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Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey, right, talks to reporters alongside Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta at the Pentagon in April. Commenting on a military training class containing anti-Islam sentiments, Dempsey on Thursday called the course "totally objectionable."
Emerging details of inflammatory anti-Islam materials used in U.S. military training have prompted a chorus of outrage from civil rights and American Muslim groups, and growing demands for the dismissal of military leaders associated with the course, and for other actions to address the issue.
The materials, first detailed by Wired.com, used in an elective course at the Joint Forces Staff College in Norfolk, Va., promoted "total war" against Muslims in order to stave off terrorism. The course, "Perspectives on Islam and Islamic Radicalism," raised the option of "taking war to a civilian population," in disregard of the Geneva Convention of 1949, and possibly destruction of Mecca and Medina, Islam’s holiest sites.
"This is Abu Ghraib by power point and lectern," said Mikey Weinstein, president of the nonprofit Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF), referring to the scandal that erupted in 2004 after the surfacing of torrid pictures of U.S. troops abusing prisoners in Iraq. "It’s even worse than Abu Ghraib. What they are talking about is essentially genocide," of Muslims.
The military announced a review of its training materials and canceled the "Perspectives" course in late April. The action came after an FBI review resulted in the elimination of reams of materials that were found to be discriminatory against Muslims, treating the whole population with suspicion.
The details coming to light from the the 8-week course at an elite military institution — taught to officers since 2004 — have shocked even those who have long complained about discrimination against Muslims.
Instructor Lt. Col. Matthew Dooley, the main focus of the criticism, taught that the Geneva Conventions that set standards of armed conflict are "no longer relevant."
Click here for a slideshow from the course published by Wired magazine.
"This would leave open the option once again of taking war to a civilian population wherever necessary (the historical precedents of Dresden, Tokyo, Hiroshima, Nagasaki being applicable...)."
Dooley’s materials mock the notion of "moderate Muslims." He taught that the growing number of mosques and Islamic centers in the United States would generate more adherents to use "violent jihad" in pursuit of Islamic domination.
The course materials admit that the actions and views included will not be seen as "politically correct."
Indeed, the courses contradict U.S. government positions — as represented internally and to U.S. allies in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere — that while the country is fighting Islamic extremists, it is not at war with the religion or its adherents as a whole.
On Thursday, the Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey called the course "totally objectionable" and "against our values."
Dempsey told reporters at the Pentagon that Lt. Col. Dooley was no longer teaching, but has kept his job at the college, a top post-graduate professional military institution that serves students from around the world.
Among the organizations calling for Dooley’s dismissal from the college is the Council on American Islamic Relations.
"It is imperative that those who taught our future military leaders to wage war not just on our terrorist enemy, but on the faith of Islam itself be held accountable," wrote CAIR national executive director Nihad Awad in a letter to Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta. "These shocking revelations are completely out of line with the longstanding values of one of our nation’s most respected institutions."
The Arab American Anti-Discrimination Committee is urging the Pentagon to recall and retrain military personnel who have been subjected to the anti-Islam material.
"It’s very troubling,” Abed Ayoub, ADC legal director, told msnbc.com. "You’re sending American soldiers overseas with these trainings and these biases ... I think there definitely should be a study as to what impact these trainings have had on their actions."
Weinstein, from MRFF, asserts that Dooley and others in his chain of command who knew about the course materials or should have known about the material should face court-martial.
"MRFF calls for the immediate dismissal of Lt. Col. Dooley, as well as an immediate condemnation, deeply probing investigation, and swift trial by courts-martial of those responsible for allowing content advocating genocide to be used to indoctrinate future leaders within the U.S. armed forces," he told msnbc.com.
MRFF has filed request under the Freedom of Information Act seeking to surface all communication and documentation about the Perspectives course. Weinstein, a former Air Force judge advocate general, or JAG, and lawyer in the Reagan White House, believes the course is merely a symptom of a larger problem. In recent years he has campaigned against the military’s invitation of speakers that are known for virulent anti-Islam views.
"This is simply a small cancer cell that is rapidly metastasizing," he said. "This is representative of a larger more sinister force which is fundamentalist Christianity."
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These "cracker christians" are the US equivalent of the 9/11 hijackers. They're EXACT SAME MORAL MISCREANTS cut from the exact same genetic cloth. The sooner we cut this cancer from the body-politic the sooner we will start to re-gain the moral high ground.
JUST: send them ALL home to where-ever they came from and LET them fix their OWN @!$%#RIES FIRST, last and always!!!
They just attacked our military. Don't be so naive.
