U.S. soldier plotted with a satanic neo-Nazi cult to stage ‘murderous ambush’ on his unit, feds say
Category: News & Politics
Via: flynavy1 • 4 years ago • 92 commentsBy: Allyson Chiu- Washington Post
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
As Ethan Melzer’s Army unit prepared to deploy in April, the young private recognized that he could be killed while overseas and expressed an apparent willingness to die. “I would’ve died successfully,” he allegedly wrote in a message.
But federal authorities now say that Melzer’s life was actually at risk because of a murderous plot he had hatched against his own unit.
Melzer, a 22-year-old from Louisville, is accused of leaking sensitive information about his unit to a satanic neo-Nazi cult as part of a plot to launch a “mass casualty” attack intended to cause “the deaths of as many of his fellow service members as possible,” according to an indictment unsealed Monday.
In electronic messages, Melzer allegedly shared details about his unit’s location, movements and security with members of the Order of Nine Angles , or O9A, an organization based in the United Kingdom and described by prosecutors as “an occult-based neo-Nazi and racially motivated violent extremist group.”
“Melzer allegedly provided this potentially deadly information intending that it be conveyed to jihadist terrorists,” Audrey Strauss, acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, said in a news release .
Describing the planned attack as a “murderous ambush,” Strauss called Melzer “the enemy within,” adding that he was “motivated by racism and hatred as he attempted to carry out this ultimate act of betrayal.”
Melzer, whose alleged plans were thwarted by the FBI and the Army late last month, was arrested on June 10 and has been charged with conspiring and attempting to murder U.S. nationals, conspiring and attempting to murder military service members, providing and attempting to provide material support to terrorists, and conspiring to murder and maim in a foreign country, according to the release.
Authorities said Melzer admitted to plotting the assault against an unidentified military base. While in custody, he declared himself “a traitor against the United States” and said his conduct was “tantamount to treason,” the indictment said. If convicted, Melzer could face up to life in prison.
Jennifer E. Willis, an attorney representing Melzer, told The Washington Post early Tuesday that she has “no comment at this time.”
The charges against Melzer are likely to renew concerns about white nationalist and extremist influences within the U.S. military amid an increase in violence linked to right-wing fringe movements. In the United States, for example, followers of the “boogaloo boys” have recently been charged with murder and accused of attempting to incite violence at the largely peaceful demonstrations against police brutality.
In April, the U.N. Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate published a report citing research that there has been a 320 percent rise in terrorist attacks with links to such movements and ideologies over the past five years. There is a “growing and increasingly transnational threat posed by extreme right-wing terrorism,” the report said, noting that the attacks have been intensifying in both frequency and lethality.
Federal prosecutors said Monday that members and associates of O9A, the group Melzer was allegedly involved with, have been known to participate in acts of violence, including murder.
O9A promotes “violent, neo-Nazi, anti-Semitic and Satanic beliefs,” and its adherents have expressed admiration of Adolf Hitler and Islamic terrorists such as Osama bin Laden, prosecutors said. Earlier this year, government officials in Britain faced pressure from activists to outlaw O9A as a terrorist organization, the BBC reported .
The group, which intertwines Satanism, paganism and Nazism to create a “bizarre pseudo-religious political cult,” is believed to have originated in the early 1970s, according to Hope not Hate , an anti-hate advocacy organization in the United Kingdom. As Hope not Hate writes, O9A “encourages acolytes to engage in forbidden and illegal acts, including extreme violence, sexual assault, assassinations and human sacrifices.” More recently, O9A has gained prominence online, allowing its propaganda to be easily accessed by “young radicals drawn to extreme fringe ideas,” the advocacy group noted.
Federal authorities did not specify how Melzer, who joined the Army in 2018, became involved with O9A, saying only that he was affiliated with the group by 2019. That same year, Melzer and his unit were deployed abroad, the indictment said.
Before planning the attack, Melzer consumed propaganda from O9A and the Islamic State (ISIS), authorities said. FBI agents said that during their investigation, they discovered an ISIS document stored in Melzer’s iCloud account that mentioned the “HARVEST OF THE SOLDIERS” and described the attacks and killings of U.S. service members.
The plot to kill his fellow soldiers allegedly began to take shape in April, after Melzer learned that his unit was being moved to a different foreign base, according to the indictment.
Prosecutors allege that once he was notified of the assignment, Melzer used an encrypted application to message members of O9A and a related group known as the RapeWaffen Division. The messages allegedly contained conversations about Melzer’s commitment to O9A and the specifics of his unit’s upcoming deployment, including the number of soldiers who would be traveling, where they would be going and details about their location’s surveillance and defensive capabilities. Authorities allege that Melzer also promised to share more details of his new base after he arrived “to try to maximize the likelihood of a successful attack on his unit.”
