Air Force Academy Criticized For Hosting "Terrorism Experts" With False Claims
This story just reeks of propaganda and a sneaky agenda. The article mentions that these consultants were paid in part from private donations, and it would be interesting to know just who that is, because I have a feeling that would make clear the agenda working here.
I just hate how fundamentally dishonest this is with the people who will likely be risking their lives in the Middle East in the near future. I know Karl Rove tried to make it an insult that liberals wanted to "understand the terrorists", but personally, I find trying to lie to these students and make it harder for them to understand far more insulting.
NY Times: (reg. req'd)
The Air Force Academy was criticized by Muslim and religious freedom organizations for playing host on Wednesday to three speakers who critics say are evangelical Christians falsely claiming to be former Muslim terrorists.[..]
The three were invited because “they offered a unique perspective from inside terrorism,” Major Ashworth said. The conference is to result in a report on methods to combat terrorism that will be sent to the Pentagon, members of Congress and other influential officials, he added.
Members of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, a group suing the federal government to combat what it calls creeping evangelism in the armed forces, said it was typical of the Air Force Academy to invite born-again Christians to address cadets on terrorism rather than experts who could teach students about the Middle East.
“This stuff going on at the academy today is part of the endemic evangelical infiltration that continues,” said David Antoon, a 1970 academy graduate and a foundation member.
The three men were invited to talk about being recruited and trained as terrorists, not religion, although one of them, Zak Anani, did tell students that converting to Christianity from Islam saved his life, said John Van Winkle, another spokesman for the academy.Muslim organizations objected to the fact that no other perspective about Islam was offered, saying that the three speakers — Mr. Anani, Kamal Saleem and Walid Shoebat — habitually paint Muslims as inherently violent. All were born in the Middle East but Mr. Saleem and Mr. Shoebat are now American citizens, while Mr. Anani has Canadian citizenship.
“Their entire world view is based on the idea that Islam is evil,” said Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Council on Islamic American Relations. “We want to provide a balancing perspective to their hate speech.”
Academic professors and others who have heard the three men speak in the United States and Canada said some of their stories border on the fantastic, like Mr. Saleem’s account of how, as a child, he infiltrated Israel to plant bombs via a network of tunnels underneath the Golan Heights. No such incidents have been reported, the academic experts said. They also question how three middle-aged men who claim they were recruited as teenagers or younger could have been steeped in the violent religious ideology that only became prevalent in the late 1980s.
They're just lying for Christ, to brainw...bring...more academy graduates into the religious-right.
Simple search on one of these so called experts brings back this:
Canada's only court-qualified expert on global jihadism and former RCMP Jihadism expert, Tom Quiggin, said Anani's story of terror and murder seems improbable considering time and place.
Quiggin suggests that considering Anani's date of birth ("in 1957 or 1958") and the age he states to have joined the millitant activity (age 13, 1970 or 1971) are too early for the time the fighting in Lebanon became truly aggressive, around 1975. Quiggin adds that Anani states he left Lebanon to go to Al-Azhar University, Egypt at the age of 18, which means he left Lebanon within a year of when the fighting actually started.
Quiggin claims that, while Anani may have been a low-level militant, street fighter or insurgent; There are doubts that he was a terrorist in Lebanon in the early 1970s
Great. The might of America's military is being turned into a joke, where generals see 'evil blots' on maps, prayer meetings are held in basements during lunch, and cadets are getting a view of terrorism that's rooted in 'Christianity good, Islam bad' instead of information of strategic value.
At least someone is calling them out for their propaganda, but when will hate-mongering end??? We're going backwards.
Hmmph. Lies from the "religious" right. Whoda thunk it?
When you tell a lie, you have to tell another,
When you tell two lies, you have to give them brothers...
Isn't there something in Christianity that says something about bearing false witness?
Former terrorists? I thought shooter Dick killed, tortured or jailed for life every terrorist in the world. The only ones to be found would have to be christofascist pretend ones.