BobW I'm not a Muslim but I've taken the time to read a bit and your ignorance of the Quran in appalling. A central doctrine of Islam is that there can be no coercion in matters of religion, faith is entirely a matter of personal choice. Another important one is how "The People of Faith" the Muslims, are required to treat "The People of the Book" that being Christians and Jews and that is with deference and respect since they are the two sister religions to whom the only God saw fit to reveal Himself to before he got to the Arabic people. The "Convert or Die" Islam of the Sword is a Christian myth without historical roots at all.
During the time when the Moors, Muslims, ruled Spain there was a flourishing of Judaic culture, studies, and commerce unlike any seen in Europe since, it took place in a city referred to as "Holy Toledo" (not in Ohio). With the coming of The Spanish Inquisition and the expulsion of the Moors the "Convert or Die" edict was issued to the Spanish Jews not by some cut throat Muslim Caliph but by the Christian Pope.
The use of the term "jihad" in the Quran nearly always would better be translated as "Righteous Struggle" rather than "Holy War" it refers to the struggle any person of faith faces to stick what is right, keep your nose clean and not be lead off the true path by all the temptations the world will throw at you.
Hate the terrorists they are entirely deserving or our ire, hate them for their murders, even more hate them for the perversion of Islam that they espouse.
Would you use the examples of the KKK, The Irish Republican Army, or the Christian genocides of Muslim populations in the Balkans as an excuse to hate all Christians? I would hope not.
You are playing word games here. Whether you say "Righteous Struggle" or "Holy War" doesn't mean squat at the end. "They" are "right" and you are wrong.
It is clear in the Quran that all that don't follow "our thoughts" are garbage and deserve to be treated as such.
I have no belief in Christian Dogma nor do I believe in the Quran for all of the reasons that are obvious. I will not stoup to defend either of them nor can I tolerate those that do.
Why do you try to justify the Muslims for what they do as compared to others? They are what they are, comparison to others does not change this.
Honestly,the Bible says the same thing. In fact,most religions find things in their holy texts that say the same thing. I personally dont subscribe to any of them,so I think Im a little less biased. The reality is,people that want to be violent pick and choose from their holy texts to justify it. It does not matter what religion they are. The problem your having is you keep saying "Muslims" as if they were some monolithic group that works with singular purpose toward some goal. Its like saying "Catholics" have some agenda or "Jews" have some agenda. They are people. Some may break off and form a splinter group with some whackjob agenda. No one suggests "Christians" are all racist and want to bring down the US government and kick out all the blacks,yet there are white supremicist ,antigovernment christian "militia" cults that want to do just that. Radical Islam is no different,except the fact that in some countries its gotten its hooks in and infected the governments. Its no different than any other crazy doctrin like Fascism. Its like suggesting that all Germans wanted to kill all the Jews. A vile doctrin got its hooks into Germany,and actually Italy and several other nations (like Syria,where it STILL has sway). It started spreading to the US,but that was quickly put a stop to,and not by deporting all the Germans. We just didnt let it get its hooks into us.
The Arab anti-Defamation Committee is correct, every military and non-military person taught this information and participated in the class, needs to be retaught in accordance with appropriate military law, conduct, and procedure.
And everyone involved with this course, from the Lt. Colonel to those who approved the curriculum, need to be investigated and removed from their positions, and if appropriate, action taken against them. This matter is probably much more widespread than the Lt. Colonel, the class, and the military school, and is directed at all Arabs in general, not just Moslems. Do not forget, Islam is not just in the Middle East, it is in every region and continent in the world, so to irresponsibly direct blatant hostility towards all Moslems is both very stupid and dangerous.
Hopefully, the Evangelistic & radical Christians that condone these types of thoughts and beliefs will look again to their Bible, specifically the New Testament for help, and will stop having a Zionist and Israel at all cost attitude, based upon a convoluted belief pushed by the self proclaimed Chosen People - that the Rapture must occur any price, so that the scriptures will be fulfilled concerning Second Coming of the King.
One day people of all faiths, races, and ethnicity's will live in Peace.
Wow what a liberal view - open your eyes...
