Does the most recent military scandal reflect a deeper problem?

by Sheila Musaji

In our TAM article Where is the U.S. Government Getting It’s Information on Islam and Muslims? we document many instances of trainers and materials used by government agencies, the military, the FBI, CIA, and law enforcement organizations that are biased. 

The release of a video showing U.S. troops urinating on the dead bodies of Afghans is only the most recent scandal. 

Previously, we had the “Kill Team” War Crimes in Afghanistan.  Photos show U.S. troops posing for trophy pictures with bloody, naked murdered Afghan civilians.  They had hunted these civilians for sport and murdered them in cold blood.  12 soldiers were ultimately charged with war crimes.

There was the Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse scandal after photographs came out.

There was the rape scandal in which four U.S. soldiers in Iraq were charged with participation in the “rape and murder of a young Iraqi woman, and the murder of three members of her family to cover it up.  A fifth soldier was accused of dereliction of duty for failing to report the offenses

We had the “Jesus rifles” scandal in which rifles with bible verses on their scopes were issued to troops fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq.

There was the video showing U.S. military personnel in uniform with Bibles in Pashto and Darri planning on evangelizing Muslims in Afghanistan.  The Al Jazeera report on this incident also shows a military preacher, Lieutenant-Colonel Gary Hensley, the chief of the US military chaplains in Afghanistan, urging army parishioners to “hunt people for Jesus.”  “The Special Forces guys, they hunt men. Basically, we do the same things as Christians. We hunt people for Jesus. We do, we hunt them down. Get the hound of heaven after them, so we get them into the Kingdom. That’s what we do, that’s our business,” he says

There was the “freedom packages” scandal in which Bibles, proselytizing material in English and Arabic and the apocalyptic computer game “Left Behind: Eternal Forces” were to be included in packages put together by a fundamentalist Christian ministry called Operation Straight Up who had also planned a troop entertainment tour called “military crusade”.  The Pentagon cancelled this plan after its inappropriate nature was brought to their attention.

Adam Weinstein reported in a 2011 article The Idiot’s Guide to Foreign Wars (Iraq Edition) on a bigoted training manual offered to US servicemembers and military contractors on their way to duty in Iraq.  The manual is titled “Iraq Transitional Handbook”.

When individual soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, DOD civilians, or government contractors deploy to one of America’s war zones, they generally stop first at the Continental United States Replacement Center (CRC) in Fort Benning, Georgia. There, they take a one-week crash course in identifying IEDs, sticking exposed bowels back into gut cavities, and combating the boredom that will attend most of their non-explosive, non-bowel-busting deployments overseas.

...  Lest you think this is an isolated incident of government pointy-headedness, such manuals and smart cards exist for Afghanistan, too. There was an untouched stack of them on that back table, next to where I got my Iraq handbook. But nobody picked those up. Most of us were headed for Baghdad, not Kabul. And, I mean, if you don’t actually plan to go there, who the hell needs to learn about a foreign culture and stuff? Right? Right?

Here are just some examples of such biased materials, and such individuals being used as “experts” to train military and law enforcement personnel:

Senator Greg Ball (R-NY), chairman of the Veterans, Homeland Security & Military Affairs Committee held a hearing titled “Reviewing our Preparedness: An Examination of New York’s Public Protection Ten Years After September 11”  on April 8th, 2011, and called as “experts” Rep. Peter King, Frank Gaffney, and Nonie Darwish.  Eleven democratic senators have sent a letter to Senator Ball objecting to the inclusion of such individuals.  You can see the full text of the letters back and forth here.  For some reason Darwish spoke at the event under the pseudonym “Nahid Hyde.” 

The FBI and military organizations put Brigitte Gabriel’s book Because They Hate on the reading list at the FBI Academy and assigned it as mandatory reading for Navy SEALs heading to the Middle East?  (This is stated in the introduction of the 2008 edition of Because They Hate).

The U.S. military invited Robert Spencer to train U.S. Military Personnel in Kentucky.  A coalition of South Asian, Sikh, and Muslim groups sent a letter to Robert Mueller asking for an explanation of this invitation and expressing their dismay.

The US military’s Joint Forces Staff College (JFSC) invited Brigitte Gabriel of ACT for America to speak as part of the JFSC’s Islam elective for American military and national security personnel.  At that training session she “taught” them that a good Muslim “cannot be a loyal citizen to the United States of America.”  And, they “learned” that a Muslims oath of office is meanlingless because Islam justifies lying. 

