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Tag: marine corps
"Unite the Right" Rally in Charlottesville

Ex-Marine And Sheriff’s Deputy Plotted Neo-Nazi Terror Spree

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

Involvement in white supremacist and white nationalist terrorist groups is especially dangerous when someone has been enlisted in the U.S. military, as that person has been trained in the use of weapons. An article by reporter Chris Joyner, published in the Atlanta Journal Constitution on June 26, takes a look at a former U.S. Marine and sheriff's deputy from Wilkinson County, Georgia who was, according to the FBI, plotting racist terrorist attacks.

"When FBI agents in San Diego seized the cell phone of a suspected white supremacist last year," Joyner reports, "they discovered text messages with a Georgia sheriff's deputy boasting of racial violence and preparations for a civil war. The text message chain, called 'Shadow Moses, between San Diego plumber Grey Zamudio, 33, and 28-year-old Cody Griggers, a former Marine and sheriff's deputy in Wilkinson County, revealed plans to steal explosives, dry runs with illegal silencers and boasts of racial violence. In one text, Griggers said he hoped law enforcement and the military would join their side in the coming conflict."

Griggers and Zamudio, Joyner notes, have both pled guilty to federal weapons charges. Both of them are due to be sentenced this summer — first Zamudio in July, then Griggers in August.

Joyner reports, "Griggers, who was a military policeman stationed in San Diego until his honorable discharge in 2017, said he wished he could 'go ahead and fast-forward so I can enjoy the suffering of the abortion that is the American population.'"

Joyner notes that "rooting out extremism within the military" is a high priority for Gen. Lloyd Austin, secretary of defense in the Biden Administration — and Joyner points out out that "Griggers' involvement shines a light on the growing concern inside the intelligence community about the far-right radicalization of service members and law enforcement officers." And Joyner also observes that according to a recent study by the Program on Extremism at George Washington University, 12% of the more than 450 people arrested in connection with the January 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol Building were current or former members of the United States' armed services.

The Griggers/Zamudio alliance underscores the type of threat that violent white supremacists and white nationalists pose in the United States in 2021. Griggers bragged that he could obtain weapons such as flashbang grenades, and Zamudio told his ally, "I'm ready to terrorize L.A."

Joyner explains, "In one exchange, Griggers wrote about getting police equipment and explosives in preparation for what he expected would be the racial and political violence to come. Other law enforcement officers could be brought to his side or attacked for 'siding with the enemy'…. The FBI said Griggers spoke approvingly of the Holocaust, and when they raided Zamudio's home, they found an anti-Semitic and racist novel well known among the radical right for its depiction of an apocalyptic race war. Griggers indulged in such fantasies where the assassination of 'famous liberals'' could be blamed on Muslims."

Griggers told Zamudio, "I'm either positioned to maximize damage by attacking from the inside or coordinate efforts to safely identify ourselves as patriots in order to maximize weapons pointed towards the enemy and minimize friendly fire."

According to Joyner, "In his texts, Griggers boasted of using his law enforcement position to carry out attacks. In one exchange in August 2019, he described an alleged beating of a Black suspect as 'sweet stress relief' and claimed he planned to charge other Black people with felonies to keep them from voting."

Marine Corps Orders GOP Politician To Stop Using Its Seal

Marine Corps Orders GOP Politician To Stop Using Its Seal

The Marine Corps is not happy with Rep. Duncan Hunter.

The Marine Corps issued a “cease and desist” letter to Rep. Duncan Hunter, telling the indicted California Republican to stop using the Marine Corps emblem in his campaign, NBC News reported Wednesday.

“It has come to our attention that your campaign is using the official USMC Eagle, Globe and Anchor (Emblem) and the phrase ‘No Better Friend, No Worse Enemy’ (Phrase) as an integral part of your political campaign, namely, on at least one fundraising mailer to your constituents,” the letter states.

Since those images and phrases are protected by federal law and cannot be used without permission, the Marine Corps demanded Hunter’s campaign “immediately remove the Emblem and the Phrase from its mailers, and, without limitation, from all other campaign materials including websites and other instances where the Emblem or the Phrase are being used.”

Just to be sure the campaign follows through, the Marine Corps demanded to know “a timetable as to your compliance with our requests.”

Hunter used the Marine Corps emblem on a racist mailer attacking his likely Democratic opponent, Ammar Campa-Najjar.

“At this point, it’s pretty clear that Congressman Hunter has lost all ability to tell the difference between right and wrong, fact and fiction,” Campa-Najjar said last week about the mailer. “It’s one scandal after another, one embarrassing news story after another, one potential crime after another, one courtroom appearance after another, and one lie after another.”

The Hunter campaign’s unauthorized use of Marine Corps material piles on to Hunter’s existing legal troubles. Hunter is out on bail and awaiting trial after being arrested for using campaign cash to fund a lavish lifestyle. Federal prosecutors accuse Hunter of using campaign funds to take family vacations, pay for his children’s private schools, and even fly the family’s pet rabbit across the country.

