Monday, June 15, 2009

Neo-Nazis in the US military. Why isn't this getting more coverage?

I note with approval that Salon has a front page article on the spread of Neo-Nazis in the military.

Neo-Nazis are in the Army now

Why the U.S. military is ignoring its own regulations and permitting white supremacists to join its ranks.


I am happy that Salon has written this article on an issue which should worry everyone, considering recent events such as the murder of Dr. Tiller and the shooting at the Holocaust museum. The problem is of course that this is not exactly news. Back in 2006, the Intelligence Report, published by Southern Poverty Law Center, wrote about this very issue. See:

A Few Bad Men
Ten years after a scandal over neo-Nazis in the armed forces, extremists are once again worming their way into a recruit-starved military.

Extremism and the Military
Racist Extremists Active in U.S. Military
Pentagon in Denial About Racist Extremists in Ranks

They followed up on the issue, with articles such as 'Killing a Brown' - New Evidence of Extremists in the Military (winter 2008), which David Neiwert commented on.

None of this made the news media in any notable way.

And then, there was FBI's (in)famous report White Supremacist Recruitment of Military Personnel since 9/11 (.pdf), which was covered by the media, but where the coverage was drowned out by the widespread denouncements of the report made by Republicans and right-wing pundits.

So, what does it take for this to make the main-stream media? Why aren't they following up on these things? Currently there is a very worrisome uptick in US domestic terrorism, often perpetrated by people with ties to the far-right. Shouldn't this worry the media a lot more than it apparently does?

I hope that Intelligence Rapport and Salon keep up the good work. No one else seems to be willing to do it.

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