New York Times Distorts Military Story

In this story from today's NY Times we are all but told that Army recruiters are filling the ranks with White Supremacists - courtesy of a Times that obviously simply published a press release from the Southern Poverty Law Center, as opposed to asking real questions on their own.

A decade after the Pentagon declared a zero-tolerance policy for racist hate groups, recruiting shortfalls caused by the war in Iraq have allowed "large numbers of neo-Nazis and skinhead extremists" to infiltrate the military, according to a watchdog organization.

Here is the fellow who seems to be their primary source:

The report quotes Scott Barfield, a Defense Department investigator, saying, "Recruiters are knowingly allowing neo-Nazis and white supremacists to join the armed forces, and commanders don't remove them from the military even after we positively identify them as extremists or gang members."

And here is what he told the Chicago Sun Times in May:

"They're not here for the red, white and blue. They're here for the black and gold," he said, referring to the gang colors of the Latin Kings.

Barfield said most of the gang members he has identified are black and Latino. He has linked white soldiers to racist groups such as the Aryan Nations.

Barfield acknowledged that the soldiers he pegged as gang members represent a tiny fraction of the tens of thousands of soldiers based at Fort Lewis in the period he reviewed.

I'd say it's more important to keep pushing against the MSM, than it is for them to push back, as Patterico suggests they are doing here.

Comments

[Rick]

The Southern Poverty Law Center is a witch hunting, hyper-lib organization that no one should pay attention to (just like NYT). Dees is a crook of the highest order.

[kate]

what a pile of you know what. since 9/11 i go down to fort hood quite a bit. while i can't speak for all the bases and the whole army, the people i have seen are not like those articles claim. (as a matter of fact, i was struck by how many mild mannered nerd like guys there were (i mean that in a nice way). i don't know why, but didn't expect that). anyway, they were are all a nice well rounded group of diverse people. i'm proud of them.

[hobo]

Barfield needs to be censored until he successfully completes his addiction program. What's his agenda?

[righty-tighty]

Husband has been in nearly 16 years. You won't survive very long in uniform as a racist or a bigot. The military is the most culturally balanced and tolerant entity on the planet in my opinion.

We are living in a civilian community for the first time in my husband's career, far from a military base....and we are SHOCKED at how far behind the rest of the nation is when it comes to equality of races and gender.

In the Army, if you don't work hand in hand with several people who belong to a minority group, you work FOR someone who does. Or are married to someone who does, etc. My husband, as a big ol' white guy, has been in the minority in most of his units.

Sometimes the evil one sees is merely the reflection of his own soul.

[Rick]

righty Is that the US Army you're talking about? It doesn't sound like the same one I worked for for over 25 years. Unless your husband is an officer which is an entirely different situation from the "real" army. Though I will agree that the Army has TRIED many social experiments from POSH to EEO to the most STUPID civilian hiring practice ever devised. A very few have even worked. The fear of the alphabet soup people being the biggest.They are unable to keep people from being people. True though, without friends in the right places, one "off color" remark and you're gone.
There are around 750,000 men and women in uniform and recruiters generally get great young people. Yes, a few do lie to get kids to join and yes, the occasional nut will slip through the cracks. Find a group of any sort and the same will hold true.

[righty-tighty]

Yes Rick. I'm talking about the ENLISTED U.S. ARMY. We have found it to be a wonderful experience culturally. I grew up in mostly white America, and my husband in mostly Latino. My husband had the privilage of working as an E.O. officer in Korea for a year, and enjoyed it very much. They elected him E.O. because he, being a white guy, was more of a minority in his unit than anyone else. After talking with my husband who is now serving (reluctantly) as a recruiter, the prospective on this issue could possibly depend on what field one works in. My husband has an engineering MOS. Lots of minorities join the Army for skills, and/or career opportunity, and remain in to lead the upper ranks, and go on to be officers. Whites may have a tendancy to join for "adventure", or to get out of town. Again, this is my perception. We have lived mostly in the south, southwest, or overseas.

[Captain Joe]

The NYT doesn't know anything at all about the military. It gets its info about the military from leftists who have never been in the military. The NYT is an unreliable source of information about the military.