The U.S. Air Force Academy invited Walid Shoebat to speak at a week long conference on terrorism at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs?  In fact, Walid Shoebat, Kamal Saleem and Zachariah Anani, billed as the “3 ex-terrorists” go around the country villifying Islam, and all of them were invited to appear at the U.S. Air Force Academy to enlighten the students.

The South Dakota Office of Homeland Security invited and paid Walid Shoebat to speak to law enforcement officers attending a South Dakota conference on homeland security. 

A three-day NCIS surveillance detection course at the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C., included the viewing of a propagandistic anti-Islam film “‘Obsession: Radical Islam’s War Against the West”.  After the nature of the film was brought to their attention by CAIR, NCIS apologized and said in part ”[W]e have reviewed whether the video, ‘Obsession: Radical Islam’s War Against the West’ should have been shown to the class. This video is not part of the curriculum for this course and should not have been shown. Please know that NCIS has no tolerance for derogatory comments about any religious, racial, ethnic, or cultural group. . .I am very much aware that respect for religious and cultural values is critically important.  NCIS prides itself on its own diversity and on its respect for the religious and cultural values of others.” 

Lt. Gen. William “Jerry” Boykin, deputy undersecretary of Defense for intelligence toured American churches, where he gave speeches—in uniform—casting the Iraq war in end-times terms. “We’re in is a spiritual battle,” he told one congregation in Oregon. “Satan wants to destroy this nation . . . and he wants to destroy us as a Christian army.”  In a TAM collection of anti-Muslim statements by elected representatives and government officials, Boykin is heavily featured:

Ret. Gen. William Boykin said in an interview “Boykin: What we are not seeing first and foremost is the fact that Islam is not religion. It is a totalitarian way of life. There is a religious component. But we still treat it as a first amendment issue when in fact it is a totalitarian way of life.  And when you think Islam you need to think Sharia law. Sharia law is the law that subjugates women, that cuts off the hand of the thief, that beheads the adulteress, that’s sharia law, and that’s what Islam is. It is a legal system more than anything else, with a religious component. And people simply do not understand that. And consequently, Skip, we still treat it as a first amendment issue.  ...  And we continue to categorize them as extremists or radicals or people who are not following the dictates of Islam, well the reality is they are following the dictates of Islam and all we’re doing is playing their game of propaganda when we refuse to acknowledge that they are terrorists, they are Jihadists, they’re Muslims, they’re Islamists, and they want to destroy our constitution and replace it with Sharia law.” 
— Boykin questions “whether or how the First Amendment should properly be applied to Islam” and asserts that “the ultimate outcome of blanket protection for Islam in all its manifestations on the grounds of ‘religious freedom’ would be the establishment of Islamic law and government, or Sharia, alongside or in place of civil law and government in this country.”
— Speaking on the dangers of Islam at The Oak Initiative Summit in 2011, Boykin attacked religious leaders who seek interfaith dialogue and understanding with Muslims, claiming that when Muslims pray, they curse Jesus and asserting that Islam is not an Abrahamic faith and therefore Christianity and Islam have absolutely nothing in common.

Retired General Thomas McInerney said, “We have to use profiling. And I mean be very serious and harsh about the profiling. . . .“If you are an 18-28 year-old Muslim man, then you should be strip searched.” Since there are a couple hundred million people in that category, this would make strip-searching at airports an interminable exercise.  McInerney didn’t make any effort to hide his hatred of the entire religion of Islam, which he called “an ideology, not a religion.”

On Veterans Day 2011 State Rep. Rick Womick (R-TN)  called for purging Muslims from the military.  In an interview at the the “Preserving Freedom Conference” at the Cornerstone Church in Madison, TN he said:  FANG: What about the thousands of Muslims that are still in the military that are veterans, that are translators, that are active personnel. Is there some sort of policy solution that you’re advocating? […] WOMICK: Personally, I don’t trust one Muslim in our military because they’re commanded to lie to us through the term called Taqiyya. And if they truly are a devout Muslim, and follow the Quran and the Sunnah, then I feel threatened because they’re commanded to kill me. CLIFTON: You believe they should be forced out?  WOMICK: Absolutely, yeah.  Murfreesboro’s Daily News Journal followed up with Womick after the initial story containing the incendiary remarks was released, but Womick did not apologize, instead doubling down and telling the publication, “We’re at war with Muslims.”  The ADL has called on Womick to repudiate his remarks.  The Tea Party defends Womick. And, at Nashville’s Cornerstone Church, the “Preserving Freedom Conference” attendees gave him a standing ovation for repeating these remarks.
— Not only did Womick not apologize, but he appeared on Bryan Fischer’s radio program to defend his views and say that Muslims shouldn’t be allowed to serve in the military until we can get the “Muslim community to get its act together” and denounce Sharia ... and if they don’t like it, then “they can go back to where they came from”.  Fischer also has a history of anti-Muslim rhetoric.

