US soldier plotted with neo-Nazi group to attack own unit, indictment says

[Larry Moecurley]

Source: The Guardian

Mon 22 Jun 2020 19.11 EDT

A US Army soldier was plotting with a British occultist neo-Nazi group to attack and kill members of his own military unit, according to a newly unsealed indictment by the Department of Justice.

Ethan Melzer, a 22-year old army private from Louisville, Kentucky, has been charged with conspiring and attempting to murder US 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, the DoJ announced on Monday.

“As alleged, Ethan Melzer, a private in the US Army, was the enemy within,” said acting US attorney for the southern district of New York, Audrey Strauss.

“Melzer allegedly attempted to orchestrate a murderous ambush on his own unit by unlawfully revealing its location, strength, and armaments to a neo-Nazi, anarchist, white supremacist group.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jun/22/us-soldier-plot-british-neo-nazi-group-to-attack-own-unit

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How many hours before Trump pardons him, flies him back here, and nominates him as the new SecDef?

[C_U_L8R]

1. There needs to be a great purging.

These rightwing racists are traitors who endanger us all.

[onetexan]

11. It starts at the military academies. These future leaders being formed in schools will be officers

and many will be leading troops after they graduate. The culture they've learned in school that will be tolerated will be the culture they foster with their subordinates. It's important to weed out the racists and bigots from the getgo.

[Princess Turandot]

2. According to the BBC, he was sending the info to a UK group called Order of the Nine Angles...

...which has previously been described as a UK Nazi Satanist group. (Wikipedia has a long article on them.)

[IronLionZion]

3. Charge him with terrorism and treason

and see Trump pardon him and probably give him some award for being "very fine people". Both sides are guilty, etc.

[Karadeniz]

4. I'd love to hear a reporter ask Trump or Bimbo Barbie if this guy and the white supremacists

He contacted would qualify as very fine people, like the Charlottesville white supremacists.

[Lock him up.]

5. What have we become??

President Biden, House Speaker Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Schumer must get together and devise a plan to label all these neo-nazi crackpots terrorist groups (what they are) and bring the bill to the G7 meeting to coordinate their destruction.

No mercy for these assholes!

Lock him up.

[SunSeeker]

6. WTF

[SeattleVet]

7. Here's the info and the indictment from the DoJ

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/us-army-soldier-charged-terrorism-offenses-planning-deadly-ambush-service-members-his-unit

(much more at link)

The Department of Justice announced today the unsealing of an indictment charging Ethan Melzer, 22, of Louisville, Kentucky, for allegedly planning an attack on his U.S. Army unit by sending sensitive details about the unit – including information about its location, movements, and security – to members of an extremist organization named Order of the Nine Angles (O9A), an occult-based neo-Nazi and white supremacist group. Melzer is 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. The FBI and the U.S. Army thwarted Melzer’s plot in late-May 2020, and the FBI arrested Melzer on June 10, 2020. The case is assigned to U.S. District Judge Gregory Woods.

“As the indictment lays out, Ethan Melzer plotted a deadly ambush on his fellow soldiers in the service of a diabolical cocktail of ideologies laced with hate and violence,” said Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C. Demers. “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. The National Security Division is proud to support the efforts of those who disrupted this planned attack and to seek justice for these acts.”

“As alleged, Ethan Melzer, a private in the U.S. Army, was the enemy within. Melzer allegedly attempted to orchestrate a murderous ambush on his own unit by unlawfully revealing its location, strength, and armaments to a neo-Nazi, anarchist, white supremacist group,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss for the Southern District of New York. “Melzer allegedly provided this potentially deadly information intending that it be conveyed to jihadist terrorists. As alleged, Melzer was motivated by racism and hatred as he attempted to carry out this ultimate act of betrayal. Thanks to the efforts of the agents and detectives of the JTTF, our partners in the Departments of Defense and State, and the career prosecutors of this office, a hate-fueled terrorist attack against American soldiers has been thwarted.”


Indictment:

https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1287731/download

[ck4829]

8. White Nationalist Terrorism

[Lonestarblue]

9. The product of right-wing, white nationalist propaganda.

Perhaps our free speech laws prevent doing anything about hate radio and the white nationalist sites on the Internet, but somehow we need to find a way to decrease the number of people who believe this nonsense. Some parents are raising their children to become terrorists and murderers just because they hate black people.

[UCmeNdc]

10. Trump's 'Merica!

[malthaussen]

12. If conviceted, he should spend the rest of his life in Leavenworth. n/t