AP - I really do hope your last sentence does come true....but once that first round or IED has your name on it appropriate military law, conduct, and procedure..tends to co out the window..
i know that every Muslim is not out there to get us, I have served with quite a few that i can honestly call very close friends but at the end of the day the ones that are trying to kill us are in fact Muslim..
there is no way in this day and age for any one person who has either watched the towers destroyed or have gone over there to not view them in a different light.
i am sorry to inform you but the primary job of the military is to kill.....and you can not do that successfully if you have compassion for the "enemy" whoa t this present time is in fact Muslim...but like you said in your last line...One day people of all faiths, races, and ethnicity's will live in Peace. because no one person on this planet wants peace more than a service member but only after the job is done
I would hope we teach our soldiers about our enemy and not listen to this Polically Correct BS from these liberal idiots. All it takes is let your gaurd down once and you are toast. Does anyone remember how the Arab Countries reacted when the Towers came down? Wasn't there a lot of celebration going on over there when this happened? Did their Clerics come out and denounce this act of war against innocent civilians? How about when they were beheading our soldiers and reporters? Didn't think so, that you can answer yes to this.
Know the enemy. Bottom line.
well said Jim
I still don't understand how what you're saying is different from genocide. You say that soldiers are meant to kill the enemy. I interpret that as those that are trying to kill them (the soldiers). But it sounds that you're saying its okay to kill all of the muslims. Is that not the very definition of genocide?
To the civil rights and American muslim groups - take a guess as to what group is murdering thousands of innocent people (men, women and children) over the world - the muslims/islamics and their cult.
Other than the Mexican cartels, the muslims are the most violent and murderous cult that exists today over the last decade or two...
muslims are depicted as dangerous, violent, pedophiles, honor murderers, rapists, etc. This they misinterpret as their right to do so by their corruption of their corruption of the koran texts. They have proven they have no respect for human right or human life.
sharia is plain BS and should not be allowed as a defense in our court system (Pennsylvania). This is their backward, regression of a society since eons ago. Back then they were the world's eminent astrologers, mathmatitions, scientists, doctors, scholars, etc. Since the last 1,000+ years they have embraced their mislead beliefs to regress in every facet of human/personal life and have essentially broken away from any humanistic progress.
I hope our military complex does not remotely bow down to these complainers. If they do so, you will be losing to the enemy. Other than oil and the money it lines the 1%ers of their cult, these countries do not have anything progressive to the human race as a whole.
Yes, I do remember. That was the Palestinians. Many other Palestinians were appalled, however, so you cannot lump them all together, as well you cannot lump all Muslims together. They do not have a monolithic religion with a central, hierarchical authority in control. That is part of the problem. Even if they did, there would still be outliers who would still do as they have.
Yes. Clerics from all over did come out and renounce the attacks as well as the subsequent beheadings.
Of course Christian evangelicals are nuts, but they are (somewhat unfortunately) on our side. Our enemies are muslims to a man. Muslims that live in the US for example are (again unfortunately) indistinguishable from the others, and we simply cannot afford to trust them in any equal fashion to the non-muslims. We aren't putting them in vamps or refusing them the protection of our laws in general. But again, and unfortunately, we can't afford to trust them if their loyalty is in any way to the imams that want to kill us.
So, Timothy McVeigh was "on our side"?? Are you serious?? You are giving in to the fear mongering that has taken over entire nations and resulted in genocide. Remember 6 million Jews were killed in WW2 from that same kind of fear, hatred, and paranoia.
Maybe our enemies are Muslim, but not all Muslims are our enemies.
islam is not a religion..... it is a political~ judicial system that is religious....
its main purpose is to dominate and take over the whole earth....
jihad means.... my struggle mein kamf means....my stuggle
people need to wake the @!$%# up !!!!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rfm1l9g8UAY&feature=related
bingo!
Military training scenarios are too liberal for our liberal friends. Make sense?
We should close our eyes and let other nationalities dictate our policy. Hopefully they have our best interests in mind. If not, oh well. We americans have had it too good for too long. Such a burden to bear. Lets release ourselves from the responsibility of administering our own path. Too hard and not fair to everyone else in the world. Too many resources to use them wisely or at all. Too hard. Maybe the rest of the world will feed my children after this degradation has been completed. After all it is much easier to beg than to work. And we will be sooo happy to be the victim.
Hey, the liberals want Mexico to dictate our immigration policies, so why not have Muslim radicals dictate our military training. The want Greece to handle our finances as well.
CEO2NV2, that is already happening...
Was there ever any doubt?
The West has been at "war" with Islam for centuries. Remember Vlad the impaler? He was sent to hold back the Ottoman Turks by Pope Pius the second........ It was "Turk-on-a-stick" for several "successful" years on the eastern frontier......
Look around the world, where you have a hot spot you have some form of battling with Islam, for one "reason" or another. When the world's people finally blow themselves back into the dark ages, it won't be the bombs or the bullets that make the difference, it will be the religion.