Hunter also allegedly used campaign cash to carry on multiple extramarital affairs, including some with lobbyists and one with a staffer. Hunter’s wife, who was also his campaign manager, pleaded guilty and has agreed to cooperate with prosecutors.

Hunter came close to violating his parole during a stunt near the U.S.-Mexico border where Hunter claimed to go to Mexico. One of the conditions of his parole is that he not leave the country.

Hunter’s service in the Marine Corps has also been a source of controversy. In a May interview, Hunter bragged that when he served in Iraq, he killed “scores of if not hundreds of civilians, probably killed women and children if there were any left in the city when we invaded.”

The Hunter campaign says it will comply with the Marine Corps request to remove their emblem and other protected material, according to NBC News.

Published with permission of The American Independent.

IMAGE: Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA).

Marine Corps Cracks Down On White Supremacists In Ranks

Marine Corps Cracks Down On White Supremacists In Ranks

Reprinted with permission from ProPublica.

 

The United States Marine Corps has taken steps to combat racial extremists in its ranks, issuing an updated order emphasizing that participation in white supremacist and other groups is prohibited and encouraging service members to report fellow Marines involved with such groups.

The actions come after an active-duty Marine was documented taking part in last year’s deadly white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, and two others were arrested after hanging a racist banner off a building in North Carolina.

“The order reaffirms the Marine Corps’ commitment to maintaining a culture of dignity, respect and trust in which all members of the organization are afforded equal opportunity to achieve their full potential based solely upon individual merit, fitness, intellect and ability,” Maj. Brian Block, a Marine spokesman, said.

A ProPublica and Frontline investigation this year revealed that Vasillios G. Pistolis, a Marine based at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, had engaged in a series of assaults during the Charlottesville rally. Pistolis, who had been a member of the white extremist group known as Atomwaffen Division, was subsequently subjected to a court-martial and forced from the Corps. Pistolis told ProPublica and Frontline that he had left the racist group and that he had not been present in Charlottesville. However, there are photographs, video and text messages that make clear he was indeed there.

Last year, the Marine Corps Times reported that Staff Sgt. Joseph Manning and Sgt. Michael Chesny pleaded guilty to trespassing charges for hanging a banner with a white power slogan from a building in Graham, North Carolina, in May 2017. The two Marines have since been “administratively separated” from the organization, Block confirmed.

Like every branch of service, the Marine Corps has regulations that bar its members from participating in racial extremist groups, but the updated policy clarifies language on prohibited conduct, chiefly by explicitly identifying “supremacist” activity as forbidden. It also consolidates many previous orders, a large number of which haven’t been updated in years, and aims to tighten accountability when rules of conduct are violated. The updated policy encourages service members who see their peers engaging in prohibited behavior to report them through various channels.

Pete Simi, co-author of the book “American Swastika” and an associate professor at Chapman University in California who has studied extremist groups for the last 20 years, said, “The order is significant only if there is a plan to both root out and prevent folks from taking part in extremist activity.”

The amended order isn’t part of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, the federal law that defines criminal offenses under the U.S. military’s legal system.

“As an order, violation of the prohibited activities and conduct is punishable under the UCMJ, but this is not in and of itself a change to the UCMJ,” Block said.

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IMAGE: Joint Chiefs Chairman Marine Corps General Joseph Dunford Jr. testifies before House Armed Services Committee in Washington.

 

Last Original Navajo Code Talker Dies

Last Original Navajo Code Talker Dies

Washington (AFP) – Chester Nez, the last of 29 Navajo Indians who helped create a code used during World War II and never broken by the Axis Powers, died Wednesday. He was 93.

Flags will be flown at half-mast until June 8 on the tribe’s territory in the United States.

“The power of our language was shared with the world during World War II when the Original 29 Navajo Code Talkers stepped forward for service,” Navajo Nation President Ben Shelly said in a statement.

He said Nez’s passing in his sleep during the morning hours “closes another chapter in the annals of Navajo.”

Nez and 28 other Navajos were recruited by the Marine Corps in May 1942 to create a code for communications on the battlefield based on their complex tribal language, which is tonal and unwritten.

He later participated in the war’s Pacific Battles in Guadalcanal, Guam, Peleliu and Bougainville.

Nez’s death “sadly marks the end of an era in our country’s and Marine Corps’ history,” said Marine Corps spokesman Colonel David Lapan.

“The Navajo Code Talkers made invaluable contributions to the war effort in the Pacific theater during World War II,” he added, hailing their “heroic actions.”

Last year, Nez said “I was very proud to say that the Japanese did everything in their power to break that code but they never did.”

A total of 400 Navajo Indians took part in the Pacific Wars as Code Talkers.

Other Native Americans from the Choctaw, Comanche and Seminole tribes took part in combat against the Germans and the Japanese, transmitting coded messages in their native language.

Due to the lack of equivalent terms in their native tongue, certain words had to be substituted, such as “plane” for “bird” and “bomber” for “pregnant bird.”

The Navajo code would attribute an Indian word for each letter of the alphabet. So “moasi,” which means “cat,” would serve to designate the letter “c.”

The code was classified until the 1980s because the U.S. military long hoped it could reuse it in a future conflict.

Photo: David Mcnew via AFP