Posted on 07/26/2006 6:28:57 AM PDT by blitzgig
Its one of those things you cant not know. The New York Times, Don of the Media Hit Squad, despises the Bush Administration and on a more stealth (but more longstanding) level, loathes the U.S. Armed Forces. The latest ugly example came July 7 in what is more accurately described as a press release for a far Left organization than a news story.
The sole source for John Kifners piece, Hate Groups Are Infiltrating the Military, Group Says, is a sloppy document released by the Southern Poverty Law Center. The obnoxious report, the title of which is a gratuitous slap at my beloved Corps, concludes that our fighting forces have devolved, with Pentagon complicity, into a breeding ground for the white supremacist movement. Kifner dutifully reports that the reason recruiters have given sloppy kisses to the neo-Nazis is recruiting shortfalls brought on by the unpopularity of the war in Iraq. For a newspaper that goes out of its way in every story about tax cuts to find the one Republican in the country that opposes keeping his hard-earned paycheck, its amazing that the Gray Crone could not find one person to dispute the report. So, none of those ubiquitous and infallible sources whose contributions begin, Critics say were available? Kifner didnt even bother to even look. After all, the SPLC report told him all he wanted to know, so he went with it. So did his editor.
Allow me to provide the rest of the story.
An office was established by the Army in 2002 (you know, before the unpopular war in Iraq could have caused recruiting ills) to investigate the presence of gang members in the armed forces. Since 2002, the one man cited in the Times story, also the single source for the study, reported that hed found 320 active duty troops with gang ties. Most of these gang members, according to the investigator, were from black and Latino gangs. You wouldnt know this from the Times article, but a simple web search produces a May 1 Chicago Sun-Times article which provides a bigger picture.
A scandalous July 7 New York Times article uncritically repeated some outrageous claims by a Southern Poverty Law Center "study," managing to paint the entire US Armed Forces as a training ground for the "White Supremacy" "movement." The article is no more than a press release for the radical SPLC, as the SPLC "study" is the only source used by the writer.Not that the race or ethnicity of gang members matters to most Americans. If gangs are infiltrating the military, most would say root them out, color is no matter. Race, however, means a lot for central casting at the Times. This story recalls some of the most tragic Clintonian bumbling insisting that the gravest threat to our nation was to be found in Idaho basements while jihadists attacked the Paper Tiger again and again. That SPLC, in constructing its latest existence-justifying windmill, ignored the findings of its sole source in order to produce its slanderous report is not surprising. Youd expect a journalist to have a shovel at the ready.
As the very source of the report notes, the number of gang bangers hes found is but a tiny fraction of our 1.4 million-strong active duty armed forces. Many enlistees admittedly come from tough neighborhoods and a very few do have gang ties. Even fewer follow a lunatic white power ideology. So why tar with suspicion our gallant young men and women in uniform? Why, with no real evidence, advance the claim that the Pentagon is purposely allowing this infiltration to occur just to make numbers?
What about those claims of recruitment shortfalls anyway?
This is exactly where the story becomes an irretrievable farce. The cries of recruitment shortfalls are so, like, yesterday. Yes, the Army missed its recruiting goals for 2005. No other active duty branch fell short for the year, despite triumphant soothsaying across the Fossil Media in the spring of 2005, which was unanimously certain that the numbers would remain bleak. This year, the Army is on track to hit its goals once again after a short down blip. And, no its not because all the skinheads are flocking to local recruiters.
Not only is every branch ahead of its recruiting goals for FY06, re-enlistment remains high. I guess the men and women who are actually fighting this war, despite being stretched thin, arent quite convinced by the defeat-at-any-cost campaign of the Times. Anyone that follows these things knows that mass reenlistment ceremonies where dozens of re-uppers recommit are not uncommon. Many occur in Iraq. Are we to believe that these are platoons of young SS preparing for the imminent race war?
Like the aggressively anti-troop, guilty-until-proven-innocent agit-prop A1 stories on Abu Ghraib, Haditha and volumes of other coverage, this latest lazy libel is part of the Times relentless campaign to Vietnamize our efforts in Iraq. This time, instead of branding the troops baby-killers, theyll tattoo them with swastikas.
But dont you dare suggest they dont support the troops and dont ever, I mean ever, question their patriotism.
Greg Scott is a former Marine Corps Public Affairs Officer who served 10 years on active duty, most recently at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego.
Apparently the slimes and SPLC have missed the fact that the KKK is holding anti war rallies. It doesn't make a lot of sense for the Klan to hold anti war rallies at the same time they're joining the military where they'll be serving under blacks, hispanics, Jews, and Catholics.
Thank you for posting this. This NY Times is beyond pathetic. It is TREASONOUS through and through. The editors for the Times need to hang for their crimes against our country.
But, but, but, all the brainwashed automatons coming out of bootcamp LOOK like skinheads! Even the black kids! AND most of them are white! And they have been trained to be KILLERS! Did you know that they are even encouraged to handle and even FIRE assault-weapons-that-are-only-meant-to-kill?
I think I'll have an attack of the vapors...
(sarc/off>
Thanks for the post and the ping.
The NY Slimes will either paint a story with a very broad or a very narrow brush in order to make it fit their agenda and their agenda is clearly one that is anti-American. They are despicable.
"The sole source for John Kifners piece, Hate Groups Are Infiltrating the Military, Group Says, is a sloppy document released by the Southern Poverty Law Center."
The Southern Povery Law Center makes the ACLU look good.
Nah, that's just gas.
The New York Times...despises the Bush Administration and on a more stealth (but more longstanding) level, loathes the U.S. Armed Forces.
No problem, 95% of the American public LOATHES the ENEMEDIA, particularly the NYSlimes!
Good one!
Ping. blitzgig did your homework for you. Enjoy.
What the slimedia is and has been doing during the WOT, is SEDITIOUS!! Let's be clear. And let's put them out of business, since PC has apparently rendered sedition laws useless.
As for the "Southern Poverty Law Center," they are pursuing their marxist agenda in a war against all things U.S., knowing full well that propaganda is one of the tools of war.
"So why tar with suspicion our gallant young men and women in uniform? Why, with no real evidence..."
Why, because Jack murtha does it with no repercussions ping.
The SPLC is one of the slimiest organizations out there.
IIRC, in the last years of Billy Jeff's administration the SPLC branded Free Republic as a "hate group".
We won't find out that answer until November!
BTTT
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.