The Wrong Kind Of Power

I understand that the issue of a small number of active duty military espousing the views of white supremacist groups online is a damn tricky one to discuss, but here goes. From Stars & Stripes:

But there’s one other thing that dozens of members of newsaxon.org, a white supremacist social networking website, have in common: They proudly identify themselves as active-duty members of the U.S. armed forces.

The Southern Poverty Law Center, the Montgomery, Ala.-based watchdog group that tracks extremist hate groups, has compiled a book containing the online user profiles of at least 40 newsaxon.org users who say they are serving in the military, in apparent violation of Pentagon regulations prohibiting racist extremism in the ranks.

On Friday, the SPLC will present its findings to key members of Congress who chair the House and Senate committees overseeing the armed forces and urge them to pressure the Pentagon to crack down.

“In the wake of several high-profile murders by extremists of the radical right, we urge your committees to investigate the threat posed by racial extremists who may be serving in the military to ensure that our armed forces are not inadvertently training future domestic terrorists,” Morris Dees, SPLC co-founder and chief trial counsel, wrote to the legislators. “Evidence continues to mount that current Pentagon policies are inadequate to prevent racial extremists from joining and serving in the armed forces.”

Added Mark Potok, editor of the Intelligence Report, a magazine produced at the law center: “The Pentagon really has shrugged this off and refused to look at this in any serious way.”

On the newsaxon.org website, which Potok termed “a racist version of Facebook run by the National Socialist Movement,” many participants list their branch of service, base location and hometown on colorful pages festooned with Nazi art and Confederate battle flags. Some say they have served or will soon be deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. Several include pictures of themselves in camouflage combat uniforms.

One participant under the username “WhitePride85,” who said he is a 24-year-old staff sergeant from Madison, Wis., wrote: “I have been in the Army for over 5 years now ... I am a SSGT ... I have been in Iraq and Kuwait ... I love and will do anything to keep our master race marching. I have been a skinhead forever.”

It would be the height of stereotypical unfairness to paint the typical member of our military as accepting of these repugnant views. But it is also equally unfair to ignore that this exists, and that it is a problem the Pentagon must deal with. I have great respect for the men and women who have made the choice to join the Armed Forces and go into harm's way. In return, America has not always been nearly kind or grateful enough for the sacrifices they and their families and loved oves have made. I am a strong believer in the phrase "Support the troops: Bring them all home."

But the reality is that there are those in our military, just as in civilian life, that believe in the purity and dominace of the white race. Our generals and admirals and lawmakers and commanders, as well as our ground troops and new recruits, comprise all peoples of all walks of life, integrated just like America is. I have friends in the military, and I know they are honorable and good people. If anyone should be outraged at this, it's them.