In one message in May, Melzer passed along information about the deployment to a purported member of al-Qaeda, the indictment said. About a week after, Melzer messaged an O9A chat group, allegedly writing that he was “risking [his] literal free life” by leaking the information and was “expecting results.” He also suggested that the assault, which authorities say Melzer and O9A members called a “jihadi attack,” would start a “new war.”
Melzer acknowledged in later messages that he knew the planned attack could result in his death, but wrote, “who gives a f---,” adding, “I would’ve died successfully … cause another 10 year war in the Middle East would definitely leave a mark.”
On Monday, federal prosecutors accused Melzer of attempting to carry out the deadly attack “in service of a diabolical cocktail of ideologies laced with hate and violence.”
“Our women and men in uniform risk their lives for our country, but they should never face such peril at the hands of one of their own,” said John C. Demers, the assistant attorney general for national security.
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Wow.... Looks like we need to be doing more than drug screening.
This kid has been in since sometime in 2018. Surprising that this didn't surface earlier.
scratch another trump voter...
I'm not ready to go there... but damn. The military should be weeding these racists out faster.
How, tho? Really hard reading and writing tests?
Do you remember a few years ago when a Neo Nazi group was busted at Camp Pendleton?
No, but could you post a link for us to review please Paula..... Help refresh our memories. It would seem to be pertinent.
Hmmmmmm...... Tats and body ink might be a good place to start..... That might get some in the first sweep.
We did give up some of our rights while in uniform. Maybe increasing funding for background checks for those enlisting beyond the ability to obtain a security clearance.
Simply ridiculous outrageous. The man is clearly a hater of America, Christianity, our military, and Trump. Not to mention the blend of satanism with ISIS.
Hmmmm.....my son-in-law has a lot of ink and he served 4 years regular Army and is now in the Reserves. He's not a Neo-Nazi. I can hear him now "I hate those F******!"
I'm betting there is going to be a series of service wide training programs implemented in six months related to this topic. The military has to be able to police it's own.
meh, all 3 of my adult kids have tats. centuries old fad the comes and goes. I said nothing, since everyone needs to learn to live with their decisions, good or bad. they all regret them now, after seeing how they look after a few decades on the generation before mine. there are certain tats that do have racist/gang significance though, and they should be scrutinized.
Ha. What is that supposed to be?
Well stretch out the skin.
Oh there it is...Looks a little green...
Yeah depends on the tat. Like an 88 tat would be obvious or how they document gang tats in prison.
I know a guy, really great person but when he was young got a rebel flag tat on his shoulder. He regrets it now and is embarrassed by it. Says it is not him or how he feels.
I think you're right. It didn't seem too much longer after the Tail Hook incident everybody was getting sexual harassment briefings
I can try, but I've never posted a link so I might fail. I am totally puter challenged.
Tail Hook..... Alcohol.... High Levels of Testoserone.... what could possibly go wrong?
They were all acting like they were in Po City/Subic Bay
Right, because Trump gets the Satanist and ISIS/ISIL vote.
There are certain symbols...and certain numbers...that are associated with regular gangs as well as far-right extremists.
Yep....they should have weeded out Major Nidal Hasan long before he committed the Fort Hood massacre.
"The group’s hierarchy also requires followers to undertake “insight roles”, which means spending a minimum of six months infiltrating and subverting other organisations or religions in order to gain new experience, thereby strengthening O9A. The O9A work Hostia directs initiates to: “Undertake the role of extreme political activist and so champion heretical views (by e.g. becoming involved in extreme Right- Wing activism)”, or alternatively to join the police ."
They may not really be Trump supporters but their ideals align so they're no doubt within and have infiltrated right wing extremist groups who are Trump supporters.
Ft Leavenworth can always use another man (I use the term loosely) as PLO (Permanent Latreen Orderly). Then again imo, he is guilty of treason and it is still a DP Offense in the military.
The death penalty would be justified in this case.
...then anyone that promotes unamerican and unconstitutional ideologies should be subject. buh bye dominionists...
When the dominionists plot with foreign extremist groups and ISIS/ISIL against their fellow US soldiers; then they will deserve the death penalty.
Until then you have nothing except your irrational hatred.
An active duty Air Force Sgt is charged with the murder of a federal office in Oakland during the protests and a Sheriff deputy in the Santa Cruz area. He was connected to the ''Boogaloo Boys''.
The FBI has been warning for a few years now that the greatest danger in the US is the rise of the white nationist groups.
