America For Purchase

It has been no secret the U.S. Military has been lowering its recruiting standards for enlisting men and women in a time of an un-declared war with Iraq and Afghanistan.  In the all volunteer Military, soldiers have served several tours of duty in Iraq and because of the low numbers of soldiers willing to serve their country in an illegal war based on lies sold to Americans by George W Bush and Dick Cheney.

Thousands of soldiers have been ‘stop-gapped’ meaning the completion of their military contracts were broken by the U.S. Government which extended their tours of duty because of the significant decreases in recruiting military personnel.In 2006 because of low recruiting numbers Bush and Cheney and their military approved allowing the Pentagon to issue waivers which allowed recruiters to sign up people who had legal convictions, served prison time, were on legal probation or had medical issues, all which are prohibited by current recruiting standards.

In March of 2007, when Bush and Cheney were scrambling to put more soldiers in Iraq as part of their ‘build up’, the military deployed thousands of troop who already had serious injuries from previous tours of duty, who were medically unfit for combat.

Now the U.S. Military is again ignoring their own regulations allowing skin heads and white supremacists to join, this time issuing “moral waivers” and ignoring the neo-Nazis racist view and criminal records again to build up the numbers of U.S. fighting personnel.

As documented by Salon.com:

Recent Department of Homeland Security report, “Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment,” stated: “The willingness of a small percentage of military personnel to join extremist groups during the 1990s because they were disgruntled, disillusioned, or suffering from the psychological effects of war is being replicated today.” 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.

Soldiers’ associations with extremist groups, and their racist actions, contravene a host of military statutes instituted in the past three decades. But during the “war on terror,” U.S. armed forces have turned a blind eye on their own regulations. A 2005 Department of Defense report states, “Effectively, the military has a ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy pertaining to extremism. If individuals can perform satisfactorily, without making their extremist opinions overt … they are likely to be able to complete their contracts.”

Carter F. Smith is a former military investigator who worked with the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command from 2004 to 2006, when he helped to root out gang violence in troops. “When you need more soldiers, you lower the standards, whether you say so or not,” he says. “The increase in gangs and extremists is an indicator of this.” Military investigators may be concerned about white supremacists, he says. “But they have a war to fight, and they don’t have incentive to slow down.”

Tom Metzger is the former grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan and current leader of the White Aryan Resistance. He tells me the military has never been more tolerant of racial extremists. “Now they are letting everybody in,” he says.

Now compare the degradation of the quality of new recruits being welcomed into America’s fighting forces with the ignorant, discriminatory treatment of highly qualified, well-trained, war heroes who the U.S. Military kicks out of their military because of their ‘sexual orientation’!  This same military now allowing skin heads, criminals and white supremacists has discharged more than 13,000 qualified, highly skilled military personnel in the past few years and has spent hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to do so.

This makes no rationale sense.  White supremacists are significantly more of threat to America’s national security, more of a threat to America’s combat troops and innocent civilians than any gay soldier could ever be.

Examples: Lieutenant Colonel Victor J. Fehrenbach, an 18-year combat aviator, flying numerous missions against Taliban and al-Qaida targets in Iraq and Afghanistan, including the longest combat mission in his squadron’s history was handpicked on September 11, 2001; he flew sorties above the nation’s capital.  He received at least 30 awards and decorations including nine air medals, one of them for heroism, as well as campaign medals for Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Iraq.   Since 1987, when Fehrenbach entered Notre Dame on a full Air Force ROTC scholarship, the government has invested twenty-five million dollars in training and equipping him to serve his country.

First Lieutenant Dan Choi, a West Point graduate and an Arabic linguist served as an infantry officer in Iraq.

Consider: Stephen Benjamin, former Navy Petty Officer 2^nd Class and more than 58 Arabic linguists have been kicked out since “don’t ask, don’t tell” was instituted.

All three honorable, qualified, and decorated service men were kicked out of the military yet the U.S. Military welcomes criminals and crazies among our sons, daughters, fathers and mothers.

How much valuable intelligence will now be unavailable to the U.S. because of the bigotry of the U.S. Military?  How much LESS SAFE is America because of the ignorance of the U.S. Military?

What skin head, convicted felon or white supremacists will now be trained to be Arabic linguists and to what end?  Will they add value and dedication to America, all Americans, or will they carry out their own demented war on our soldiers.

It is a sad commentary on political ignorance of the ‘great white way’ in the Pentagon when decorated and honorable men and women are rejected, discriminated against and ‘kicked out’ of the military.  That in itself is criminal!  But to rub salt in the wound of honorable American soldiers by allowing the ‘dregs’ of society to serve while lifting all reasonable regulations which protect our fighting citizens is very much criminal!

I pray for our troops and their safety.  As a Vietnam era vet, my son is currently serving in the Middle East.  I want him safe, I want him home and I can say I would much rather have dedicated and decorated gay men and women such as Lt. Colonel Fehrenbach, 1^st Lt. Dan Choi and Petty Officer 2^nd Class Stephen Benjamin serving alongside him. And I would certainly prefer these honorable soldiers over any skin head, felon on neo-Nazis any day.

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