Stan Goff, a retired Master Sergeant and 26-year veteran of the U.S. Army Special Forces, sounds a warning call that many of the historical precursors of fascism—white supremacy, militarization of culture, vigilantism, masculine fear of female power, xenophobia and economic destabilization—are ascendant in America today. During an active-duty career that spanned 1970 to 1996, Goff served with the elite Delta Force and Rangers, and in Vietnam, Guatemala, Grenada, El Salvador, Colombia, Peru, Somalia and Haiti.
One of his concerns is that neo-fascist elements are more and more finding places in the US military, as the casualties of ICORP-ing* Iraq require more and more replacements from a diminishing pool of volunteers. There is Aryan Nation graffiti on walls in Baghdad. “There is a kind of interlocking directorate between white nationalists, gun culture, right-wing politicians, mercenary culture (like Soldier of Fortune), vigilante and militia movements, and elements within both Special Forces and—now—the privatized mercenary forces (e.g., Blackwater). It is hyper-masculine, racialist, militaristic and networked.”
And armed.
Click on the title of this post to read the whole thing. It is long, nuanced, almost academic in complexity of both thought and conclusion...
As you were.
*ICORP-ing: Invasion, Conquest, Occupation, Rape & Pillage-ing
2 comments:
Admit it, Woody, ya' ol' softie. Sarge had your heart from the moment he said, "Frugivorous analogies aside".
And the picture of Georgie Assholeseed is impressively depressing.
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