Spencer Ackerman has reported and documented that FBI intelligence analysts weren’t the only ones teaching their colleagues that the U.S. is at war with the Islamic religion. Justice Department officials — and even teachers at the Army’s top intellectual center — are delivering similar messages.  ... But the Justice Department is hardly alone in hosting bigoted and counterproductive counterterrorism training. Even if federal prosecutors and FBI agents no longer go through such instruction, Danger Room has learned that anti-Islam training material has spread into the military. Some of the Islamophobic presenters hired by the FBI also lecture at premiere schools for military intelligence; at an online university favored by students seeking jobs in U.S. intelligence agencies and with affiliated contractors; and even at the Army’s intellectual center, Fort Leavenworth. In other words, what the FBI once told Danger Room was an isolated incident — occurring one time in one lecture session — has spread throughout numerous government agencies over the years. 

Is it possible that all of this has had the effect of totally dehumanizing Iraqis, Afghans, and all Muslims?  Are “towel heads”, “hajjis”, “sand niggers”, “camel jockeys” not really human beings after all, but simply “the enemy”, even if they are civilians.

When people like Nonie Darwish, Brigitte Gabriel of ACT for America, Frank Gaffney of the Center for Security Policy, Pamela Geller of AFDI/SIOA, Peter King, Robert Spencer of AFDI/SIOA, Walid Shoebat, etc. are the source of information about Islam and Muslims, then what can you expect other than a dehumanization of Muslims.  All of these people and organizations are featured in our TAM article collection A Who’s Who of the Anti-Muslim/Anti-Arab/Islamophobia Industry.

Here are just a few quotes from these “experts”:

— Nonie Darwish:  Obama is a “political Muslim” who, as a child, was “immersed in a culture that was anti-American.”  - ”Islam is cruel, anti-women, anti-religious freedom and anti-personal freedom in general. How could you sympathize with a religion that kills adulterers, homosexuals and people who convert out of Islam? How could you present Islam with such affection? … How could you defend a religion that inspired 9/11?“
— Brigitte Gabriel “A Muslim who has—who is—a practicing Muslim who believes the word of the Koran to be the word of Allah, who abides by Islam, who goes to mosque and prays every Friday, who prays five times a day—this practicing Muslim, who believes in the teachings of the Koran, cannot be a loyal citizen to the United States of America.”  - “America and the West are doomed to failure in this war unless they stand up and identify the real enemy: Islam.”
— Frank Gaffney  “there is mounting evidence that the president not only identifies with Muslims, but actually may still be one himself.  “Barack Hussein Obama would have to be considered America’s first Muslim president.”  -  “The new Missile Defense logo appears ominously to reflect a morphing of the Islamic crescent and star with the Obama campaign logo… Watch this space as we identify and consider various, ominous and far more clear-cut acts of submission to Shariah by President Obama and his team. - “If we let them defile Ground Zero with a beachhead for sharia we will validate their sense of victory on 9/11 and encourage future attacks on America. No mosque at Ground Zero.  Tthe twin towers were destroyed on 9/11 by adherents to the barbaric, supremacist and totalitarian program authoritative Islam calls ‘Shariah.”
— Pamela Geller - “Devout Muslims should be prohibited from military service. Would Patton have recruited Nazis into his army?”  - “I would like to feel all warm and fuzzy and embrace the moderate Muslim/ meme but they show no evidence of their existence, not in any real number anyway. The only voices of reason in the Muslim world are lapsed Muslims or apostates.”  - “Islam is a mental illness”.
— Robert Spencer  - “Islam itself is an incomplete, misleading, and often downright false revelation which, in many ways, directly contradicts what God has revealed through the prophets of the Old Testament and through his Son Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh… For several reasons… Islam constitutes a threat to the world at large.”  -  “there is no reliable way to distinguish a “moderate” Muslim who rejects the jihad ideology and Islamic supremacism from a “radical” Muslim who holds such ideas, even if he isn’t acting upon them at the moment.”  - “The misbegotten term “Islamo-fascism” is wholly redundant: Islam itself is a kind of fascism that achieves its full and proper form only when it assumes the powers of the state.”