I remember the warnings Kavika. I think I posted an article or two on that topic years ago. I'm glad they caught him prior to him taking action. Given the lethality of the weapons he might of had access to, there is no telling what the body count might have been.
Here is a link to his arrest and background. Note the type of training and what his job was.
And this guy would have been deployed to US embassies, I bet.
I couldn't find what his rank is. The Air Force does not have the rank of Sergeant any longer. You don't reach non-commissioned officer status until you've tested and qualified for Staff Sergeant.
Another article stated that he was a Staff Sergeant, Trout.
The other article said that he was a team leader providing high security for jet fighters.
Yep.... US Embassy deployment. A place where he could do the most damage.
Thanks, Kavika.
Back in my day a "team leader providing high security for jet fighters" was a cop
Fly as a former USAF SP, It would have been very doubtful he would have been able to procure any military owned weapons unless he walked off post and duty with one , if so at that point a shitshow would have started to get them back immediately.
As Kavs link shows he was in possession of an available version AR-15 that is currently on the civilian market ( it is currently not federally illegal to make a semi automatic version of any firearm out there, but there ARE already laws that pertain to them)
Thanks for the clarification Mark... Hope you've been well.
Really I thought that they were flying Sopwith Camels back in your day, Trout...That was way to easy. LOL
Doing well, thanx for asking. hope your doing the same.
The boogaloo movement are a bunch of really nutty far-right extremists:
The boogaloo movement is a far-right extremist movement that calls for a second Civil War. A recent report by the Network Contagion Research Institute , the independent nonprofit that studies misinformation, the coronavirus lockdowns have inflamed conspiracy groups such as boogaloo and QAnon with the themes of imminent civil war and revolt against police. NBC News first reported on Carrillo's alleged ties to the boogaloo movement.
Always trust you to take the easy way, Kavika. At least we had gotten off the ground in my day <snicker>
LOL, good one Trout.
I thought you would like that
I am retired Army but I say bust all of these Nazi muffins and remove them from society permanently. They will discover a new meaning of the term "goose step" if they drop the soap.
I hear there are still plenty of big rocks at Leavenworth that need to to made into little rocks.
Send em ....
If they run out of big rocks, they have them shipped in.
And they need to be weeded out of the military and police Departments as quickly as possible
I hope they find the evidence to convict him but instead of Leavenworth, he should do life in that SuperMax prison in Colorado. He gets let out for an hour once a day for exercise but spends the rest of his 23 hours in his cell
He wants to be a jihadist then let's treat him like one
Naw...Ft L where it will be hard labor all day long. They won't be able to just chill with TV's, radios, and junk food. If they thought Basic Training was rough, they will get it 24 hrs a day for the rest of their lives.
They don't get to do anything like that in the SuperMax, either. I think they're alllowed to read...
I've seen some documentaries where they can get radios and TV's to help with the confinement. If they fuck up, those privileges are suspended.
I can see allowing them one of those 5 inch TVs
Gitmo? Put him in one of those cages there.......? The Marines would take special care of him. Lots of soap to slip on down there. Air drop him to the Kurds.....? If he survives the jump, the Kurds I'm sure would befriend him.
Either the death penalty or Gitmo would be good.
Gitmo sounds like a plan
Well, this is interesting news.
For military personnel, 'mere membership' in a neo-Nazi group 'is not prohibited,' say military officials
Operation Pastorius ?
Sounds like it only the attacks will be on European soil.
Confidence ?
It's because of the First Amendment
There have been numerous Supreme Court rulings re: the right to free speech. They have ruled that"the right to freedom of speech is not absolute". (That apples to many other rights as well).
IIRC, one of the main concepts is that the Free speech protections do not extend to actually advocating violence.
(So I suppose if you were a member of a Nazi group but never actually advocated violence you could get away with it? For example if you said that Jews, Blacks, and any other group was inferior, that would be acceptable. But if you actually advocated killing them-- that is not a right covered by the amendment.
That's why I remember from High School POD. You can say any vile thing you want to about any group as long as you don't advocate violence.
WOW Kavika! I knew recruiting was getting difficult, but dropping to this????
I think that all sorts of security screenings occasionally slip up.
I remember reading that some of 9/11 hijackers had actually taken flight training at an aviation school in Florida.
I remember reading that some of 9/11 hijackers had actually taken flight training at an aviation school in Florida.
Their was a sick joke making the rounds at the time. That they had excellent class attendance except they cut the classes on how to land a plane.
That is correct.... We trained them here. Takeoffs only. No red flag there.
Didn't an FBI agent try to get somebody's attention on this? I think she saw that they were only interested in flying and not landings or take-offs? I think they called her a whistleblower
.........Called her a whistleblower.....
