thedrifter
07-11-06, 12:39 PM
July 10, 2006
Report: ‘Racist extremists’ joining military
By Rick Maze
Times staff writer
The military may be meeting its recruiting goals by relaxing standards that prevent “racist extremists” from joining, the Southern Poverty Law Center says.
Just on Monday, the Defense Department reported recruiting goals had been met for the 13th consecutive month.
The Montgomery, Ala.-based center has asked the military to crack down. The new concerns are based, in part, on a report from a military investigator based at Fort Lewis, Wash., who told the center that he and other defense officials have uncovered an online network of 57 neo-Nazis in the Army and Marine Corps, some of whom are recent combat veterans. They are spread over five bases: Fort Lewis, Fort Bragg, N.C., Fort Hood, Texas, Fort Steward, Ga., and Camp Pendleton, Calif., the center said
“Because hate group membership and extremist activity are antithetical to the values and mission of our armed forces, we urge you to adopt a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to white supremacy in the military and to take all necessary steps to ensure that the policy is rigorously enforced,” SPLC president Richard Cohen said in a July 7 letter to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
In a statement, Mark Potok, SPLC’s intelligence project director, said neo-Nazis, skinheads and other white supremacists are “joining the military in large numbers so they can get the best training in the world on weapons, combat tactics and explosives.”
White supremacists have been active in the military since the early 1950s, according to a timeline prepared by the group, but it took several incidents in the early 1990s to gain major attention and a crackdown by the military. The Defense Department has tried to weed out supremacists by doing things such as prohibiting anyone from remaining in the military if they have a tattoo with a racially divisive message or being the symbol of a supremacist group.
The Southern Poverty law Center, founded in 1971, is a civil rights group that provides education programs, tracks hate groups and hate crimes and also pursues legal action.
Ellie
Report: ‘Racist extremists’ joining military
By Rick Maze
Times staff writer
The military may be meeting its recruiting goals by relaxing standards that prevent “racist extremists” from joining, the Southern Poverty Law Center says.
Just on Monday, the Defense Department reported recruiting goals had been met for the 13th consecutive month.
The Montgomery, Ala.-based center has asked the military to crack down. The new concerns are based, in part, on a report from a military investigator based at Fort Lewis, Wash., who told the center that he and other defense officials have uncovered an online network of 57 neo-Nazis in the Army and Marine Corps, some of whom are recent combat veterans. They are spread over five bases: Fort Lewis, Fort Bragg, N.C., Fort Hood, Texas, Fort Steward, Ga., and Camp Pendleton, Calif., the center said
“Because hate group membership and extremist activity are antithetical to the values and mission of our armed forces, we urge you to adopt a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to white supremacy in the military and to take all necessary steps to ensure that the policy is rigorously enforced,” SPLC president Richard Cohen said in a July 7 letter to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
In a statement, Mark Potok, SPLC’s intelligence project director, said neo-Nazis, skinheads and other white supremacists are “joining the military in large numbers so they can get the best training in the world on weapons, combat tactics and explosives.”
White supremacists have been active in the military since the early 1950s, according to a timeline prepared by the group, but it took several incidents in the early 1990s to gain major attention and a crackdown by the military. The Defense Department has tried to weed out supremacists by doing things such as prohibiting anyone from remaining in the military if they have a tattoo with a racially divisive message or being the symbol of a supremacist group.
The Southern Poverty law Center, founded in 1971, is a civil rights group that provides education programs, tracks hate groups and hate crimes and also pursues legal action.
Ellie