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Feds Investigate Fake Memo

After the neo-Nazi Aryan Nations posted a memo on their website purporting to prove a law enforcement plot to murder the group's leadership, the FBI and Seattle police have launched an investigation.

The FBI and Seattle police have launched an investigation into a fake memo posted on the Web site of the Idaho-based Aryan Nations in August. The document described a law enforcement plot to carry out the "complete elimination" of the neo-Nazi group's leadership, including aging founder Richard Butler.

"The sooner the extremists are dead, the better for the United States," said the memo, purportedly written by an unnamed police agency but getting basic facts like the name of the regional Joint Terrorism Task Force wrong. The memo goes on to list names of nine assassins who have been equipped with "guns and training."

Interestingly, these listed "recruits" are real people, and turn out to be mostly linked through a local organization, the Young Democrats of Washington, which is based in Seattle. Their addresses are also listed, leading to fears in some quarters that the real purpose of the memo was to make those people targets for retribution.