Ex-Members of U.S. Military Were Members of Hutaree Militia Extremist Group

[IDemo]

Source: Newsweek

Posted Friday, April 09, 2010 6:29 PM

Michael Isikoff

Federal investigators have discovered that two members of the extremist Michigan-based Hutaree militia group charged with plotting to assassinate law-enforcement officers are former U.S. military servicemen, including a Marine Corps corporal who was a Persian Gulf War veteran and decorated expert rifleman.

Among those charged in the Hutaree case and accused of "seditious" conspiracy to wage war is Michael David Meeks. An FBI official told NEWSWEEK that Meeks is a former Marine. Marine Corps records reviewed by NEWSWEEK show Meeks served in the Marines between 1988 and 1992 and was a rifle expert based at Camp Pendleton. The records show he received, among other decorations, a Kuwait Liberation Medal that was awarded to veterans of the Persian Gulf War.

His lawyer did not return a request for comment.

Another Hutaree member charged in the case was Kristopher Tyler Sickles, who enlisted in the U.S. Army in August 2007 and was discharged in October of that year after being absent without leave, according to Army records. His lawyer also did not return a call seeking comment. Sickles was identified as the creator of a violent video mimicking jihadist beheadings that was on YouTube but has been removed.

Read more: http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/declassified/archive/2010/04/09/ex-members-of-u-s-military-were-members-of-hutaree-militia-extremist-group.aspx

[ck4829]

1. If only there was some kind of government report warning that this might happen...

[Richard Steele]

15. Indeed- if only. K&R

[boppers]

16. Maybe we should create a department to keep on eye on these things?

Perhaps one that involved both domestic and internal intelligence, as well as operational capability?

[underpants]

18. +1

yes if only

[ixion]

2. military folk members of a para-military group? I'm shocked.

shocked, I tell you. :sarcasm:

[Paladin]

3. Actually, I AM Shocked.

I thought the domestic militia terrorist movement was largely made up of camouflage-clad wannabes, underachievers whose closest exposure to the armed forces was watching "The Military Channel" a lot. Maybe actual military service shouldn't be surprising, considering how the radical right wing has encouraged the military overthrow of civilian governments headed by Democrats ever since the Clinton administration---with Limbaugh as head cheerleader........

[ixion]

4. From my experience

the wanna-bes are there, but the guiding force is someone who's been trained by the military. It's that knowledge that they gather around.

[Xenotime]

5. True.

[FarCenter]

6. Peacetime non-coms who are later unsuccessful in life

get to relive their modest leadership roles. (they also make lousy supervisory managers)

Soldiers who have actually been in combat? Not so much.

[old mark]

7. One of them was a Marine, the other was discharged from the Army after less than a year.

The military used to put people like him in jail, now just throw them out - it's less trouble.
To call him a vet is accurate-barely-but he didn't fit there either and certainly was no leader or non-com..
The Newsweek headline makes it seem there were many vets in that group of idiots, not one and a fraction.

mark

[FarCenter]

8. Sickles was probably "unfit for military service", but Meeks was a Marine corporal

Meeks also appears to have done his full enlistment.

[G_j]

9. and then plots to kill police officers

nasty stuff

[old mark]

14. It takes a long time to make Corporal in the Marines, even in a war.

I am sure he spent some time there - I just wonder what he did. The article mentions his "shooting medals", which are awarded in basic training, and his service medal, which is an "I Was There" medal, not signifying much. I know there are many great service people with no official recognition, which is what medals are, but he sounds pretty ordinary to me.

mark

[subaltern]

12. Exactly.

We aren't talking about Sgt. York here.

[Echo In Light]

21. It's my understanding that many Blackwater & other corp mercenary outfits are ex-mil

[ET Awful]

10. McVeigh was ex-military too. So was Charles Whitman. Lots of fucked up people are

ex-military. So are lots of good people (hell, many of them are right here on DU).

They can't possibly expect us to believe that it took this long to find this out though, can they? I'd be willing to bet that this information was known at the time the raids were being carried out, it would turn up in any rudimentary check law enforcement would engage in.

[old mark]

17. So was George Bush (Both of them) - and so am I....it really means

little as a predictor of any future actions - the military is a pretty good cross section of midle class Americans. Not too many rich people, although some carreer officers are and very very seldom, an enlisted man, such as John Walton of the Walmart Waltons, who served in Vietnam as a Special Forces Medic where he won the Silver Star medal, rarely awarded to an enlisted person.


mark

[Tippy]

11. Shortly after Vietnam we saw groups of soldiers come home

Their lives had been changed forever. After fighting for years in war we could not win, many, came home with a chip on their shoulder,they were all victims in one way or another. They saw so many die, they killed so many. There was no welcome home for them, Our government didn't even want to treat those who came home with Agent Orange, PTS, they mearly came home. Many simply withdrew, they left their families, many just went out in the woods to live. Many felt unwanted, they felt America didn't care. For the most part they lived off the land. We see some of this in soldiers coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan but at least they are being welcomed as hero's, at least they had that welcome, those coming back from Vietnam were out casts. I remember a time after about 10 years, I think it was, these vets marched in a local parade, as they came down the street they were met mostly with silence, but some clapped, you could hear some calling out to them with words of thanks, praise, and we love you's. They had no choice if their number came up they went, sure some skipped out but most went.

Anyway I think we were warned, and our government didn't do anything about it...This was the beginning of the Patriot/Militia movement in my book.

[old mark]

19. T, I once hitch hiked on leave in my uniform (1970) and had people

throw garbage at me as I walked along the road. I walked the last 6 miles or so - no one would stop to give me a ride, although several cars stopped only to drive rapidly away again as I got close to the car.

I won't ever forget that.
mark

[aikoaiko]

13. I remember someone being adamant that none of them had served

I guess that person was wrong.

[malaise]

20. But but but Michelle Malkin said that

the 2009 DHS report was

"...one of the most embarrassingly shoddy pieces of propaganda I’d ever read out of DHS. I couldn’t believe it was real.

I spent the day chasing down DHS spokespeople, who have been tied up preparing for a very important homeland security event later today: The First Lady is coming to visit their Washington office. Priorities, you know.

Well, the press office got back to me and verified that the document is indeed for real".
http://michellemalkin.com/2009/04/14/confirme-the-obama-dhs-hit-job-on-conservatives-is-real/

[Echo In Light]

22. .