An Army of One: Looking For A Few Bad Men

The Marine Corps used to have a slogan: looking for a few good men. Now, with recruiting shortfalls crippling the all volunteer Army it appears white supremacists are infiltrating the Army. Long a pariah (along with gays and lesbians) of the military, it seems this is one additional casualty of the war in Iraq. White supremacists infiltrating the armed forces raises many issues. Providing them with professional military training and access to serious weaponry are the most obvious issues. Military hardware being smuggled from bases to militia camps has been a minor problem. Now it could be significant.

The rape and murder of an Iraqi teen and her family has brought this situation from the shadows into the open. It appears the former serviceman accused in the case was forced out because of his racist beliefs. Army recruiters have been accused of breaking many rules the past few years under pressure to meet their goals and many of their transgressions have been documented in the press. This is simply one more.

We cannot tolerate unethical recruiters. The price of allowing supremicists into our military in large numbers will come due down the road as more Tim McVeighs use their training and access to create more Oklahoma Cities. While trying to defeat foreign terrorists we're training our domestic terrorists. How much sense does that make? I say take each recruiter who has violated the rules and send them to Ramadi. I also think an appropriate punishment for those Aryan Nation soldiers committing atrocities in Iraq is to turn them over to the villagers for local justice. After all, if Iraq is to be a democracy we must trust them to handle their own justice system.