LUDOWICI, Ga. – The suspected leader of a murderous militia of military men was the last to be interrogated that mild Georgia winter evening 18 months ago. Although he was only 20 at the time, United States Army Pvt. Isaac Aguigui played it cool and defiant. “You can go to hell,” he told an agent from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI). His tough-guy act didn’t last long. Within 20 minutes, Aguigui deserted his rigid military discipline and whimpered, “I’m just going to end up in a jail cell alone for the rest of my life.”

Today, his tearful prophecy came true.

The now 22-year-old soldier was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole after pleading guilty to the murder of Tiffany York, 17, and her boyfriend, Michael Roark, 19, a former soldier who served with Aguigui at the Fort Stewart Army base in Hinesville. Georgia state prosecutors say the young sweethearts were shot to death in the woods not far from the sprawling military facility to keep secret Aguigui’s video-game inspired militia and its delusional plans to overthrow the government of the United States through a torrent of bombings, kidnappings and political assassinations. ( continue to full post… )

The U.S. Army is not commenting on its decision to suspend with pay one of its chemical and biological research engineers while he is investigated for his reported close ties to two racist groups espousing white nationalist views.

John Stortstrom, a mechanical engineer who worked for the Army at its Edgewood Chemical Biological Center (ECBC) in Maryland, was suspended May 28 after published reports disclosed he was among 150 white nationalists who attended the American Renaissance conference in early April in Tennessee. American Renaissance is a journal dedicated to race and intelligence, with a heavy focus on the “psychopathology” of black people. Its editor has written that black people are incapable of sustaining any kind of civilization. ( continue to full post… )

HINESVILLE, Ga. – FEAR goes on trial today.

Court-martial proceedings against Pvt. Isaac Aguigui (right), the accused ringleader of FEAR, an antigovernment gang of active-duty American soldiers, are scheduled to begin here this morning on the Fort Stewart Army base where, military prosecutors charge, the young soldier murdered his wife nearly two years ago.

Sgt. Deirdre Wetzker Aguigui, a promising Army linguist, was found unconscious on July 17, 2011, on the sofa in the living room of the Aguiguis’ home on the sprawling base and later pronounced dead at a post hospital. She was 24 years old and five months pregnant.

Aguigui allegedly financed the Fort Stewart-based gang – including a frantic two-month buying spree of $87,000 worth of military-grade weapons – with $500,000 in life insurance money he received shortly after his wife’s death.

A few months later, state prosecutors say, the gang murdered two teenagers to keep secret its plot to overthrow the government through a torrent of kidnappings, bombings and political assassinations. The murder weapon was one of the guns purchased with Deirdre Aguigui’s insurance proceeds. ( continue to full post… )

A young research engineer at the U.S. Army’s elite chemical and biological research laboratory in Maryland has close ties to two racist groups espousing white nationalist views, one of which has called for a homeland for white people.

John Stortstrom, a mechanical engineer who works for the Army at its Edgewood Chemical Biological Center (ECBC), was among 150 white nationalists, many of them young, who attended the American Renaissance conference held in early April in Tennessee. American Renaissance is a journal dedicated to race and intelligence, with a heavy focus on the “psychopathology” of black people. Its editor has written that black people are incapable of sustaining any kind of civilization. ( continue to full post… )

Another former soldier has pleaded guilty for his role in an anti-government militia authorities say is responsible for the execution-style murder of two teenagers in the Georgia woods in late 2011.

Timothy Joiner, a 22-year-old Iraq War veteran, pleaded guilty Tuesday in Liberty County, Ga., to more than 30 charges of burglary, financial-transaction-card thefts, and violations of the Georgia Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act among other crimes, according to the Associated Press.

The AP quoted the lead prosecutor in the case, Isabel Pauley, as saying Joiner’s crime wave was an attempt to raise enough money to bail another member of the militia out of jail. Joiner was arrested before that could happen. ( continue to full post… )

Weeks before Derek Mathew Shrout allegedly started building improvised hand grenades in his military family’s home, before the 17-year-old was arrested for plotting to use the devices against black and gay students and a teacher, he was committing racist acts in full view of everyone at an Alabama high school.

Two of his former friends say that Shrout – sometimes wearing his Junior ROTC U.S. Army-issued uniform – repeatedly performed stiff-arm sieg-heil salutes and shouted “white power” at Russell County High School in Seale, Ala., where he apparently intended to carry out the attacks. The community is some 20 miles from the U.S. Army’s sprawling Fort Benning, Ga., compound, where the suspect’s father is stationed. ( continue to full post… )

As the investigation continues into a murderous Georgia-based militia group led by American military personnel who were plotting to overthrow the federal government, a former Navy recruit has become the 11^th person charged in the case that includes allegations of burglaries and car break-ins to support the group and at least two homicides to keep it secret.

It appears drug dealing should also be added to the list.

On Wednesday, according to the Associated Press, Georgia prosecutors said the former Navy recruit, Jeffrey Wayne Roberts Jr., 27, of Savannah, was being held in Bryan County after his arrest Tuesday on charges of illegal gang activity, including possession of cocaine, marijuana and ecstasy with intent to distribute. ( continue to full post… )

FEAR was afraid.

