Irregular Army: How the US MilitaryRecruited Neo-Nazis, Gang Members, andCriminals to Fight the War on Terrorby Matt Kennard

Reveals the US military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” approach toextremists in its ranks.

Since the launch of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars—now the longest wars inAmerican history—the US military has struggled to recruit troops. It hasresponded, as Matt Kennard’s explosive investigative report makes clear, byopening its doors to neo-Nazis, white supremacists, gang members, criminals ofall stripes, the overweight, and the mentally ill. Based on several years ofreporting, Irregular Army includes extensive interviews with extremist veteransand leaders of far-right hate groups—who spoke openly of their eagerness to havetheir followers acquire military training for a coming domestic race war. As areport commissioned by the Department of Defense itself put it, “Effectively, themilitary has a ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy pertaining to extremism.”

Irregular Army connects some of the War on Terror’s worst crimes to thisopening-up of the US military. With millions of veterans now back in the US anddomestic extremism on the rise, Kennard’s book is a stark warning aboutpotential dangers facing Americans—from their own soldiers.

Hardback, 288 pagesISBN: 9781844678808September 2012$26.95 / £14.99 / $26.50CAN

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Reviews“I have been following Matt Kennard’s work for years, with muchappreciation. He is a fine journalist and political analyst, acute andperceptive, and his work is based on real insight and understanding over abroad range.”– Noam Chomsky

“Matt Kennard is a fluent, powerful and authoritative writer whose debutbook will surely establish him as one of Britain’s best-known investigativejournalists.”– David Crouch, Financial Times

“Matt Kennard's new book expertly exposes the effect of the Americancolonial capitalist war machine on poor American soldiers as well as thestricken peoples of Iraq and Afghanistan living under them. I hope it isread by many people.”– Nawal El-Saadawi

“An exceptional author. Matt Kennard never tries to paint a pig pretty.Thanks, Matt, for keeping it ugly.”– Hunter Glass, former gang investigator for the US military

“Matt Kennard is a creative and dogged investigative reporter whose probeof hidden realities inside the U.S. military promises to be a revelation.”– Esther Kaplan, editor of the Investigative Fund at the Nation Institute

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Matt Kennard featured in Democracy Now's Oak CreekMassacre Special Report

Matt Kennard, author of the forthcoming Irregular Army: How the USMilitary Recruited Neo-Nazis, Gang Members, and Criminals to Fight theWar on Terror appeared on Democracy Now this morning in a specialsegment about Sunday's Oak Creek, Wisconsin Sikh temple massacre,shooter Wade Michael Page and his research on the rise of whitesupremacist, neo-Nazi and violent extremists in the US military.

Matt Kennard has been researching the impact of the War on Terror on USmilitary recruitment of extremists, gang members, the mentally unstable,and far-right; his book, to be released this September, collects this work,painting a startling picture of the threat posed on domestic soil by thefanatics being armed and trained in high-grade weaponry with Americantax-payer dollars.

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Visit Democracy Now to watch the segment in full.By Jessica Turner / 09 August 2012 / post comment

After Oak Creek, Matt Kennard leads the scrutiny of the USmilitary's neo-Nazi elements

In a New York Times Room for Debate segment discussing white hategroups in light of the Oak Creek gurdwara shooting, Matt Kennard, authorof the forthcoming Irregular Army: How the US Military RecruitedNeo-Nazis, Gang Members, and Criminals to Fight the War onTerror, examines the US military's conspicuous license of neo-Nazis,criminals, and gang members that compose the infantry of America's LongWar. He writes,

The military ripped up the thin regulations it had on far-right radicals as

it struggled to stock its fighting force with sufficient numbers of soldiers for the

war on terrorism.

The armed forces should have known better after terrorist attacks like the

Oklahoma City bombing, which was carried out by its extremist veterans. The

significant number of white supremacist veterans now back in the United States,

battle hardened and with weapons training gained in Iraq and Afghanistan,

should scare every American.

Meanwhile, in Al Jazeera, Belén Fernández cites Irregular Army to detailthe extremist danger at the heart of the US Army, how “leaders of the whitesupremacist movement view enlistment as a means of preparation for adomestic race war...[with] access to a laboratory of Iraqis:”

According to a 2005 report sponsored by the US Department of Defenceitself, “the military has a 'don't ask, don't tell' policy pertaining toextremism”. However, Kennard's investigations suggest that even blatant“telling” often fails to incur meaningful repercussions. For starters, hereports telephoning five different Army recruitment centres, posing as anaspiring soldier curious as to whether his tattoo of Nazi SS lightning boltswill impede his soldiering aspirations. The upshot: “Despite being outlinedin Army regulations as a tattoo to look out for, none of the recruitersreacted negatively and, when pressed directly about the tattoo, not one ofthem said it would be an outright problem”.

Visit the New York Times and Al Jazeera to read the articles in full.

By Ryan Healey / 16 August 2012 / post comment

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“How long before the next tragedy?” Matt Kennard speakswith John Hockenberry of The Takeaway

Matt Kennard, author of Irregular Army: How the US Military RecruitedNeo-Nazis, Gang Members, and Criminals to Fight the War on Terror wasa guest on Thursday's The Takeaway, discussing his research on thecrossover between the US army and hate groups, in the wake of lastSunday's massacre at the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin.

00:00 13:58

The U.S. Military's History of Recruiting and Retaining Neo-NazisThe U.S. Military's History of Recruiting and Retaining Neo-Nazis

In the interview, Kennard set alleged shooter Wade Michael Page'sexperience in the military and what we've come to learn of his neo-Naziaffiliations in context.

As Kennard explained:

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By Jessica Turner / 09 August 2012 / post comment

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