Remember how I have often said that the extreme right confuses patriotism with nationalism and that the latter is the antithesis of democracy? Looks like some of these nationalists have gotten to take their hate on the road, under the banner of the US flag:
Favorite book: “Mein Kampf”
Favorite movie: the Nazi propaganda film “Triumph of the Will”
Interests: “white women”
Dislikes: “anyone who opposes the master race”
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.
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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."
I don't think the DOD "shrugged" this off. I think that during the Bush years, recruiting extremists was likely encouraged. The use of extreme right-wing elements by the US government is not new either or limited to the Bush years. You can look at Operation Paperclip, Gladio, Iran-Contra, Operation 40 and so forth, to find plenty of examples where our military and intelligence agencies actively courted Neo-Nazis, fascists, etc. We have supported right-wing regimes in South America, Cuban terrorists, African dictators, etc.
I have often asked what kind of person would engage in torture and abuses of the like we have seen in photographic evidence. The short answer is the kind of person who thinks the people being tortured are sub-human.
Are these neo-Nazis a few bad apples? I don't think so. After all, General Boykin is fairly far up in the food chain, is he not? This is a man whose white, Christian, master-race world-view helped created Abu Grahib. So does anyone really think that the DOD simply "shrugged" off its responsibility in weeding out these crazies? I don't. I think these are exactly the type of nationalistic troops some in the DOD recruited.
BTW, notice how once again, the term "socialist" is used. Make no mistake, these are far-right elements, not left leaning elements. Just like Hitler was a far-right element cloaked under the label of socialism.
