Is the U.S. Military “at war with Islam”?

by Sheila Musaji



Here is an article that we previously posted on TAM on this issue:

Pamela Geller and other Islamophobes are offended that the military is reconsidering such training and that Gen. Dempsey found it inappropriate. Geller goes so far as to say that she sees the pulling of this course as “Islamic supremacist groups and their operatives have infiltrated the senior level of DoD, DoS, DoJ. They are disarming our military and law enforcement, and deceiving the American people through their operatives in the media.”

Geller’s partner (and fellow leader of SIOA which was designated as a hate group by the SPLC), Robert Spencer is also unhappy that the military is re-evaluating its’ training materials, but his real gripe seems to be with the fact that his name has come up as one of those spewing anti-Muslim hatred disguised as scholarship. Spencer finds no problem with the training material (although he says he hasn’t read it) but is angry that Spencer Ackerman made it public.

And, if anyone has any doubts about the effect such training materials have on those exposed to it, here is a comment under Spencer’s article:

“They hate everything you stand for and will never coexist with you, unless you submit,” the instructor, Army. Lt. Col. Matthew Dooley, said in a presentation last July for the course at Joint Forces Staff College in Norfolk, Va. The college, for professional military members, teaches midlevel officers and government civilians on subjects related to planning and executing war. This is as accurate statement as any ever made about Islam. Muslims refuse to accept any non-Allah made law, explaining why no Muslim should ever be allowed to become a citizen or serve in the military because each such person is required to take - and mean from the heart - an oath to the US Constitution. Muslim hate for everything we stand for is riddled throughout all of their (Muslim) dealings with us infidels”.

If anyone has “infiltrated” the military and law enforcement it seems to be the Islamophobes, and they are spreading exactly the same message as al Qaeda. For far too long the military and government have relied in many of their training programs on a veritable who’s who of Islamophobes in America to provide innaccurate and biased information. Gen. Dempsey is correct, such training is “totally objectionable”.

Devon Chaffee discussed today on the ACLU blog why such anti-Muslim rhetoric aids no one but the real enemy - al Qaeda:

This is why Paul Stockton, Assistant Secretary for Homeland Defense, had no patience for members of Congress who pressed him to articulate a so-called “Islamist Extremist Threat” at a hearing last December. Instead Secretary Stockton made clear that any articulation of U.S. enemies as Islamic was harmful to U.S. security stating: “I’ll make it as clear as I can. We are not at war with Islam. [ ] Al Qaeda would love to convince Muslims around the world that the United States is at war with Islam… That is a prime propaganda tool. And I’m not going to aid and abet that effort to advance their propaganda goals.” Given the blatant disconnect between the materials’ teachings about “total war” with Islam and Secretary Stockton’s strategic analysis, we have to ask: what are government agencies doing to reverse the impact of the anti-Muslim disinformation campaign that infiltrated their training? One would think that it would be in the United States’ interest to take immediate and effective action to remediate the counterproductive effects of biased training. Yet, yesterday, FBI Director John Mueller defended the FBI’s recent review of its training materials before the House Judiciary Committee. Mueller minimized the scope of the problem and noted the creation of a new screening process. But for hundreds if not thousands of personnel already subjected to the biased training, the damage has already been done and continues to spread because the FBI has refused to withdraw intelligence products that further the same flawed concepts. Still Mueller, like Pentagon officials, has made no reference to whether he will pursue corrective training to counteract the impact of anti-Islam dogma. Nor has any agency undertaking the White House-mandated review of training materials yet indicated that it will take steps to hold those responsible for biased trainings to account. In fact, there are some members of Congress urging agencies to get the bias put back into training materials. If there is no accountability, how will the relevant agencies ensure that trainers who were paid government funds only to propagate racial stereotypes aren’t awarded more training contracts in the future? As more and more information about the biased trainings is made public, U.S. officials need to acknowledge that pulling the problematic materials is not, on its own, sufficient to repair the damage these trainings have caused. Corrective training and accountability are needed if these damaging past mistakes are to be remediated and avoided going forward.

