US military course taught officers 'Islam is the enemy'

Delirium

Saw this on my interweb travels and was curious what others think of this.

A course for US military officers has been teaching that America's enemy is Islam in general and suggesting that the country might ultimately have to obliterate the Islamic holy cities of Mecca and Medina without regard for civilian deaths, following second world war precedents of the nuclear attack on Hiroshima.

The Pentagon suspended the course in late April when a student objected to the material. The FBI also changed some agent training last year after discovering that it, too, was critical of Islam.

The teaching in the military course was counter to repeated assertions by US officials over the past decade that America is at war against Islamic extremists, not the religion itself.

Source

The article has a link to samples of the presentation used by the US military. Direct link to it here

They are basically paints all Muslims as extremists who want the destruction of the US. To me this seems nuts, it just adds more ammunition for the fundamentalists to recruit young men with.

There's also the idea of one of the most powerful armies in the world declaring war on a religion.

I'm posting this thread here because I'm interested to get some thoughts from other atheists about their views on this.

Pace2008

Just read through the entire thing there as it seems absolutely bonkers, even for a country as bonkers as the US. I think - I hope - that the information presented was put together by Lt. Col. Dooley, the person running running the module, and was not the official government line:

He described his purpose as generating "dynamic discussion and thought", while noting that his ideas and proposals are not official US government policy and cannot be found in any current official defence department documents.

"Questionable" would probably be too mild a label for the States' foreign policy, but I still can't see state-sanctioned Islomophobia of this level being endorsed.

Still, even if this is the case, it's pretty shocking that:

1. Either the course material was not reviewed by someone higher up, or it was reviewed and considered appropriate
2. No one objected about the content until recently

given that, as per article, the course has been running since 2004.

sonicthebadger*

Attacking civillians is always disgusting and cowardly. I think all religions are dangerous and cause more harm than good, but I'd sooner convert to one of them than see the middle east nuked. It's a vile argument.

Ideology should never be put before the well being of people. Even people who live in a different country (in case I have to spell that out for people who think like this man). He is guilty of every single one of the crimes he blames Islam and the Islamic world for.

Opticom

Crazy, any belief can be abused / misused by nutters intent on mis-using it for personal power and gain, properly studied, Islam is peaceful, as Time magazine explained in Sept. 2001 after 9/11.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,175987,00.html

Brown Bomber

The FBI also changed some agent training last year after discovering that it, too, was critical of Islam.

That brainwashing programme was funded by Israeli-firster and multi-billionaire Sheldon Adelson who bankrolls the professional anti-Muslim propoganda industry of Pipes, Horrowitz, Geller, Spencer, Wilders etc.

charlemont

Brown Bomber wrote: »

That brainwashing programme was funded by Israeli-firster and multi-billionaire Sheldon Adelson who bankrolls the professional anti-Muslim propoganda industry of Pipes, Horrowitz, Geller, Spencer, Wilders etc.

A conquer and divide policy.

The Yanks have really lost the plot over the last ten years.

pauldla

Maybe it's just part of a series. They might have other courses lined up too, like...

Shintoism is the enemy
Taoism is the enemy
Esperanto is the enemy
Antidisestablishmentarianism is the enemy

Let's give them the benefit of the doubt

MagicMarker

Not unsurprising from the "FúCK YEAH" brigade.

Zombrex

koth wrote: »

They are basically paints all Muslims as extremists who want the destruction of the US. To me this seems nuts, it just adds more ammunition for the fundamentalists to recruit young men with.

Disappoint but hardly surprising that people with such views would be given such freedom in the US military to teach them without apparently any over sight or assessment from higher up. This is after all the same organisation that ran actual serious experiments on mind control, esp and other such nonsense simply because a few generals believed in it.