Matt's right...but Posted by Max Bergmann

I was probably a bit too dismissive of Tancredo yesterday. The problem of gangs and racist groups, as the Southern Poverty Law Center pointed out a few years back, is a real and seemingly growing problem - and is due in no small part to the Army having to lower its recruiting standards. That being said, I'm not sure Tancredo's point was to point out the general problem of gangs in the military. I interpreted him, perhaps unfairly, as being a bit more conspiratorial - ie  we let disloyal Hispanic immigrants into the military where they receive military training and when they return to the U.S. they will will rejoin MS-13 to destroy America. He may not be 100 percent wrong on this point, but this does fishtail with his general dislike of all brown people (including opposing letting Iraqi refugees into the U.S.) - a view that definitely deserves to be mocked.

Comments

[Cal]

MS 13 is another case of blowback from Reagan's foreign policy. The failures of previous Republican administrations become the reason for electing the next one.

[LT Nixon]

Some of the best sailors I've seen were actually "jail or sail" type people, where the judge gives you the option of going to prison for a year or doing 4 years in the military (it's most common down south). Mostly, because the military gave them a funtioning family and structure they never had before. The problem of ex-gang members wreaking havoc in the military is pretty far-fetched. Also, in six years in the military I have not seen one white supremacist. It would be better if the Southern Poverty Law Center study cited some actual stats but, predictably, they cite one example (Timothy McVeigh). My goodness how many times are we going to have to be likened to that guy.

[LT Nixon]

My mistake, I didn't read the full report initially before flapping my yap. Well, my personal experience remains true, and I've been stationed all over the place.