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Politics : Bush-The Mastermind behind 9/11? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: sea_urchin who wrote (7287)	7/15/2004 5:30:32 AM
From: GUSTAVE JAEGER	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 20039

PURGE THE U.S. MILITARY... before it's too late. EXTREMIST ON ACTIVE-DUTY? The attention brought to the use of military bases and equipment by civilian militia was not the only effect of the Oklahoma bombing on the military. The Pentagon is also worried that the military provides not only material aid, but also organizational comfort to some of the worst elements in the militias. Similar and sometimes linked strains of organized white supremacism are found in both government-sponsored and civilian military formations. A few days after the April 19th bombing, Perry reissued a 1969 Defense Department Directive to all service branches. It provides, in part, that: Military personnel must reject participation in organizations that espouse supremacist causes ... or advocate the use of force or violence. Commanders are empowered to deal with such activity with a range of responses from court-martial to involuntary discharge. While this directive was originally aimed at anti-Vietnam War soldiers and sailors and coffee house organizers, in recent years it has been primarily directed at GIs who support para-Nazi and white supremacist causes. There is a long history of such associations. In 1976, a Ku Klux Klan chapter was uncovered among Marines serving at Camp Pendleton, California. A cross was burned near the base and at least two black Marines on base were attacked by whites wearing Klan insignia. Marine Cpl. Daniel Bailey, Jr., who identified himself by his Klan rank, Exalted Cyclops, told reporters that a hundred Marines belonged to the branch. The Marine Corps had suppressed any information about the Klan's activities until a group of black Marines attacked a white gathering in the (mistaken) belief that it was a Klan meeting. During their courts-martial, the black Marines testified that their commanders had tolerated the flaunting of Klan regalia, had allowed the distribution of racist literature, and had ignored attacks on black Marines by Ku Klux Klan members. While most of those convicted received some jail time and other-than-honorable discharges, white Marines suspected of Klan sympathies were simply shipped out to other duty stations. Further light was shed on organized racist groups within the military in 1985 when it was discovered that the White Patriot Party of North Carolina was successfully recruiting Marines and soldiers. According to the New York Times, a number of the neo-Nazi sympathizers within the military were identified after they sold Claymore mines, rockets, grenades, and small arms to undercover agents in a sting operation. Three of the service members were dishonorably discharged. IDEAL RECRUITING GROUNDS The road between the militias and the military is a two-way street with the National Guard and Reserve as a convenient way station. The tragic events in Oklahoma City have heightened the concern of all National Guard and Reserve commanders that militia members may be infiltrating their ranks in order to gain skills and equipment. The militias are also looking to those official weekend warriors with military skills and right-wing views as natural targets for recruiting. Clearly, the Army is not ignorant of the possibilities. In Michigan, home of the largest militia, the Army National Guard's adjunct general warned members that they are not allowed to belong to racist or extremist organizations. But some Guard units are more solicitous of their local militias. After an incident involving an Idaho National Guard helicopter overflying a Montana militia group, Idaho officials agreed to notify their Montana counterparts in advance of any future flights. It is impossible to tell exactly how many Guard members and reservists also belong to locally-organized militias. The situation at Ft. Drum, home of the 10th Mountain Division in upstate New York, illustrates the difficulty of trying to keep militia members away from military training and combat weapons, even if there is a will to make such a separation. Each year, 35,000-40,000 National Guard members and reservists from all over the Northeast train there for varying periods. It would be impossible to monitor individual trainees to determine which ones were planning to apply their instruction in support of their home town militia. Col. Robert R. Waters (Ret.) is a career Green Beret who now edits a special operations journal called Behind the Lines. He told Army Times that he believes the militia movement is gaining momentum. He also raises a disturbing scenario: Obviously, they're going to seek [specialized] training from those who can provide it. The militia phenomenon arises out of a toxic stew of legitimate anger, scapegoating, and paranoia. Its links to the military, and the support of the taxpayers are more than an irony for a group which openly despises the government. But the militias and the military have much in common aside from their obvious predilection for weaponry and the violent resolution of conflict. Like the militias, the U.S. military has always attracted more than its fair share of right-wing extremists and white supremacists. Its rigid structure and rules probably appeal to those whose personalities tend toward authoritarianism. Without understanding these common bonds, as well as the physical links, civil society will never be able to understand, much less root out, irrational acts of violence like Oklahoma [which] are calculated declarations of adventurous war. mediafilter.org