Richard Bartholomew also published an article today that neatly lays out the history of how we got into this situation with anti-Muslim training, and provides numerous links to the original sources. He says

Eurasia Review notes that

For the better part of the last decade, href="http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/09/fbi-islam-domination/"> a small cabal of self-anointed counterterrorism experts has been working its way through the U.S. military, intelligence and law enforcement communities, trying to convince whoever it could that href="http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/09/fbi-islam-qaida-irrelevant/"> America’s real terrorist enemy wasn’t al-Qaida — but the Islamic faith itself. In his course, Dooley brought in these anti-Muslim demagogues as guest lecturers. And he took their argument to its final, ugly conclusion.

As an American Muslim who loves America and loves Islam, I can only pray that the voices that are heard are those of people like Gen. Dempsey, and the Elected Representatives & Government Officials Who HAVE Questioned Islamophobia, and not Islamophobic voices like Ret. Gen. Boykin or Pamela Geller and her fellow bigots. The extremist voices on all sides need to be marginalized. As an American Muslim I am fully committed to a war against al Qaeda, but refuse to participate in a war against Islam. In fact, I see a war against Islam as a war against Muslims, myself included.

After Rep. King’s hearings on Muslims in the military, I said

Put this sort of accusation together with:

— the possible indefinite military detention of U.S. citizens,

— Halliburton’s push to outfitFEMA and U.S. Army camps or internment/detention centers around the United States,

— the fact that our law enforcement agencies and personnel have been fed a steady diet of anti-Muslim propaganda,

— the fact that many of our elected representatives have expressed anti-Muslim views including the possibility that Muslims are not protected by the First Amendment of the Constitution,

— and Rep. Rick Womick’s call to ban Muslims from the military. All of these developments taken together are particularly alarming as they might relate to the American Muslim community. I am not only concerned but frightened. It is difficult to maintain any sense of humor with all of this going on, but my husband suggested to me that perhaps we don’t need to worry so much about our retirement as the government may be developing an “American Muslim retirement plan”.

I am certain that I will not be the only one in the American Muslim community who will be watching how all of this plays out to see just how frightened we should be.



SEE ALSO:

Excerpts from anti-Islamic military course http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-501706_162-57432137/excerpts-of-anti-islamic-military-course/

— “They hate everything you stand for and will never coexist with you, unless you submit.”

— “Islam as it currently defines itself is an ideology rather than solely a religion with the normally associated protections we afford such beliefs.”

— “It is therefore time for the United States to make our true intentions clear. This barbaric ideology will no longer be tolerated. Islam must change or we will facilitate its self-destruction.”

— “The United States has come to accept that radical ‘true Islam’ is both a political and military enemy to free people throughout the world.”

— Possible outcomes of an anti-Islam campaign: “Saudi Arabia threatened with starvation, Mecca and Medina destroyed, Islam reduced to cult status.”

America And The War On Islam? http://www.eurasiareview.com/11052012-america-and-the-war-on-islam-oped/

Answers to Peter King’s Claims About the American Muslim Community, Sheila Musaji http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/answers_to_peter_kings_claims_about_the_american_muslim_community

Anti-Islam Air Force Academy Speaker a ‘Fraud’ http://www.muslimmilitarymembers.org/article.php?story=20080207030741376

Boykin Backs Out of West Point Appearance, Sheila Musaji http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/boykin-backs-out-of-west-point-appearance

Countering Islamophobic Law Enforcement Training (video - Thom Hartmann & Alejandro Beutel from MPAC talk about experts like Walid Shoebat and the danger such prejudiced rhetoric) http://www.faithinpubliclife.org/blog/alejandro_beutel_on_walid_shoe/

Gen. Dempsey On Military Anti-Islam Class: ‘Totally Objectionable, Against Our Values’, Ali Gharib http://thinkprogress.org/security/2012/05/10/482235/dempsey-islamophobia-totally-objectionable/

Do Bible Verses on Rifle Scopes Represent Christianity?, Sheila Musaji (with article collection on Christians and the military) http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/bible_verses_on_rifle_scopes

