The New York Times reports that lowering of recruiting standards has allowed hate groups to infiltrate the military.
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…
… “We’ve got Aryan Nations graffiti in Baghdad,” the [Southern Poverty Law Center] quoted a Defense Department investigator as saying in a report to be posted today on its Web site, www.splcenter.org. “That’s a problem.”
It’s also one more way in which getting stuck in a long, unnecessary war has weakened our professional military’s capabilities and effectiveness. We have neo-Nazis running loose in the land of the Hajis? There’s a “hearts and minds” strategy for you.
Under the fold: wisdom and power…
Over at Free Republic last month, Dr. Jack Wheeler gave his suggestions to Iraq’s Prime Minister Nouri al-Malaki for a real peace plan. Hang Saddam. Shoot al Sadr. More stuff like that.
Discussion of the 24-point plan Malaki has actually proposed fell off the scope last week. The most contentious aspect of it, in many minds, is its offer of amnesty to insurgents whose only “crime” has been to fight occupying U.S. and coalition forces. I don’t think he has any choice but to offer amnesty. If the Bush administration manages to block the offer, they’ll take away any motivation the insurgents might have to stop fighting U.S. and coalition forces. In fact, it will put them in a position where they can’t ever stop fighting.
The big media are breaking a story about a plot to bomb New York’s Holland Tunnel. It’s interesting how all these terrorist plots are just now being discovered. I expect to see more of them coming to light between now and November.
China and Russia are aligning against the U.S. positions on Iran and North Korea, further evidence that the Next World Order has already arrived. Will American be able to maintain a status as “first among nations” in the post-neoconservative era?
We had an interesting discussion this week at Pen and Sword over whether anything “good” has actually come from our war in Iraq. Can anything be termed “good” if it doesn’t justify the costs and consequences of achieving it? Is it good that Saddam Hussein is out of power considering the chaos ousting him has created in Iraq? If you lose your right leg, should you be happy that you’ve dropped 35 pounds?
Over at ePluribus Robert Fuller, author of All Rise discusses his vision of a Dignitarian Society.
The precise and universal cause of indignity is the abuse of power. Make a list of the most distressing issues of recent years: corporate corruption, the lobbying scandals, the Katrina catastrophe, sexual abuse by clergy, Abu Ghraib, domestic spying, etc. Every one of them can be traced to an abuse of power by individuals of rank. Often the abuses had the blessing of people of even higher rank.
Toward the end of my naval career, the expression “knowledge is power” became quite popular. Looking back, it occurs to me that this saying supports the notion that the ultimate goal of gaining knowledge is to obtain power.
Will we ever see a time when humanity values wisdom over power?
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Commander Jeff Huber, U.S. Navy (Retired) writes from Virginia Beach, Virginia. Read his commentaries at ePluribus Media and Pen and Sword.