EVERYTHING about the GOP is fake and manufactured. JeffGannonized if you will.
No wonder even their loyal followers are dumping them right in their own backyards.
there is no al-qaeda...period.
mackiddo5 @ 6:
Sure is, but that would presume these arseholes are actually Christians ...
Freakaloin @ 9:
Oh Yeah ?!?!?
Then how do you explain the 3,467 Al Queda #2's we've caught so far huh ???
Now...(begin sarcasm) if they were to discuss strategic value in regards to religion, then the whole plan would basically to air-drop trained pigs into the Middle East. Pigs are unclean creatures according to the Bible, Torah, and the Koran, and some even believe that it would be unclean to even kill a pig.
So, these pigs are taught to run in a single direction to shepherd all the terrorists to awaiting military personnel to be caputured. We could even put Walt Disney into overdrive, by having the company mass produce combat uniforms that look like one of the Three Little Pigs (complete with an air-conditioning unit because it does get hot) for our servicemen and women. (end sarcasm)
They always believe that they are too smart to get caught in the lies they spin?
The Air Force Academy has a long, long history of being infiltrated and run by the christian reich.
Why this country has continuously turned a blind eye to it is a mystery.
First thing I'd do as president is move the Air Force Academy OUT of the christian hotbed known as Colorado Springs.
Airforce, planes with bombs, idiots at the joystick........it is a false flag operation just waiting to happen. Those christian dominionists at the academy have got to be rooted out like the noxious weeds they are.
I wonder if Mr. Shoebat knows Mr. Sockbat.
Every nation's military preaches that "God is on our side" in a christianity sort of way. Even the Germans during WW2 were under the impression they were doing God's work of killing the terrorists that invaded them. Bushie's regime must have studied Nazi textbooks.
Freakaloin @ 9:
No kidding...
I have two close friends in the Air Force. Neither are Christian (one atheist, the other Wiccan). My Wiccan friend tells me he is constantly harrassed to join a "real religion". He said the Christian chaplains are constantly trying to convert him, and telling him "Wicca is the same as satanism". My atheist friend faces the same problems. My Wiccan friend has also done 3 tours in Iraq, and says there are horrible things Americans never hear about, such as constant rapes in military bases. He said it's so bad, female soldiers are told to NEVER walk alone at night (on the base), or if they do, to carry a knife. He said he knows of at least one male soldier who was raped in the showers by other soldiers.
I can't even imagine all the longterm mental health issues our soldiers will be facing down the road because of this ridiculous war.
right on! @ 18:
There is. They're just based in washington.
ConcernedCanuck @ 17:
Bushie's regime ain't got no time fer readins! They gots tons o' filthy libruls to persecute!
ConcernedCanuck @ 17:
I wonder if this also applies to 9-11?
#11
I explain them the same way I explain terrorists that aren't really terrorists.
Christers and right wing christers especially, indulge in an infinite number of lies.
right on! @ 18:
Yes, there is.
It's just that its a government operation.
BrianS @ 19:
SHUT UP and blindly support the troops will ya !
ckerst @ 24:
My friend calls them "Jesus Jihadists"
This is shocking news. I cannot believe that our government would do such a thing. Up to this point, they have been so open and truthful with the public about the "War on Terror"... I ...I just cannot accept this.
It has to be a liberal conspiracy...it has to.
ConcernedCanuck @ 17:
I agree. There are many documented photos as well as Nazi quotes indicating the use of Christianity to justify their crimes. A recent murder of a Fort Carson soldier by his fellow soldiers (Fort Carson is just south of the the Air Force Academy) may also indicate this as well (see below link to story). If you look at the corresponding Myspace pages attached to the story of the soldiers you will find that at least one soldier has a Nazi "SS" tattoo and several references to killing Muslims.