Yoshi
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TqPK5oYZBk&feature=related
the evidence is everywhere..., but libbies don't want to see it.
obama and his boys are ready to bow to liberal pressure. What is wrong with America? When liberals scream, the rest of the country get intimidated.
gone are the days of letting the professionals do the deed and the arm chair quarterbacks sticking to the sidelines keeping their mouth shuts
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rfm1l9g8UAY&feature=related
and we will see Europe start to fall within the next 20 years...
VH Navy, those days never existed.
The Military is doing the right thing, after all, what other terrorist's are we fighting?? Should the Military be training our soldiers to defend us against litlle old White ladies?? Keep Political correctnes out of our Military. If American Muslims don't like it they can always go back to their Muslim countries. Muslim Terrorist's are the enemy of the United States, make No mistake about it. My opinion.
There are 1.5 billion followers of Islam on this planet, and apparently many of the posters on this thread believe every one of them is worthy of death and we should set about killing them now. Seems like just a bit of a logistical problem you have there. Not very smart really.
Tough luck Islam. You can't reign in your radicals, neither can we. Yours declared holy war on us, it looks like we have some doing the same to you. I guess you will just have to find some comfort in watching the political asskissers on our side squirm over the fuss.
The Army is to be commended for stating the truth clearly and forcefully. Islam is inherently a violent religion that promotes terrorism and perpetrates inhuman, despicable cruelty even to its own adherents, especially women. They are the enemy. It is about time somebody had the courage to stand up against the naiveté of the politically correct. There is no room for suicidal tolerance for Muslims in the United States. We can all rest more secure knowing that our great military has its priorities in order.
Why the outrage?. This course is just the facts. I am an atheist and what is said about Islam is irrefutably true. It is facturally the most intollerent, most violent, most hateful religion in the modern world. It has thrived on ignorance. Doesn't matter what Christians or anybody else does or did. Moslems are factually the worst, by far. To support Islam is exactly the same as supporting the Nazis. It is morally indefensible and shows either supreme ignorance or brainwashing in Political Correctness to the point of insanity. If you support moslems you are either a total ignoramus or a mentally ill fanatic. That is just the facts. The Koran and all of Moslem history prove what I say. Islam grows on lies and hatred. What others did is no excuse, unless you are a two year old talking to mommy and trying to excuse your misbehavior by passing shifting judgment on other children as a defense. Everybody is responsibe for their own atrocities, not excetion. PC is Irrational and imoral. Insanity thy name is Islamic apologist. Just the facts.
P.S.Dayrl do you have another brother named Dayrl?
Don't blame the poor, ignorant, foolish and brainwashed christians, they caught it from the jewish element All religionists are self righteous, divinely inspired, selfish and hateful. It is inherent in the teachings of any monotheism.
Oh good grief! This is war....I think we should send all the civil rights organizations as well as these American muslim groups to the Middle East and let them get a taste of what our military men and women go through...if they can convince those people that they are violating our rights and for them to fight a civilized war then by all means then we should change our teaching methods as soon as they do....better yet why don't we send them the Star Trek episode that aired showing two warring nations fighting a war by computer that way we don't have to the nastiness a war can leave behind...no more blown up homes, land or crippling wounds! All you have to do is keep your fingers crossed that the computer doesn't draw your name and number....no one on this earth can ever claim that they have never used a slur against another race cause everyone including me have done in a moment of anger or frustration. The only method a terrorist understands is viciousness and slyness when it comes to fighting BUT the moment our military uses that against them THEY will be crying foul and once again our leaders will be saying, we sorry and please forgive us...I call all this RUBBISH!
It is about time, we are going to get there sooner or later so lets get on with it.
Oh...I'm sorry Al Quaida and the various terrorist groups train their scumbags to be Politically correct? This Country with its BS Political Correctness and its pandering to every BS group walking needs a real quick waking up. If 9-11 didn't do it, one of you namby pamby girly man losers tell me what will.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajp-kqKF-Bo&feature=related
the truth is scary...
Fear fear fear is all i hear and all most people know.
The only fear here is a well founded fear of PC ignorance and it's love for the intollerance of Islam. How can a sane person say they hate intollerance the defend Islam. That is insanity or total ignorance. What does it take to prove that anything is truly and openly evil?
MinnesotaJ, don't try to confuse the liberals with truth.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSWLLc6uikE
wake up and smell the coffee...
To all the bleeding hearts that have a problem with what was taught in this class...go hug a terrorist.
What does it take to be trully evil for you Moslem apologists? Have you no knowledge or no morality at all?