There is a reason that the ADL (A Jewish anti-defamation group) has said that Pamela Geller & Robert Spencer’s Stop the Islamization of America (SIOA) is a “group that promote an extreme anti-Muslim agenda”.  There is a reason that The Southern Poverty Law Center has designated SIOA as a hate group, and that they are featured in the SPLC reports Jihad Against Islam and The Anti-Muslim Inner Circle.  There is a reason that Geller, Spencer, Gaffney, and Gabriel are featured prominently in the Center for American Progress “Fear Inc.” report on the Islamophobia network in America.  There is a reason that these folks are featured in the People for the American Way Right Wing Playbook on Anti-Muslim Extremism, and the NYCLU report Religious Freedom Under Attack:  The Rise of Anti-Mosque Activities in New York State, and in the Political Research Associates report Manufacturing the Muslim menace: Private firms, public servants, and the threat to rights and security.  There is a reason that the SIOA’s trademark patent was denied by the U.S. government due to its anti-Muslim nature.  There is a reason that these folks are featured in our TAM Who’s Who of the Anti-Muslim/Anti-Arab/Islamophobia Industry.  There is a reason that they are featured in just about every legitimate report on Islamophobia and anti-Muslim hatred. 

In April of 2011, the Senate Committee on Homeland Security announced that an inquiry into the accuracy and effectiveness of current training.  In November, the White House ordered a government-wide review, including the military. 

That is a good thing, however, I wonder if more will have to be done than simply pulling materials or replacing materials and trainers.  A lot of damage has been done by the consistent barrage of anti-Muslim propaganda over the past decade.

Use of Islamophobes like Pamela Geller who found the behavior of the U.S. troops who urinated on dead Afghans praiseworthy has already done damage.  Although military officials have said that this behavior is “grossly against all the moral values the coalition forces stand for”, “despicable”, “inconsistent with the high standards of conduct”, etc.  One is left to wonder just how inconsistent it really is.

A few of Geller’s readers comments under her article praising the “infidel interpretation of the Islamic ritual of washing and preparing the body for burial” show just how the message of these hate mongers is received and understood:

— I don’t care if they bury these murdering pigs in feces and blood! Kill ‘em all and let G*d sort ‘em out!  — You CAIR bastards would really be going nuts if those brave Marines didn’t turn off that camera before they came back and took a shit on those goat-fuckers.  Burn up with rage! Do something crazy! We’re waiting for you to pop, one at a time! You death cult members in The States are living in front of a wall of eyes that never blink. And if you don’t behave it might soon be your day to wear the salty piss of the noble warriors who hose you down on behalf of a proud and grateful nation. —  Ditto…..CAIR….Your days are numbered.  The citizens of this nation have had about enough of your shit.  It is clear you have not the slightest idea what we will, and can do when backed into a corner by sick fools such as yourselves.  Your day of reckoning will come.  God Bless our warriors and the horses they rode in on .... CAIR ... Piss-off. — Oh what a disgrace if such a despised and base race, which worships a misogynist pedophile demon, should be allowed to massacre a people which has the faith of omnipotent God! With what reproaches will the Lord overwhelm us if we do not promptly and fully aid those who are being brutalized and murdered because they profess the Jewish or Christian religion! Let those who have been accustomed unjustly to wage private warfare against other of the faithful now all unite and go against the Mohammedans in a Holy Crusade and end with total victory this war against monstrous evil which should have been begun and completed long ago.  Let those who for too long a time have been dhimma, now again become knights. Let those who have been fighting in service of Mohammedans against their own Christian brothers and sisters and their own Jewish cousins now fight in a proper way against all the followers of the misogynist pedophile demon. Let those who have been wearing themselves out in both body and soul in vain attempt to win the dark hearts of the Mohammedans now labor for glorious honor against them. Behold! On the one side will be the completely destroyed Mohammedans, on the other the fierce and righteous protectors of humanity. On the one side will be the destroyed enemies of the Lord, on the other, his friends who will shout at all the Mohammedans as they destroy them, “It is the will of God! It is the will of God!! It is the will of God!!!” — Islam is a creed that people CHOOSE to follow. These sick mutts need to be urinated on. Defecated on too. Islam has utter contempt for others, we are just returning the favor. F&*K Islam. F^&K Mohammed. F#$K Muslims.