DOD rails Rolling Stone for publishing pictures, Fred Childers http://www.ksla.com/Global/story.asp?S=14338461

Does the most recent military scandal reflect a deeper problem? , Sheila Musaji (with a TAM article collection) http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/what-is-our-military-culture

Elected Representatives & Government Officials Who HAVE Questioned Islamophobia, Sheila Musaji http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/elected_representatives_government_officials_who_have_questioned_islam

Evangelical Christian missionaries embedded with American combat troops in Afghanistan, Mikey Weinstein http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/evangelical_christian_missionaries_embedded_with_american_combat_troops_in_/

Federal Funds For Counterterrorism Training Pay For Anti-Muslim Instructors, Ryan J. Reilly http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/03/federal_funds_for_counterterrorism_training_pay_for_anti-muslim_instructors.php

Fundamentalist Christians and the War on Islam, Timothy Gatto http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_timothy__071209_fundamentalist_chris.htm

William Gawthrop, The FBI Trainer Promoting War Against Islam, Paul Woodward http://www.eurasiareview.com/20092011-the-fbi-trainer-promoting-war-against-islam-oped/

William Gawthrop, FBI Analyst: Aim For Islam Like Air Shafts On Jihadists’ Death Star (VIDEO), Ryan J. Reilly http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/09/fbi_analyst_aim_for_islam_like_air_shafts_on_jihadists_death_star_video.php

William Gawthrop, WND’s Terrorism Expert Now Training FBI Agents, Ryan J. Reilly http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/09/wnds_terrorism_expert_now_training_fbi_agents.php

The GOP has declared war on Muslims, Sheila Musaji (with extensive TAM article collection) http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/the-gop-has-declared-war-on-american-muslims

Is the Obama Administration Serious about Anti-Muslim Demonization in Law Enforcement?, Thom Cincotta

http://liberty-beat.blogspot.com/2011/08/is-obama-administration-serious-about.html

Islam-Bashing Bigots Train Counterterrorism Agents http://tinyurl.com/29bsgc9

Islamophobia, Real or Imagined (TAM article collection) http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/islamophobia_real_or_imagined

Islamophobia no longer questioned - even by our elected representatives, Sheila Musaji (includes collection of statements by elected representatives, government officials, and military leaders) http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/islamophobia_no_longer_even_questioned

Jesus killed Mohammed: The crusade for a Christian military, Jeff Sharlet http://www.harpers.org/archive/2009/05/0082488

Justice Department Official John Marsh: Muslim ‘Juries’ Threaten ‘Our Values’, Spencer Ackerman http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/10/islamophobia-beyond-fbi/all/1

Peter King’s Civics Lesson for American Muslims, Sheila Musaji http://www.theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/peter_kings_civics_lesson_for_american_muslims/0018429

“Kill Team” War Crimes in Afghanistan, Sheila Musaji http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/kill_team

Peter King’s Fourth Hearing Targets Muslims in the Military, Sheila Musaji http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/peter-kings

Manufacturing the Muslim Menace http://tinyurl.com/4qeretq

Military class suspended for view on Islam http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/05/10/military-class-suspended-for-its-view-on-islam/

Muslim-Basher Trains U.S. Military Personnel in Kentucky http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/01/17/idUS26202+17-Jan-2011+PRN20110117

The Neo-Crusaders, Neal AbuNab http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/the_neo_crusaders/

New video emerges of US troops cheering wildly as innocent Afghan civilians are blown up, Andrew Gregory http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2011/03/29/new-video-emerges-of-us-troops-cheering-wildly-as-innocent-afghan-civilians-are-blown-up-115875-23023103

Not so fast, Christian soldiers, Mikey Weinstein and Reza Aslan http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-oe-aslan22aug22,1,2971273.story?coll=la-news-a_section&ctrack=5&cset=true

Onward Christian Soldiers, Max Blumenthal http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2003/04/15/in_touch/index.html

Kamal Saleem, the Fraud!, http://mujtahed.wordpress.com/2010/10/17/kamal-saleem-the-fraud/