Too much hatred. I'm Catholic but also know that in the Holy Crusades more Muslims were killed by Christians than vice-versa. It's not about tit for tat but trying to weed out the bad apples. Between our Evangelical Pastors ripping off parishioners, Catholic church scandals, Hasidic Jews raping Hispanic girls in Williamsburg, NY or Muslim terrorists, we've all have some skeletons in our religion's closet. It's not a competition about whose religion is right or wrong or who is better. The same way our police departments in large cities take sensitivity training, the military needs to do the same. Before you judge, put the shoe on the other foot and see how you or your family would like to be discriminated against. It's not o.k. to be a bigot and expect to get a salary on top of it. We're a 1st world country acting like a 3rd world country. Soldiers taking pictures with nude Iraqis in hoods, etc., burning Qur'ans despite General Patreaus' requests, some military people are out of control and have to be retrained or thrown out. They're getting paid by We the People and "We" don't pay them to act like clowns tearing down our reputation throughout the world. The military and Congress both need to remember who pays their salaries. They work for "us".
Mike you are ignorance and brainwashed. The Moslems attacked the Christian countries in the 8th century. They killed all the way to central France. They were ruthless. They Killed Christian in the millions and still murder Christains today. The sack of Constanople is just one of hundreds and hundreds of Moslem atrocities. I am an athiest and know you don't know anything of history. Talk to somebody who really knows what happened in a holistic unbiased manner. Hatred....they name is Islam. And as a defender of islam YOU are promoting lies and HATRED. That is just the facts Mike.
Actually that is your opinion, not the facts. You are claiming that you are telling "just the facts" but after reading what you wrote you sound....hysterical not factual. Maybe if you were to actually present the facts in a calm manner and try NOT to sound like a schoolgirl/drama queen then I would listen to what you are saying. Have a give and take conversation. Understand?
I have a history degree and can try to talk in an unbiased manner (although all people have some bias towards something/someone). Your bias is Islam/Muslims (oh Moslems is a VERY old way of spelling Muslim) that is pretty straight forward.
Hatred... thy name is MinnesotaJ. Try calming down and looking at Islam from an unbiased point of view. Education....it's a wonderful thing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TqPK5oYZBk&feature=related
right from the horses mouth..., so to speak.
I call for the imediate dismisal of the MRFF. What a bunch of political correctness crap. Obama needs to take a side on this one. I don't see anything offensive. These are all things that have been said before. This is just an attack like the course said would happen. The peaceful Muslims will stand by the radicals before they stand with us. And in my book they are guilty by assosiation. Muslims don't even know how to treat their women how are they going to treat their neighbor? Sooner or later this course will be more relevent than it is now. I mean it is ludicrous to kill a billion people and we all know that is not going to happen. Muslims need to evolve and understand the world is smaller now and we all need to have tolerance towards our neighbors as long as they have tolerance towards us. History will judge our actions. Fanatics suck.
I would welcome you to visit the scenic Middle East and present your case to the Muslim population. Good luck man, but I don't think you would be coming home in one piece, literally.
d mcmillen you should follow your own advice
do you realize that in most Muslim countries, from Turkey to Pakistan to Indonesia you'll find Christmas decorations, churches, and lots of people in Western dress?
How would you react if there were Muslim holiday decorations around your town? you probably wouldn't accept it to the degree that many Muslims accept christmas trees in places like Dubai (which had the worlds largest christmas tree about 2 years ago)
I have been there, and didn't see anything even remotely Christian in Iraq. We weren't allowed to go onto the grounds of a mosque, though. And in a lot of places, Christians are persecuted. And in my town, which until I retired was Ft. Hood, in the middle of our regimental area was the muslim chapel. And we had squadrons deployed. Sorry, the "muslims love all people and are very tolerant of others" crap don't fly with me. Hell, in Saudi, the female soldiers weren't even allowed to drive vehicles.
d mcmillen i didn't say all Muslim countries are problem free. Iraq is one of the worst with all the postwar violence. go to turkey, dubai, indonesia, malaysia, then see
I've had quite enough of their culture. Dubai is a bunch of nomads who got rich off oil and don't work, but hire people from other countries to do their work, same as Kuwait. Pakistan? I know you can't be serious about that one. I take it you are either from there or travel frequently for business. Be safe.
Then, you either weren't looking hard enough or you were in an area that did not have Christian churches. But, they most certainly exist in Iraq.
It's just a scenario> a "what if"......
Our military and civilian leaders are continuously running scenarios that involve dealing with us, i.e. declaring martial law, supending the Constitution, etc.
Why not run scenarios dealing with everyone else in the world too? It is only meant to increase our military's readiness to deal with any possible situation that may arise.
nothing going on here folks- move along.