Crises, Hate and Returning Veterans

Published in Neues Deutschland
(Germany) on 16 April 2009
by René Heilig (link to originallink to original)
Translated from by Ron Argentati. Edited by Patricia Simoni.
The Office of Homeland Security (OHS) has been in existence for seven years now, and for seven years it has been warning Americans about terrorists. Islamic terrorists, naturally. And now this: The OHS is now directing the attention of police and sheriff departments toward the “good guys” who are returning home from military service in Iraq. It warns that right-wing extremists will try to recruit these experienced military veterans and indoctrinate them. By OHS estimate, a minimum of one in 100 veterans already belongs to a right-wing extremist organization. Most often mentioned are the Ku-Klux-Klan, Aryan Nations and the National Socialist Movement.

A Secret Service study concludes that the American Nazis will find easy pickings in recruiting returning soldiers for two reasons: First, returning vets have already been dealt a poor hand in the job search game due to the economic crisis. Second, for the first time in U.S. history, an African-American is now President of the United States and Commander-in-Chief over the troops he is sending into an uncertain future in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Even as the OHS seeks to downplay its own fears, the memory of Nazi bomber, Tim McVeigh, who killed 168 people in the Oklahoma City bombing of 1995, has been resurrected. In 1991 he, too, returned home from Iraq and couldn’t find a job.



16.04.2009
Krise, Hass und Veteranen
Von René Heilig

Seit sieben Jahren besteht das US-Heimatschutzministerium. Seit sieben Jahren warnt es vor Terroristen. Natürlich islamistischen. Und nun das: Die oberste US-Sicherheitsbehörde orientiert Polizisten und Sheriff-Büros auf die »guten Jungs«, die aus Irak heimkehren. Rechtsradikale würden versuchen, die militärisch Geübten zu rekrutieren und zu radikalisieren. Mindestens jeder hunderte Veteran habe sich einer rechtsextremen Organisationen angeschlossen. Genannt werden der Ku-Klux-Klan, die »Aryan Nations« und das »National Socialist Movement«.

Dass die gewaltbereiten US-Nazis leichtes Spiel beim Verführen der Heimkehrer haben, erklärt sich laut Geheimdienststudie vor allem aus zwei Tatsachen. Erstens haben die Ex-Soldaten schlechte Karten, wenn sie in der aktuellen Krisenzeit auf Jobsuche gehen. Zweites wurde erstmals in der US-Geschichte ein Afroamerikaner zum Präsidenten und damit auch zum obersten Befehlshaber der Truppen gewählt, die in Irak und Afghanistan in eine ungewisse Zukunft getrieben werden.

Auch wenn das Ministerium seine Furcht nun herunterspielen will – die Erinnerung an den Nazi-Bomber McVeigh, der 1995 in Oklahoma 168 Menschen in die Luft sprengte, ist aktiviert. Er war 1991 aus dem vorangegangenen Irak-Krieg heimgekehrt und suchte vergebens einen Job.

This post appeared on the front page as a direct link to the original article with the above link .

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