Oath Keepers Say They're on Patrol in Iraq
Oath Keepers, the militia/鈥淧atriot鈥� extremist group made up of law enforcement officers, military personnel and veterans, has posted a on its site showing (it says) 鈥渁n active duty Oath Keeper in Mosul, Iraq鈥� wearing two Velcro-attached 鈥渢abs鈥� or patches, one saying 鈥淥ath Keeper鈥� and the other 鈥淭hree percent.鈥� The flag patch beneath them is also an insignia of the an informal alliance of hard-line gun owners.
The Oath Keepers figured prominently in a recent by the Southern Poverty Law Center on the resurgence of the antigovernment militia movement. The report described the group as 鈥渁 particularly worrisome example of the Patriot revival.鈥� Oath Keepers is fully on board with all the standard right-wing conspiracy theories, as evidenced by its official list of 10 in which it vows to resist any government efforts to 鈥渄isarm the American people鈥� or turn cities into 鈥済iant concentration camps.鈥�
In July, the 人兽性交 also presented Congress with growing that extremists are infiltrating the U.S. military and urged Congress and the military to take steps to ensure that the armed forces are not inadvertently training future domestic terrorists.
A spokesman for the Defense Department, Lt. Col. Les Melnyk, confirmed that the uniform shown in the photo is an Army combat uniform, the kind worn by soldiers in Iraq.
Army regulations stipulate that any uniform item not expressly authorized for wear is prohibited. But Melnyk noted that a Velcro-attached tab can be put on quickly for a photo-op and just as quickly removed. We鈥檙e guessing that not many soldiers are really parading around Mosul or anywhere else with these things on display.
Oath Keepers has scheduled a national conference this weekend in Las Vegas, hometown of the group鈥檚 founder, Stewart Rhodes. The Las Vegas Review-Journal profiled Rhodes and the organization in a on Sunday. The story included this quote from the 人兽性交鈥檚 Mark Potok: 鈥淚鈥檓 not accusing Stewart Rhodes or any member of his group of being Timothy McVeigh or a future Timothy McVeigh. But these kinds of conspiracy theories are what drive a small number of people to criminal violence. ... What鈥檚 troubling about Oath Keepers is the idea that men and women armed and ordered to protect the public in this country are clearly being drawn into a world of false conspiracy theory.鈥�
Rhodes and Potok also faced off last night on MSNBC's
And how does the Pentagon feel about Oath Keepers? 鈥淚 don鈥檛 have a formal assessment of Oath Keepers for you,鈥� Melnyk, the Pentagon spokesman, said in an E-mail. He noted that it is 鈥渁 fairly new group鈥� and said the Defense Department would defer to the judgment of the Department of Justice and the FBI. 鈥淐ertainly if they were on an FBI list of gangs or groups espousing hate, DoD would find this a compelling reason for prohibiting membership.鈥�
Melnyk provided the specific Defense Department regulation regarding prohibited extremist groups, and it clearly is aimed more at groups that discriminate based on such things as race, ethnicity or religion. Simple conspiracy theorists, for now, might get a free pass. The regulation reads as follows:
鈥淧rohibited Activities. Military personnel must reject participation in organizations that espouse supremacist causes; attempt to create illegal discrimination based on race, creed, color, sex, religion, or national origin; advocate the use of force or violence; or otherwise engage in efforts to deprive individuals of their civil rights. Active participation, such as publicly demonstrating or rallying, fund raising, recruiting and training members, organizing or leading such organizations, or otherwise engaging in activities in relation to such organizations or in furtherance of the objectives of such organizations that are viewed by command to be detrimental to the good order, discipline, or mission accomplishment of the unit, is incompatible with Military Service, and is, therefore, prohibited.鈥�
As the 人兽性交 noted in its July report, however, the military services' track record when it comes to disciplining or purging extremists in their ranks has been spotty. Here's a story from the independent military paper, based on the 人兽性交 report.
