for over 5 years now … I am a SSGT … I have been in Iraq and Kuwait … I love and will do anything to keep our master race marching. I have been a skinhead forever.”
Source: Stars Stripes – Watchdog group: Dozens of active-duty troops found on neo-Nazi site.
If this kind of thing is prevalent in the arm forces it makes one wonder just how may deaths in places like Iraq and Afghanistan were honest mistakes or the result of supremacist hatred.
