THE RETURN OF TIMOTHY MCVEIGH

Remember those radical right wing hate groups? You know, the ones we were told posed the greatest threat to our nation's security? The ones that the Clinton administration and the news media focused on all through the 90s while bin Laden and friends were recruiting and training the next generation of Islamic extremist terrorists? Well, they're back:

The military may be meeting its recruiting goals by relaxing standards that prevent “racist extremists” from joining, the Southern Poverty Law Center says.

Just on Monday, the Defense Department reported recruiting goals had been met for the 13th consecutive month.

The Montgomery, Ala.-based center has asked the military to crack down. The new concerns are based, in part, on a report from a military investigator based at Fort Lewis, Wash., who told the center that he and other defense officials have uncovered an online network of 57 neo-Nazis in the Army and Marine Corps, some of whom are recent combat veterans. They are spread over five bases: Fort Lewis, Fort Bragg, N.C., Fort Hood, Texas, Fort Steward, Ga., and Camp Pendleton, Calif., the center said

“Because hate group membership and extremist activity are antithetical to the values and mission of our armed forces, we urge you to adopt a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to white supremacy in the military and to take all necessary steps to ensure that the policy is rigorously enforced,” SPLC president Richard Cohen said in a July 7 letter to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

OK, first up, the military already prohibits membership in racist organizations, hate groups, and street gangs.

Secondly, the Southern "Poverty" Law Center (whose assets are estimated at over $120 million) is a less than credible source, to say the least. The SPLC spent the 90s telling us that white supremacists were poised to overrun the country. More recently, they've turned their army of lawyer-thugs loose to open our borders to illegals and punish anyone who opposes them. For all their monitoring of hate groups, the SPLC hasn't noticed any of the radical Islamic groups out there (with the apparent exception of the Nation of Islam).

Now, SPLC leader Morris Dees, the "country lawyer" who pays himself a salary of $300,000 per year, is apparently setting his legal dogs on the military. Look for Islamofascist propagandists and antiwar moonbats to use this report to further bash the military. Asshats.