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July 13, 2006

Training The Next Tim McVeigh

Uncle Sam can't abide by gays in the military. Damaging to unit cohesion, don'tcha know.

But apparently, neo-Nazis and skinheads are a okay.

Homosexuals in the military have long had to deal with a "don't ask, don't tell" policy. Gays and lesbians are shown the door the second their sexual orientation is known.

The military has been consistently ruthless in this regard, even when it meant thinning the ranks of capable translators and intelligence operators for an inconsequential factor like sexual identity.

But when it comes to the Pentagon's zero-tolerance policy for hate groups, recruiters appear more committed to making monthly quotas than ensuring the values of a racially diverse military. While the Iraq war grows more unpopular, recruiting shortfalls have allowed undesirables to fill the ranks.

It is simply unfathomable that our military would turn a blind eye to racists and neo-Nazis to meet a quota, yet discharges highly qualified and trained (at a considerable expense, I might add) personnel because someone found out they're *gasp* gay.

On a personal level, it's even more depressing. Is our government saying that I am worth less than someone that is an avowed racist and wants Uncle Sam to foot the bill for the "upcoming race war"? Sadly, the answer appears to be yes.

Sensing an opportunity for mischief, white supremacists are enlisting and volunteering for battle assignments so they can get training in light infantry tactics they'll need for what they see as the coming race war in America. According to a report by the Southern Poverty Law Center, large numbers of neo-Nazis and white supremacist skinheads, possibly in the thousands, are on active duty in the U.S. military.

Nice. They're joining the military - and our tax dollars are paying for their training and their pay - so they can be ready to attempt to start a civil war.

And it's not like they don't know who they are.

When a Defense Department investigator positively identified 320 racist extremists in the past year, only two were discharged, according to The New York Times. This reflects a "see no evil, hear no evil" stance by the military in a time of recruitment shortfalls.

And the question is - which ones of these hundreds of racist extremists that we're training are going to come back home and become another homegrown terrorist?

If it happens - or when it happens - we can look back on this moment and remember that the government felt that training homegrown terrorists was less a threat than allowing gays to serve our nation without hiding who they are.

Posted by Alan at July 13, 2006 08:46 AM