Iraq Vets Charged with Murder of Fellow Soldier
"Morning Edition, February 8, 2008 · A soldier who had survived two tours in Iraq and had been sent home after suffering traumatic brain injury was murdered in December in Colorado Springs near Fort Carson, Colo. Army Spc. Kevin Shields was killed, according to police, by three fellow soldiers who had served with him in Iraq."
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18793339&sc=emaf
Chico @ 27:
Chris Hedges calls them "American Fascists". I have a signed copy of this book and I just want to echo what he says......the christian right is truly in a war against the rest of us. They are the enemy of Democracy and all our nation should stand for.
Chico @ 11:
Correction, 3 of them were #3s.
Jo @ 30:
I need to read that one - I've got it, but I'd just waded through The Utility of Force and Where Have All The Leaders Gone?.
I also have to read Jeremy Scahill's Blackwater and Glenn Greenwald's A Tragic Legacy.
I weep for both my country and my faith. Evil men have taken over both.
Truth B Told @ 25:
Impossible. They're well organized and efficient.
I believe it was Eusebius who came up with the concept of Holy Lying.
If a lie serves the Church's purpose, than one should lie.
Back in the late 70's early 80's when I was in the Air Force, there were articles in our magazines (no, not High Times), about how 'low' churches were upset that they were shut out from chaplaincies filled with 'high' churchmen. Now it's been reversed, and there been lawsuits about over over-zealous prosletyzations, despite the fact that it's against the UCMJ.
Jo @ 30:
In the old days...they were known as the Ku Klux Klan.
Joe O. @ 29:
In order to meet recruitment goals the Army, it seems, is signing up thugs.
Onward Christian Soldiers!!
“Religions die when they are proved to be true. Science is the record of dead religions.” - Oscar Wilde
“'Faith' means not wanting to know what is true” - Nietzsche
“To Follow by faith alone is to follow blindly.” - Benjamin Franklin
"Don't hate the gullible irrational, hate the irrational gullibility." - P2bH
Shadowgm @ 32:
This is so true. I only hope that good people in the Christian community understand that it is the Dominionist sects that need a good keelhauling. And I hope that decent Christians take on this battle. Otherwise it looks like persecution of all Christians.
Chico @ 11:
Thanks for the laugh.
Karl Rove never read Sun Tzu?
The Air Force Academy is not a safe place for liberty, freedom, intelligent dissent and non rightwingnut Christians. Since the rot seems to have become systemic, probably the only cure for the place is for Congress to defund it, bulldoze the buildings, and retire the faculty. The latter not eligible for twenty-year pensions will be hired by Bob Jones, Liberty, and assorted Bible schools throughout the south.
The United States Air Force academy has been taken over by evangelical christians bent on starting armageddon. By placing academy graduates in missle silos they will be able to achieve their objective.
ysbaddaden @ 40:
More of a Machiavelli disciple, I'm guessing...
Hi you's bad!
No al-qaeda? Are you nuts? al-qaeda means 'the base', which is exactly what is pissed off that McCain has won so many primaries. Bush constantly refers to his supporters as 'his base'. Die hard pukes are 'the base' of the pukes party. al-qaeda is alive and well and living within the republican party.....
The AFA ought to be moved from Colorado Spring (no small bastion of the religious right) to the MIT campus. The SAT scores of those kids would - for the most part - put them within reach of MIT's admissions. They're bright kids who deserve something better than a brainwashing for their cultural studies requirements. The commanders at AFA have been called on the carpet innumerable times by the Colorado legislature for an array of offenses. I say fully integrate them with the student population at MIT.
the only real terrorists this country should fear are the religiousreichneocon bastards.
they are all for destroying the US CONSTITUTION. they are fascists.
they are bent on having everything their way or no way.
this group of fucked-up asshole hypocrites spread more hate and biggotry
than all the other anti-american groups.
Proud2bHumble @ 43:
I'm the worst.
I've been meaning to read The Prince, but I've been reading Beowulf and Secret Agent X: Legion of the Living Dead, by Brant House.
ysbaddaden @ 47:
I've been meaning to read The Prince, but I've been reading Beowulf and Secret Agent X: Legion of the Living Dead, by Brant House.