John McCain said “There should be an investigation, and these young people should be punished.”  I believe that there should be an investigation of just how prevalent the spreading of anti-Muslim information to our soldiers and to law enforcement has been, and how this has affected their views on not only enemy combatants, but also Muslim civilians.  There should be an investigation of exactly who authorized so many obviously anti-Muslim training programs.  It is possible that these soldiers were only acting on what they had been taught about the lack of humanity of “those people”. 

The rabid Islamophobia displayed by individuals like Pamela Geller, Robert Spencer,  and many individuals who have made alarming statements about Islam and Muslims is filtering down through American society, and the results are seen, for example, in the objections made against the construction of the Cordoba House in NYC.  Many of the statements made have not been an example of a reasonable concern about who these particular Muslims are, but a display of hatred towards all Muslims and the entire religion of Islam.  They are also seen in blog posts with titles such as Islam is a disease pretending to be a religion. This is an outcome of the vicious what everyone “knows” demonization of Islam industry. 

This process of making hatred towards Islam and Muslims acceptable has been aided, sadly, by the fact that such statements have even been made by Jewish and Christian clergy people.  Islamophobic statements are also becoming the norm in the political arena, in political campaigns, and even among our elected government representatives, and military leaders.  The 2008 Presidential campaign was rife with Islamophobia.

It is becoming more and more difficult as an American Muslim not to be afraid of where this increasingly divisive and hateful rhetoric might lead. Polls, Surveys, and Statistics relating to Islam and Muslims show that negative attitudes are widespread.  Our civil rights are being restricted, and there are some Americans who are ready to undermine the Constitution in order to deny American Muslims full citizenship, or even to consider internment.

UPDATE 3/20/2012

There has been a massacre of civilians including children in Afghanistan carried out by U.S. military personnel. 

UPDATE 5/11/2012

We have just published an article Is the U.S. Military “at war with Islam”? on the most recent revelations (by Spencer Ackerman of Wired) about training programs about Islam and Muslims in the military.  It seems that “officers from all four branches of the U.S. Military were instructed at the Joint Forces Staff College (JFSC) in Norfolk, VA, that the “option” of waging total war on civilian populations of the Muslim faith in a manner similar to the “historical precedents of Dresden, Tokyo, Hiroshima, Nagasaki” should be openly embraced and explored.”

Army Lt. Col. Matthew A. Dooley actually said during one training program that “We have now come to understand that there is no such thing as ‘moderate Islam’...This barbaric ideology will no longer be tolerated. Islam must change or we will facilitate its self-destruction.”

General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, sent a letter to leaders of the Army and other services, along with regional commanders and officials heading the National Guard, ordering a review of relevant training and education material across the military after a course for officers was found to espouse the view that the United States is at war with Islam.

UPDATE 5/22/2012

A former U.S. Army servicemember who had served in Iraq has become embroiled in a controversy in Virginia over his vanity license plate.  The plate reads ICUHAJI.  This reads phonetically as “I see you Haji”, and it is difficult to see any possibility other than a slur against Arabs and/or Muslims.  The state revoked the license plate, and the former soldier is appealing.  Scott Doughtery reports “Sean Bujno of Chesapeake, who was honorably discharged in 2009, is appealing last month’s decision by the DMV to revoke his plates. In Circuit Court documents, he contends that DMV Commissioner Richard Holcomb violated his free-speech rights and his 14th Amendment right to due process.”

SEE ALSO:

Afghanistan Shootings Suspect, Not Likely To Face Death Penalty http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/21/robert-bales-afghanistan-shootings-death-penalty_n_1370458.html

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

Atrocities Against Civilians in Afghanistan: A Troubling Timetable http://www.rawa.org/temp/runews/2010/05/04/atrocities-against-civilians-in-afghanistan-a-troubling-timetable.html#ixzz1p79Hy2TU

Australian soldiers in Afghanistan post racist comments on Facebook http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/1507031/Smith-apologises-for-racist-Facebook-posts

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

The Bush Crusade, James Carroll http://www.zmag.org/znet/viewArticle/7919

Bush: God told me to invade Iraq, Rupert Cornwell http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/bush-god-told-me-to-invade-iraq-509925.html

