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.
