The New York Times has published an article by Charles M. Blow titled "The Enemies Within." Blow is the paper's new op-ed columnist, appearing every other Saturday. Its "visual" columnist, the Times explained. And the fact is that he has a vivid graphic imagination that certainly makes a statistical argument clear.
But still: The Enemies Within? Has the Times joined the paranoids and phobics who are nearly hysterical about Muslim extremists? Rest assured not.
The Times and Mr. Blow have other nightmares. They are terrified by the Aryan Nations, selected Ku Klux Klan groups. skinheads, the "creativity movement" (whatever that is), the National Alliance, the National Socialist Movement and ever amorphous "others." Watch out for them especially.
And here they muster evidence from the suddenly reliable Federal Bureau and Investigation and the Department of Homeland Security showing that the memberships of white supremacist groups have many men with military experience in them. And that, since about 300,000 American veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan "reported" some sign of post-traumatic stress disorder, there is a huge cohort of militarily experienced nutty men who are liable to the blandishments of right-wing terror.
I am not surprised that the Times and its op-ed editors are drawn to this scenario. "If they only recruit a few that is still too many. Terrorists have shown the world time and again that a few well-trained is all it takes." Yes, indeed.