You can skip The Prince. You've been attending the play since you were born, judging by your comments (compliment).
ysbaddaden @ 47:
The Prince is a classic, however, IMO the better material is to be found in his Discourses.
BrianS @ 19:
I have a number of good friends who are Canadian Army chaplains. My favourite is an RC woman(!) whose field kit includes Bibles, Missals, Torahs, kippahs, Qurans, prayer mats, a smudging kit and a (Chapter/Indigo Itty-Bitty) Buddha, complete with joss sticks.
She says that if a Satanist (not a Wiccan) were to consult her, she would probably have to refer him out for religious advice. She sees this as a personal limitation, not a matter of doctrine.
Of course, I still tease her about the time she finished setting out all of the above kit, only to have the first two soldiers to consult her be . . . a Hindu and an atheist! Can't please everyone, I guess.
Truth B Told @ 49:
Why am I not surprised? Like I said, you's bad(complimentary nickname never to be used again if found objectionable by its subject)!
Re the private donations, the article says the appearances of the three are arranged by the Walid Shoebat Foundation. Shoebat is a rabidly pro-Israel, extremist-right "Christian" who, curiously, seems immune from investigation or prosecution despite his own claim to have been a PLO terrorist, and who pretty much makes his living denouncing Islam under the guise of denouncing "terrorism."
Proud2bHumble @ 51:
Thank you.
Truth B Told @ 53:
Mistook you for ysbaddaden. (also a compliment)
I wonder which Christian God they're pushing?
Proud2bHumble @ 54:
My personal theme song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3V3GODEZRBs
Too bad I'm only 5'3" with the face of an aging choir boy and the physique of a gorilla.
Can of an exercise in pathos.
ysbaddaden @ 57:
I intend to stay well on your good side.
Wouldn't wantcha ta take out a can a calisthenic pathos on my ass;)
Proud2bHumble @ 58:
As to size and appearance:
You're obviously big where it counts most, and there's nothing wrong with going back to your roots.
I'm an easy mark for self-deprecators, being proud of how humble I am my own self. In fact, if I was to video rep my badness, I'd have to go with:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uG5NhkxQJQc
lol
Isn't this nice, we've had our own personal thread. I'll catcha someplace else.
"Last word, freak." - Melvin Udall
out
Chico @ 26:
And by "support" he means "give lip service to" since the peop[le who shout the most about supporting our troops are the same peiople who failed to train them for occupation, failed to give them the proper body and vehicle armor and then slashed veterans medical benefits. If that's support I'd hate to see what they'd do if they were against them.
"former Muslim terrorists" What? These guys get outta Gotmo? They escape? If not, why the fuck haven't they been renditioned and put under "harsh" interrogation techs? Ya know, that "Freedom Ticklin" the wingnuts are so hepped up on! Is it just me or has this bunch of assmonkeys just completely gone wackola or what? And they have control of Nuclear Weapons, makes ya sleep well at night don't it.
Remember a few years ago when a number of female cadets came forward and complained about being raped at the Colorado Springs Airforce Academy? There were also complaints of growing misogyny. At that same time, there were a number of articles on the growing influence (infiltration?) of conservative christian chaplains at the Academy. Not one news organization made the link between the two.
If there is ever a military coup in this country, it will come out of the Air Force Academy. It is run by extremist rightwing religious wackos; it attracts extremist rightwing religious wackos; and it tolerates little if any dissent or religious diversity. Non evangelicals are harassed and proselytized until they leave or convert. It's worse (or as bad) as scientologists and the opus dei.
Tunnels in the Golan Heights? Anyone that has actually been to the Golan Heights knows that it's all rocky mountainous terrain. Digging a tunnel there would require heavy explosives, entire crews of construction workers and excavation machines. How much where they hacks paid is probably a more relevant question. Some people will sell their mother for a little bit of cash.
64 logger
MILF pimps?
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