The Military’s Phantom ‘Extremists’

Recall the big announcement that the Biden/Austin DOD was going to rid the military of all the extremist/supremist/racism going on in the military and it was sooooo bad a special commission had to be created to address it?

Well the report is in and note the title "Phantom Extremeist" because that is was it was, a phantom made up political canard to score political points at the cost to our military for such accusations.

This article cites today's WSJ report which includes the subtitle

An independent study puts to rest another false media narrative.

Good news: The U.S. military isn’t packed with violent extremists. That’s the gist of a new report commissioned by the Pentagon in 2021 and released quietly with little notice in December. The result won’t surprise Americans who have spent time in uniform, but it should calm the media frenzy about right-wing radicals in the armed forces.

After reports that some service members participated in the Jan. 6 riot, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered an independent study to get “greater fidelity” on extremism in the ranks. The think tank tasked with the report, the Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA), “found no evidence that the number of violent extremists in the military is disproportionate” to U.S. society. A review of Pentagon data suggested “fewer than 100 substantiated cases per year of extremist activity by members of the military in recent years,” the report says.

That figure could include a range of conduct and ideological bent, not simply the white supremacy floated in the press. Take court martials. Researchers found that “the prevalence of extremist and gang-related activity that are reflected in court-martial opinions is limited to fewer than 20 cases” since 2012. Gang activity isn’t typically political and, excluding those cases, the number falls to one a year....
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/the-military-s-phantom-extremists/ar-AA1mka5p

And if you have a subscription to the WSJ
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/the-military-s-phantom-extremists/ar-AA1mka5p

The article quotes from the report

“of the more than 700 federal cases in which charges were publicly available a year after these events, fewer than ten” [were members of the military and]“no evidence that service members were charged at a different rate than the members of the general population.”

It also notes a Rand study that concluded support for such radical groups and ideas was similar to or less than the general population and of course it is almost non-existent in the general population.

And of course the Biden/Austin DoD is not making a big announcement of the results like they did when they announced to the world this was a problem they were going to solve.

Recall

Secretary of Defense Austin Announces Immediate Actions to Counter Extremism in the Military and the Establishment of the Countering Extremism Working Group

https://www.defense.gov/News/Releas...es-immediate-actions-to-counter-extremism-in/

This administration has done more to racially tear apart this country than any I have ever witnessed promoting these fallacious claims on "institutional racism" and that white supremist groups are the worst threat this country faces and other such nonsense to convince people THEY are the ones to come to their rescue. Time to put an end to the DEI/CRT scam which it seems is more about providing lavish lifestyles and riches and power for the charlatans promoting it.

 

thanks @Bluesguy for posting this. This is the typical ploy from the Democrat party. Make false allegations; the media repeats the falsehood ad nauseum; Some folks then believe it to be true. When the truth comes out, the media does not give the truth the same amount of coverage.

It is sickening to witness and then to read posts from Democrat voters who blindly believe anything said by NPR et al as it feeds their prejudice

 

Yes, the left will ignore this and still go around talking about the institutional racism and extremist military because the Biden administration and MSM will go along with it.

 

The left has mastered the art of labeling conservatives, especially if they're white, as being violent extremists while they're the ones who are violent and extreme. Just imagine being patriotic and being labeled as extreme, but if you support open borders, men in women's sports, antifa, blm, all this gender stuff in school, etc, you're not an extremist. I won't even mention the global warming fanatics.

 

Video showing the lefts definition of "right wing extremist"

#politicalcommentary #stitch #politics #duet #politicalnews #democrats #republican (youtube.com)

 

Wait, rightists are upset because our Government spent millions investigating falsehoods that came to predictable dead ends because the investigations were simply dog and pony shows for their base?

Where the F was this outrage when the last dude spent millions on an election fraud committe to investigate fraud in our elections that produced the same results?

 

Straining to come up with some HYPOCRACY claim the best you got?

 

Your post has nothing to do with the subject of this thread which is about the military. Typical left wing attempt to change the subject when it doesn't fit their na=rrative.

Nice try... but very transparent.