Bush, Mideast Wars and End-Time Prophecy http://www.truthout.org/article/jp-briggs-ii-phd-and-thomas-d-williams-bush-mideast-wars-and-end-time-prophecy

Christian Extremists Within the U.S. Military - Myth or Reality?, Habib Siddiqui http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/christian_extremists_within_the_us_military_myth_or_reality/

Christian Evangelicals and U.S. Foreign Policy http://www.cfr.org/publication/11341/

Christian Fundamentalism, the Global Crusade and Muslims, Yoginder Sikand http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/christian_fundamentalism_the_global_crusade_and_muslims/

Christian Fundamentalism, Mark Robinson http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/christian_fundamentalism/

Christian fundamentalists are driving Bush’s Middle East policy, George Monbiot http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2004/apr/20/usa.uselections2004/print

Christian Holy Warriors Set Sights on Iran, Bill Berkowitz http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=35896

A Christian jihad?, Khaled Diab http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/a_christian_jihad/

Christian Jihad, Deborah Caldwell http://www.beliefnet.com/Faiths/Christianity/2001/11/Christian-Jihad.aspx

Christian Militancy Corrodes American ideal, Mary Ellen Schoonmaker http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/christian_militancy_corrodes_american_ideal/

Christian Rage and Muslim Moderation, Christopher Dickey http://www.newsweek.com/id/129237

Christian Zionism: An Egregious Threat to U.S. - Middle East Understanding, Council for the National Interest http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/christian_zionism_an_egregious_threat_to_us_middle_east_understanding/

Christian Zionism: Terror in Jesus’ Name, Yoginder Sikand http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/christian_zionism_terror_in_jesus_name1/

Christianity and War: Readings in the Age of Empire, Doug Bandow http://original.antiwar.com/doug-bandow/2008/05/02/christianity-and-war/ 

Christianity and the War,  Laurence M. Vance http://www.lewrockwell.com/vance/vance81.html

Stephen Colbert on Jesus rifles and Bible Grenades (video)  http://rackjite.com/archives/4449-Stephen-Colbert-on-Jesus-rifles-and-Bible-Grenades.html

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/ 

The Crusaders : “The Christian Taliban Is Running the Department of Defense”, Robert Koehler http://www.truthout.org/article/robert-koehler-the-christian-taliban-is-running-department-defense

The Currency of Words, or the Coin of the Realm?, Mikey Weinstein http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/the-currency-of-words-or-the-coin-of-the-realm

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

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_/

Fanatics Defame Murdered U.S. Soldiers, Chip Berlet http://www.islamophobiatoday.com/2010/11/21/chip-berlet-fanatics-defame-murdered-u-s-soldiers/

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

Pamela Geller’s praise for the desecration of dead bodies is not “funny” , Sheila Musaji http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/desecration-of-bodies/0018975

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

The GOP Anti-Muslim Limbo:  How Low Can They Go?, Sheila Musaji http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/the_gop_anti-muslim_limbo_how_low_can_they_go

GOP Anti-Muslim Limbo:  They’ve Lowered the Bar Again!, Sheila Musaji http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/gop_lowers_the_anti-muslim_limbo_bar

The Evangelical Challenge: A New Face of Western Imperialism, Yoginder Sikand http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/christian_muslim_relations_part_4_the_evangelical_challenge_a_new_face_of_w/

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_/

Evangelicals on the War Path, Yoginder Sikand http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/christian_muslim_relations_part_2_evangelicals_on_the_war_path/

Evangelist leads millions seeking ‘war with Islam’, Alec Russell http://gulfnews.com/news/world/usa/evangelist-leads-millions-seeking-war-with-islam-1.248744

Evangelizing Muslims and Jews: the New Crusade article collection http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/evangelizing_muslims_and_jews_the_new_crusade/

The Faith of George W. Bush: Christian Supremacy, American Imperialism and Global Disaster, Yoginder Sikand http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/the_faith_of_george_w_bush_christian_supremacy_american_imperialism_and_glo/

For God and Our Father Abraham: Towards a More Inclusive Witness for Jews, Christians, and Muslims, D. Jason Berggren http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/for_god_and_our_father_abraham_towards_a_more_inclusive_witness_for_jews_ch/

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

Hirabah - Jihad - Terrorism - Violence - Just War - Crusades - article collection http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/hirabah_jihad_terrorism_violence_just_war_crusades/

