Hyperventilating
Well, the New York Times is hyperventilating again. This time(s) it's, "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.
The Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks racist and right-wing militia groups, estimated that the numbers could run into the thousands, citing interviews with Defense Department investigators and reports and postings on racist Web sites and magazines.
"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."
They go on to detail the SPLC charges in the report, saying things like recruiters are having to allow these hate group members in, etc.
Anyone remember the dire warnings and hyperventilation about how many women were going to be forced into prostitution for the world cup? 40,000 was the much-trumpeted figure. Over and over we read about it. Only the brothels are not doing all that well, are they?
If there are members of the military who are also members of "hate groups", they should be discharged. But reports like this from issue groups like the SPLC probably have a great deal more to do with the group's fund raising efforts than with reality these days. And hyperventilating reports from the New York Times have a way of being quietly refuted later.
Besides, if they really want to see hate groups these days, they ought to take a look at some of the lefty web sites.
UPDATE: Others: Security Watchtower, Gateway Pundit, Redstate, Riehl World View, Outside The Beltway,
UPDATE: Marc from American Future quoted a part of a paragraph in this post and, I thought, changed the entire meaning by leaving a sentence out. I said so in the comment section and was issued a full, public, and I think very sincere apology. I genuinely appreciate that, Marc.
Other Links to this Post
-
Outside The Beltway | OTB — July 7, 2006 @ 8:45 am
-
AMERICAN FUTURE - Trying to make sense of a world in turmoil » Errata — July 7, 2006 @ 7:35 pm
By Neo, July 7, 2006 @ 8:56 am
I don’t think that this story, straight from the press release of SPLC, will dispel the notion that large numbers of minorities are being sent to their deaths in Iraq.
Bookmark this story for the next rant by John Conyers or Al Sharpton.
I wonder if the Muslim Brotherhood is also sending their “soldiers” into the military ?
By Gaius, July 7, 2006 @ 8:58 am
They spin one yarn one day, spin another that negates the first one the next.
By Donna, July 7, 2006 @ 7:40 pm
I remembered asking you in another post comment whether you thought our military recruitment drive might be allowing ones in who lower the professionalism of our military, as had been stated about the British military. So, when I saw this article which describes some ‘hate’ groups using our military for ‘training’, I came here to see whether you had any second thoughts about my earlier question, which question was posed to you out of a genuine concern, but without any knowledge of the specifics listed in this article.
I have to tell you, Gaius, I am disappointed that you just sort of deflected and ignored the actual content of this news article by choosing to just issue several snide comments about the groups who have done the reporting. Doesn’t the CONTENT of the news article deserves even a tad of serious comment by those who care about the future of our military?
By Gaius, July 7, 2006 @ 7:53 pm
Donna,
Please see Dan Riehl’s post. It has more info on the expert quoted. In which the allegation is that they are allowing street gang members in.
I fully believe the military will flush any such offenders out - and will do so early.
I also believe that any single issue group becomes more about fundraising than about the real issue over time. Witness the ACLU, Sierra Club, Greenpeace, the NRA, AARP and any other of the alphabet soup of single issue pressure groups. To raise more funds you have to get people excited, to do that, you have to spin.
By Donna, July 7, 2006 @ 8:13 pm
If the military will flush any such offenders out- and will do so early, as you say, then why was Aryan Nation graffiti found in Baghdad?
Full disclosure here: it has been almost ten years since I got a phone # the SPLC whom I phoned to get the name of a consumer fraud attorney. I needed someone to handle a deposition for me in the eastern half of the US. The attorney to whom they referred me was absolutely excellent and, in that deposition, broke the case open for me [I was David to a corporate Goliath on the other side]. It was a relief to find an attorney who clearly cared about right and wrong, and who also gave me a break on the usual fee. That is my only experience with the SPLC, but it sure was enough that I bristle at the knee-jerk idea that this organization just operates on the basis of ’spin’.
By Gaius, July 7, 2006 @ 9:04 pm
You have an unsourced allegation of grafitti from a paper that has less than stellar record for accuracy of late and that is proof positive?
Many organizations that have done good work in the past become more about keeping themselves in existence than about the work they originally did. This surprises you? Do they still do some good work? Yes. But hyperventilating and getting funds is what it becomes all too often.