 

Just curious why y'all are only outraged about dumb **** like this when Dems do it but are supportive of stupid **** like this when Rupugs do it.

 

I am completely on point of this OP.

 

This reminds me of some of the paranoia of Stalinist Russia or Maoist China, trying to root out "enemies", real or imagined. Not caring if lots of innocents get swept up in the purges.

 

No rational person believed there was this considerable amount of racism in our military to begin with. Was an obvious irrational democrat attack on our society and particularly our military.

 

It's only dems doing it, and consistently being wrong.

 

Yet you guys eagerly lapped it up by being fed propaganda from the government through your favorite media organizations and usefully went around spreading the propaganda like a hysterical chicken little.

Fake news manipulates people easily

 

So do fat, orange con men. 2016 proved that.

 

or millions and a lot of wasted govt time on investigating if a duly elected POTUS urinated on a bed

 

thread can close now with the above truth

 

Or millions and a lot of wasted time on investigating if a govt employee withheld security in Benghazi. Yet I remember rightists cheering on those millions being wasted on what resulted in nothing.

 

When you want to discuss the ISSUE and not the other posters here let me know.

 

Who said the military was packed with violent extremists? However, there are some, and once discovered, they are ushered out of the military under the UCMJ. Furthermore, I think the military is packed with a bunch of "good ole boys" which is why sexual harassment, after Tailhook, and after the debacle at Fort Hood which caused the dismissal of its senior commander, its senior enlisted NCO of the command, and so forth.

Now, outside of the military, they is evidence of a growing number of extremist groups rising since Biden and Obama took office, and some rise when Trump took office. Some were filled with members who were formers members of the US military, but not current ones.

https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2022/07/07/white-supremacy-patriot-front
https://www.adl.org/new-hate-and-ol...920.382140576.1541002337-767402375.1541002337
https://www.azmirror.com/2022/08/23...-rise-and-attracting-violent-young-white-men/

 

It was obvious from the start that it was a BS narrative. That prime time dark Brandon speech was downright disgraceful. Very divisive from someone who pledged to unite the country. Take the number of MAGA extremists that they found and divide it by 5 or more to get the real number.

 

Which poster am I discussing here exactly? Care to be specific?

 

Will you PLEASE read what is cited before you respond

"That figure could include a range of conduct and ideological bent, not simply the white supremacy floated in the press. Take court martials. Researchers found that “the prevalence of extremist and gang-related activity that are reflected in court-martial opinions is limited to fewer than 20 cases” since 2012. Gang activity isn’t typically political and, excluding those cases, the number falls to one a year...."

20 cases since 2012 of which some was just gang activity and it falls to ONE A YEAR when you factor that out.

"“of the more than 700 federal cases in which charges were publicly available a year after these events, fewer than ten” [were members of the military and]“no evidence that service members were charged at a different rate than the members of the general population.”"

Even the rate in the general population is less that a rounding error.

Did you forget Austin instituted a 60 day military stand down so all the branches could devote their full efforts to ferret out this not insignificant problem he claimed??? And then had to form a commission to study this not insignificant problem.

Stop with the attempt to divert to sexual harassment and outside the military because this attack on the military has been rebuffed but you just have to keep it going.

 

Again, I have read it. That is why I said that within the military, it is not. No one is making that argument Blues. No one. However, the rise of extremism in the United States is OUTSIDE the military and does includes veterans. Veterans are not active, reserve, or National Guard members. They no longer serve. Rhodes is a Military Veteran, and yet he was convicted of January 6 participation by a jury of his peers. And my links show the rise in white nationalism, White supremacy, neonazism, and other extremist viewpoints that inundate the GOP today.

Did you read the actual order that Sec of Defense Austim made after several active duty members where indicted, tried, and convicted for their involvement in January 6th? The order states that within 60 days, commanders are to select a date to discuss extremism in the ranks. It is for one day for this, not the entire 60 days. Discussing extremism is not the same as "ushering out" as you claimed. If someone holds those types of views, the military does not want them because they are a security risk, among other things. This can also include anyone who is affiliated with gangs or other activities that the military frowns upon.