I was horrified to read on Salon that neo-Nazis are allowed to join our military. The Army has regulations that specifically prohibit soldiers from participating in racist groups, and recruiters are instructed to keep an eye out for suspicious tattoos. Before signing off on the forms, enlistees are required to explain any tattoos. But it seems like this was deliberately ignored by one recruitment office. According to Salon, at a Tampa recruitment office, Iraq War veteran Forrest Fogarty didn’t have a problem enlisting, he just sailed right through the signup process. “They just told me to write an explanation of each tattoo, and I made up some stuff, and that was that,” he says and soon he was posted to Fort Stewart in Georgia, where he became part of the 3rd Infantry Division. He was sent to Iraq for two years. He reportedly served in the military police, escorting officers, including generals around the country. Here’s the kicker, he was granted top-secret clearance and access to battle plans. Of course, this tour of duty didn’t change him one bit. It increased his racist resolve.

Fogarty speaks with regret that he “never had any kill counts.” But he says his time in Iraq increased his racist resolve. “I hate Arabs more than anybody, for the simple fact I’ve served over there and seen how they live,” he tells me. “They’re just a backward people. Them and the Jews are just disgusting people as far as I’m concerned. Their customs, everything to do with the Middle East, is just repugnant to me.”

Because of his tattoos and his racist comments, most of his buddies and his commanding officers were aware of his Nazism. “They all knew in my unit,” he says. “They would always kid around and say, ‘Hey, you’re that skinhead!’” But no one sounded an alarm to higher-ups. “I would volunteer for all the hardest missions, and they were like, ‘Let Fogarty go.’ They didn’t want to get rid of me.” Source: Salon

It seems that the U.S. military has relaxed its rules since the launch of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, because it has struggled with recruitment and reenlistment of troops. The military has issued “moral waivers” in many cases, even allowing those with criminal records to join up. I wonder who they thought they would attract with the relaxed rules. Funny, they may have opened a Pandora’s box. You see, this has opened the doors to neo-Nazis, white supremacists and gang members, all with potentially drastic consequences. Some of these very same neo-Nazis have been charged with crimes inside the military, and others have been linked to recruitment efforts for the white right. The right wing scoffed at a recent Department of Homeland Security report, “Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment,” all the while ignoring the fact that this vile brand of extremism is on the rise, emboldened by people like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly, Mike Savage, Ann Coulter, Pat Buchanan and many others.

Many white supremacists join the Army to secure training for, as they see it, a future domestic race war. Others claim to be shooting Iraqis not to pursue the military’s strategic goals but because killing “hajjis” is their duty as white militants.

Following an investigation of white supremacist groups, a 2008 FBI report declared: “Military experience — ranging from failure at basic training to success in special operations forces — is found throughout the white supremacist extremist movement.” In white supremacist incidents from 2001 to 2008, the FBI identified 203 veterans. Most of them were associated with the National Alliance and the National Socialist Movement, which promote anti-Semitism and the overthrow of the U.S. government, and assorted skinhead groups. Source: Salon

This is very troubling, indeed, and something drastic needs to be done and quickly. The education of recruiters about how to identify extremists seems to have fallen by the wayside, as well. How else do you explain all these neo-Nazis and white supremacists passing the initial process with flying colors. These are the things the U.S. Congress and all the right-wing loudmouths need to talk about. It is unconscionable that we could have such extremism in the military, of all places.

I would encourage each of my readers to read the entire article.

Photo credit: Iraq veteran Forrest Fogarty, Matt Kennard