Kamal Saleem’s Fanciful Conversion Figures http://thefactsaboutislam.blogspot.com/2010/10/abnsat-hoax-kamal-saleems-fanciful.html

Senior U.S. General Orders Top-to-Bottom Review of Military’s Islam Training, Spencer Ackerman http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/04/military-islam-training/

Shoebat says we need to choose war ‘We Need to Choose War!’ http://archive.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2006/7/27/174342.shtml

Shoebat omits instances of kindness http://www.dailynexus.com/article.php?a=13205

Soldiers inAfghanistan given Bibles, told to “hunt people for Jesus” http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/05/04/soldiers-in-afghanistan-g_n_195674.html

Top U.S. Officer: Stop This ‘Total War’ on Islam Talk, Spencer Ackerman http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/05/dempsey-islam-irresponsible/

US military course taught officers ‘Islam is the enemy’ http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/may/11/us-military-course-islam-enemy

U.S. Afghan atrocities reflect poorly on all, Tony Norman http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11088/1135456-153.stm

USAF Pays Fake “Terrorism Experts” Speakers To Bash Islam ? http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/02/08/452610/-USAF-Pays-Fake-Terrorism-Experts-Speakers-To-Bash-Islam-

U.S. Army Apologizes Over Graphic Afghan Photos http://www.rferl.org/content/us_army_apology_graphic_afghan_photos/3540081.html

US Army’s ‘fatwa’ on Islam and challenges before the Muslim world, Fatima Tanveer http://twocircles.net/2012may20/us_army%E2%80%99s_%E2%80%98fatwa_islam_and_challenges_muslim_world.html

U.S. soldiers’ ‘kill team’ killed Afghanis, used body parts in poker games: report, Corky Siemaszko http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/2011/03/28/2011-03-28_us_soldiers_kill_team_accused_of_murdering_afghani_civilians_for_sport_report.html?r=news

US counter-terrorism training ‘presents Islam as inherently violent’, Ed Pilkington http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/09/us-counter-terrorism-training-islam

Video Proves Proselytization Rampant at U.S. Military Bases, Mikey Weinstein http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/video_proves_proselytization_rampant_at_us_military_bases/

The war against Islam, James Carroll http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2005/06/07/the_war_against_islam/

War against tolerance, Chris Hedges http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20080211_the_war_against_tolerance/

‘War on Terror’ Rhetoric Sounds Like War on Islam, Parvez Ahmed http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/war_on_terror_rhetoric_sounds_like_war_on_islam

War with Islam training ‘not surprising’ http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_9720000/9720257.stm

Where is the U.S. Government Getting It’s Information on Islam and Muslims?, Sheila Musaji (with TAM article collection) http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/where_is_the_u.s._government_getting_its_information_on_islam_and_musl

Would three former terrorists be invited by the U.S. Air Force Academy to speak? http://www.mmdnewswire.com/three-former-terrorists-2871.html

Witness for Jesus in Afghanistan http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22544.htm

Whether or not a ‘kill squad’ is to blame, civilian deaths often go unreported, Julius Cavendish http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/julius-cavendish-whether-or-not-a-kill-squad-is-to-blame-civilian-deaths-often-go-unreported-2252474.html

Why Do They Hate Us?, Sheila Musaji http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/why_do_they_hate_us_-_tam_article_collection1/

Why is Halliburton Building Internment/Detention Camps?, Sheila Musaji http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/why-is-halliburton

White House Releases “New” Counter-terrorism Strategy, Sheila Musaji http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/law_enforcement_training_on_islam_and_muslims

Writers Cited in Breivik Manifesto Have Spoken at US Military Colleges as Anti-Terrorism Experts, Chris Rodda http://www.truth-out.org/writers-cited-breivik-manifesto-have-spoken-us-military-colleges-anti-terrorism-experts/1312137721

Your Taxes Fund Anti-Muslim Hatred, Chris Hedges http://www.truth-out.org/your-taxes-fund-anti-muslim-hatred/1305042147