Hours after four members of FEAR, an anti-government militia largely made up of active-duty and recently discharged American soldiers, shot to death two teenage sweethearts in the Georgia woods last December, the group gathered around a backyard bonfire, desperately trying to destroy evidence of the crime.

“That didn’t work out so well,” prosecutor Isabel Pauley told a Liberty County, Ga., Superior Court judge Monday morning as a former Army medic became the second member of the dysfunctional band of brothers to agree to testify against his erstwhile comrades in the murders. ( continue to full post… )

An independent fact-finding report made public last week by the Pentagon in the wake of the November shooting spree at Fort Hood, Texas, concluded that the Pentagon was not well prepared to defend itself from many internal threats. The report, “Protecting the Force: Lessons From Fort Hood,” focused on the serious breakdown within the military that allowed Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, who has been charged with killing 13 people, to advance through the ranks despite concerns from his superiors about his behavior.

The report went much further than the Hasan case, however, examining the Pentagon’s efforts to weed out extremists of all kinds — including those involved in white supremacist hate groups. And it found those efforts lacking. In a section entitled “Indicators That DoD Personnel May Become a Danger to Themselves or Others,” the report states that current Pentagon policies are “outdated and fail to include key indicators of potentially violent behavior.” Specifically cited in this respect is “association with hate groups.”

The report recommends that the DoD (Department of Defense) review its policies on prohibited activities, which it says are currently “limited” and “unclear” and only apply to “active participation in groups [including hate groups] that may pose threats to good order and discipline.” And it proposes that the Pentagon broaden the definition of “active participation” to include “contacting, establishing and/or maintaining relationships with persons or entities that interfere with or present a clear danger to loyalty, discipline, mission, or morale of the troops” and may also “increase an individual’s propensity to commit violence.” The review, which was conducted by Togo D. West Jr., a former secretary of the Army, and Adm. Vernon E. Clark, a former chief of naval operations, suggests that the Pentagon come up with “policy changes” to address these purported failings.

In December, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) wrote to West and Clark about concerns that racist extremists were finding their way into the military’s ranks. The SPLC’s letter stated that the Pentagon’s current policy on “active participation” in hate groups is inadequate. Citing many examples of military personnel posting racist and anti-Semitic materials on the Internet, the SPLC called on the Pentagon to revise its regulations to more broadly prohibit contact with extremists.

J. Richard Cohen, the president and CEO of SPLC, wrote: “The fundamental problem is that current Department of Defense regulations prohibiting ‘active participation’ in extremist groups are inadequate because they can be — and apparently are being — interpreted to allow members of the armed forces to be ‘mere members’ of hate groups or to engage in unaffiliated extremist activities, such as posting racist and anti-Semitic messages to social networking websites and maintaining online profiles filled with racist materials.” The letter was accompanied by dozens of examples of hate material posted on the Web by persons describing themselves as active-duty military personnel. ( continue to full post… )

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) today urged Congress to investigate growing evidence that racial extremists are infiltrating the U.S. military and take steps to ensure that the armed forces are not inadvertently training future domestic terrorists.

In a letter to committee chairmen with oversight over homeland security and the armed services, the SPLC said it recently found dozens of personal profiles on the neo-Nazi social networking site, NewSaxon.org, which listed “military” as the poster’s occupation. NewSaxon is run by the neo-Nazi National Socialist Movement and serves as a sort of racist version of Facebook for “People of European Descent.” These profiles are just the latest in a string of evidence the SPLC has provided since 2006 to the Pentagon of extremist infiltration of the military (for SPLC’s reports, read here, here, and here).

The NewSaxon profiles include an individual who says he is about to be deployed with the Air Force overseas and is looking forward to “killing all the bloody sand niggers!” Another poster who claims to be currently serving in Iraq writes that he “hate[s] illegal immigrants with a passion and feel[s] every true red blooded, white American should do whatever it takes to stop the foreign invasion.” He lists Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf as one of his favorite books. Another poster currently serving in Afghanistan lists as his favorite book The Turner Diaries, which was written by neo-Nazi leader William Pierce and served as a blueprint for the Oklahoma City bombing. Many of the profiles include pictures of the posters in military uniform.

These profiles provide further evidence that current Department of Defense regulations prohibiting “active participation” in extremist groups are inadequate because they can be interpreted to allow members of the armed forces to be “mere members” of hate groups or to engage in unaffiliated extremist activities, such as posting racist and anti-Semitic messages to social networking websites and E-mail lists or maintaining online profiles filled with racist materials.

An article posted yesterday on Stars & Stripes’ website about SPLC’s call for congressional action reported that “military officials gave conflicting answers this week when asked how policies governing racist behavior are being enforced.” A spokesman for the Department of the Army told Stars & Stripes that allegations of racist behavior are dealt with “on a case-by-case basis at the unit disciplinary level or in the military justice system” and have not been “addressed as an Army-wide problem.”