Can't confirm nor deny that TG.
What the actual fuck is wrong with some people.
So now we have some new group I never heard of, that believes in sacrifice.
Maybe these piece of shit people can be used as guinea pigs to test new drugs and vaccines for disease.
That way they could at least have done something for a greater good.
meh, out of the back of a C130 with a surplus/defective WWII parachute and carbine, over tehran...
Now there is another group I never heard of.
Two scumbags were just arrested in Oregon for killing seven people in Alabama.
Are part of some group called The Seven Deadly Sins. The only thing I could find on that was it was an anime cartoon and has a Steam community.
Found this Ender
I*'ve researched it-- its amazing how many of these groups there are, that most people never heard of. Some are really quite small--- but others have significant membership.
And in the 30's there was a really large American Nazi Party-- they even held rallies in Madison Square Garden:
An enormous portrait of George Washington hangs alongside swastika banners and American flags at New York's Madison Square Garden in 1939 during the German American Bund's Pro American Rally.
On the evening of Feb. 20, 1939, the marquee of New York's Madison Square Garden was lit up with the evening's main event: a "Pro American Rally." The organizers had chosen the date in celebration of George Washington's birthday and had procured a 30-foot-tall banner of America's first president for the stage. More than 20,000 men and women streamed inside and took their seats. The view they had was stunning: Washington was hung between American flags — and swastikas.
The rally was sponsored by the German American Bund, an organization with headquarters in Manhattan and thousands of members across the United States. In the 1930s, the Bund was one of several organizations in the United States that were openly supportive of Adolf Hitler and the rise of fascism in Europe. They had parades, bookstores and summer camps for youth . Their vision for America was a cocktail of white supremacy, fascist ideology and American patriotism.
There have been numerous Supreme Court rulings re: the right to free speech. They have ruled that"the right to freedom of speech is not absolute". (That apples to many other rights as well).
IIRC, one of the main concepts is that the Free speech protections do not extend to actually advocating violence.
(So I suppose if you were a member of a Nazi group but never actually advocated violence you could get away with it? For example if you said that Jews, Blacks, and any other group was inferior, that would be acceptable. But if you actually advocated killing them-- that is not a right covered by the amendment.
How do you get to the point of only living to hate? Is there nothing else in these peoples lives to make living more important than dying? I guess that I don't have to look any further than the kids that have nothing, taken in by those that turn them into human bombs.
We as a species have some real problems.....
Actually that's a common misconception (that those kids are "driven" to become bombers by "desperation". The reason they do it is that the government that rules their areas indoctrinates them from an early age:
As in all totalitarian governments, the indoctrination begins at an early age-- its in all their textbooks:
Hillary Clinton says Palestinian TV and schoolbooks poisons kid's
Often, depending upon their own political bias. some people (on both sides of the aisle) claim its only extremists on "the other side of the aisle" who are the bad guys. But the fact is, absolute dictatorships, whether it be Stalin, Hitler, or a theocratic dictatorship (rule by a religious extremist) or a secular dictatorship (rule by a non-religious fanatic) all have much in common. And one of the important thing is brainwash their population from an early age...
Neo-Nazi Satanist in the armed forces helping Isis. You just can't make this stuff up.... and if you did, everyone would say you took it too far to be believable.
Well, maybe not everyone. Certainly not the people who studied, in depth, what happened under Stalin...or Hitler...Yassir Arafat...or Saddam... or Assad or some of the worst theocracies. Or, for that matter, under Jim Jones (remember him?) and his (voluntarily) indoctrinated followers?
Oh and Rajneesh and his nutty groupies. (The are many bizarre cults around-- some are just really weird but harmless to anyone outside their circle...other espouse violence).
And Scientology . . . and The Weatherman.
The Klan.... the "Beltway Snipers"...
Timothy McVeigh....
There seem to be very dynamic, charismatic, and very sick personalities who a need to be worshipped and followed blindly. And there are also much larger groups of people who have a need for a leader they can worship.... the two mesh perfectly!
people who have a need for a leader they can worship
Are you saying the weak minded being lead by the twisted? Hmmmmm.
Yes.
Ironically, sometimes they just join small, harmless or other cults...but in some cases they've even been known to form a cult of worship of some twisted political leader. Often this leader's weak-minded "base" believes anything the leader says-- and they will even risk their very lives for the leader.
(But of course I'm not going to mention any names!
)
But of course I'm not going to mention any names!
That was implied.....
Can't explain it---I really can explain it but I won't-----------none the less, The rise of conservative right wing ideals seems to have a hand in the rise of fascism here in the US and the World.
Always has . . .and probably always will.
Nationalism has been behind a number of wars.....