How common are casualty photos like ones gathered by Stryker “kill team?”, Adam Ashton http://blog.thenewstribune.com/military/2011/03/28/how-common-are-casualty-photos-like-ones-gathered-by-stryker-kill-team/#ixzz1I0JFbevK

History of Obsession: Radical Islam’s War With the West, Sheila Musaji http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/history_of_obsession_radical_islams_war_with_the_west/

How common are casualty photos like ones gathered by Stryker “kill team?”, Adam Ashton http://blog.thenewstribune.com/military/2011/03/28/how-common-are-casualty-photos-like-ones-gathered-by-stryker-kill-team/#ixzz1I0JFbevK 

Hubris and Humility: Christian Perplexity at the Pluralism of Faith, S Parvez Manzoor http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/hubris_and_humility_christian_perplexity_at_the_pluralism_of_faith/

Iraqis claim Marines are pushing Christianity in Fallujah http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/38820.html

Is the Christian Right a Fascist Movement?, John W. Whitehead http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/is_the_christian_right_a_fascist_movement/

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

ISAF Data: Night Raids Killed Over 1,500 Afghan Civilians, Gareth Porter http://original.antiwar.com/porter/2011/11/02/isaf-data-night-raids-killed-over-1500-afghan-civilians/

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

Islamophobia no longer questioned - even by our elected representatives http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/islamophobia_no_longer_even_questioned

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

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

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

The Kill Team, Mark Boal http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-kill-team-20110327

The “Kill Team” Photographs, Seymour M. Hersh http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2011/03/the-kill-team-photographs.html#ixzz1I0NtEJCi

Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism, Michelle Goldberg http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article13017.htm

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

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

Left Behind, ‘Convert or die’ game http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/12/12/MNG8TMU1KQ1.DTL

List of civilian casualties in the War in Afghanistan (2010)  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_civilian_casualties_in_the_War_in_Afghanistan_(2010)

Loner, Loser, Killer, Olivier Roy http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/24/opinion/loner-loser-killer.html

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

The marines urination video doesn’t show the real war crime, Ross Caputi http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2012/jan/13/us-marines-video-urination-war-crime

Mass Burnings of Korans at Bagram Fuel Anti-Americanism, Mikey Weinstein http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/mass-burnings-of-korans-at-bagram-fuel-anti-americanism

Massacres are the Inevitable Result of Foreign Occupatio, Seumas Milne http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/03/14-1

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

Missionaries’ war for souls raises Iraq tension http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/03/24/1079939714048.html

Mixed Message: The testimony of Kamal Saleem, a self-described former terrorist, Doug Howard http://www.booksandculture.com/site/utilities/print.html?id=87522

MRFF Commends Long-Overdue U.S. Military Order to Eliminate Anti-Islam Training Materials http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/mrff-commends-long-overdue-u.s.-military-order-to-eliminate-anti-islam-trai

MRFF Demands Marine Corps Investigate Use of Nazi SS Flag by Marines in Afghanistan http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/marines-ss-flag

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

Muslim Violence, Christian Non-Violence:  People in Glass Houses Should Not Throw Words, Sheila Musaji http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/muslim_violence_christian_non_violence_people_in_glass_houses_should_not_th/

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

The Public Face of Christian Evangelical Bigotry, Muqtedar Khan, Ph.D.  http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/the_public_face_of_christian_evangelical_bigotry/

Relative Violence in Islam and Christianity, Nick Gier http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/relative_violence_in_islam_and_christianity/

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

Taking the Prince of Peace Seriously, Thomas E. Woods, Jr. http://www.lewrockwell.com/woods/woods107.html

The Tenth Crusade http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenth_Crusade

They Are “Us”: Pissing on the Taliban, Steve Clemons http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steve-clemons/they-are-us-pissing-on-th_b_1202455.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 admits lethal blunders: Village is wiped out as 2,000lb of Allied explosives miss Taliban target http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2001/oct/14/terrorism.afghanistan2

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

US air strike wiped out Afghan wedding party, inquiry finds http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jul/11/afghanistan.usa

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

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. 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

Video on “kill teams” by John Whitehead, Rutherford Institute http://www.rutherford.org/OnTarget/2011/03-30-2011.asp

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/

Weekend of Anti-Islam Events in Texas, Richard Bartholomew http://barthsnotes.wordpress.com/2010/11/23/weekend-of-anti-islam-events-in-texas/

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/

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 

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 

Originally posted 1/13/2012