This is a letter worthy of passing on and begs discussion. (Full article graphics at GOP?.com). It reveals what I was cautioning about the night of the Ft. Hood killings. This is just one letter from an American-Muslim affected by the act of a mentally unstable American that snapped. Because of his inexcusable actions, there is a generalization of hate and discrimination toward Americans of Muslim faith, and specifically toward the thousands of American Muslims who serve honorably in our armed forces. This woman's letter to the Military Religious Freedom Foundation is testimony to that prejudice...
"…I wanted to let you know what life has been like for myself, being an American-Muslim military spouse, over the last few days here at (military installation withheld), since the Ft. Hood incident. When I first learned of this, I was sitting in the PX food court with my best friend whose immediate reaction was, “ No offense to you, but Muslims shouldn’t even be allowed in the U.S. Army”. Wow, this was from my best friend here! I have heard this and similar sentiments repeatedly from various “friends”, as well as people insisting it’s really a terror plot.
Since this happening, my Muslim husband, who is deployed to Afghanistan, has been put on duty to build a chapel on his base, as well as being told not to associate with the Afghan nationals that work there. I went shopping at the commissary and had people mumbling under their breath but loud enough to ensure that I could hear, things like, “get out of our country”, “go back to your country”, “ F-ing Muslims”, “G-Damn Muslims,” and several other expletives you can insert there.
Now people don’t just stare at you when they see you go by wearing hijab, they glare. Last time I checked, I was born in this country, this is my country, and my husband is serving it and continues to serve it despite the harassment and racism he encounters. He proudly serves despite the fact that our family pays a higher price for it than many others." ~ (name withheld)
This demonstrates that there is such a profound lack of understanding about other faiths, and that the determination to declare the United States a Christian nation - to the exclusion of all others - creates the "us and them" mentality.
If you think I am being inflammatory and hyper-sensitive to the fallout of this bigotry, let me share this frightening call to discriminate and "purge" American Muslims from the U.S. military from the "c"hristian organization, American Family Association...[closed parentheses mine]
"It it is time, I suggest, to stop the practice of allowing Muslims ['c'hristians] to serve in the U.S. military. The reason is simple: the more devout a Muslim [Christian] is, the more of a threat he is to national security. Devout Muslims [Christians], who accept the teachings of the Prophet as divinely inspired, believe it is their duty to kill [convert/save/excommunicate] infidels [heathens]. Yesterday's massacre is living proof. And yesterday's incident is not the first fragging incident involving a Muslim [Christian] taking out his fellow U.S. soldiers.
Of course, most U.S. Muslims [Christians] don't shoot up their fellow soldiers. Fine. As soon as Muslims [Christians] give us a foolproof way to identify their jihadis [dominionists] from their moderates, we'll go back to allowing them to serve. You tell us who the ones are that we have to worry about, prove you're right, and Muslims [Christians] can once again serve. Until that day comes, we simply cannot afford the risk. You invent a jihadi [dominionist]-detector that works every time it's used, and we'll welcome you back with open arms.
This is not Islamophobia [Christianphobia], it is Islamo [Christofascism]-realism.
And don't give us reassurances about the oaths that Muslim [Christian] soldiers take to protect and defend the Constitution from all enemies, foreign and domestic. In fact, the more devout a Muslim [Christian] is, the more likely he is to lie to you through his teeth, since lying to the infidel [heathen] to advance the cause of Islam [Christianity] is commended, not just permitted, in the Koran [Bible].
It's time we all got over the nonsense that all cultures and religions are equally valid or worthy. They most certainly are not. While Christianity [Muslim] is a religion of peace, founded by the Prince of Peace, Islam [Christianity] is a religion of war and violence, founded by a man who routinely chopped the heads off his enemies [numerous Old Testament blood-bathes insert here] , had sex with nine-year old girls, and made his wealth plundering merchant caravans. [King David & Co]
And just as Christians are taught to imitate the life of Christ, so Muslims are taught to imitate the Prophet in all things. Yesterday, Nidal Malik Hasan [dominionists] was simply being a good Muslim ['c'hristian].
The military is not about social engineering or diversity or multiculturalism or about proving what open-minded people we are. It's about being ready to break things and kill people so that Americans [meaning Americans of ALL faiths!] can sleep securely in their beds at night. The mission is too important to be compromised by enlisting possible jihadi [dominionist] warriors and giving them the weapons and training to gun down our own soldiers and paying them all the while.
The barbarians [dominionists] are no longer at the gate. They're inside the fort, and it's time for the insanity to stop." ~ American Family Association [Leah Burton]
Yes...there are indeed extremists...in every faith and on every continent.
Well...just how insane does this all sound? Extremely! But that is how extremism rings in my ears no matter which "side" of the world struggle for religious dominance.
How many of you are hearing a call for the purging of Texans after this incident occurred in Iraq by a white American male who also had a total mental meltdown back in May of THIS year?
BAGHDAD, May 13 (UPI) -- Military officials Wednesday identified the four Army soldiers and one Navy commander killed in the shooting at a combat stress clinic at Camp Liberty, Iraq.
Army Sgt. John M. Russell, 44, of Sherman, Texas, is in military police custody at Victory Base Complex in Baghdad, charged with the five deaths and a count of aggravated assault, the Defense Department said. Russell allegedly used another soldier's gun, commandeered a vehicle and drove to the clinic, where he opened fire.
Russell was referred to the clinic for counseling about a week before the shooting, the spokesman said, and Russell's commander had confiscated his personal weapon.
Russell was completing his third tour in Iraq with a unit based at Camp Victory, part of the Victory Base Complex that also houses Camp Liberty, Perkins said." ~ UPI.com May 13, 2009
Me either...in fact, I am known to read news and follow politics more than the average American, and I remember very little about this other than it being reported - and rightly so - as a sad tragedy for ALL concerned, assailant and victims.
Or this report about the 14...yes...FOURTEEN murders that took place at Fort Carson Colorado!
"In the six years since combat operations began in Iraq, Fort Carson — the country's third-largest Army base, with 22,000 active soldiers on duty — has become its own kind of killing field. Before Kevin Shields was gunned down, at least three other Iraq War veterans from the base had been arrested for murder, and a fourth had committed suicide after killing his wife. Since then, at least five more GIs at Fort Carson have been arrested in connection with murders, attempted murders or manslaughter. All told, the military acknowledged this summer, 14 soldiers from the base have been charged or convicted in at least 11 slayings since 2005 — the largest killing spree involving soldiers at a single U.S. military installation in modern history."
[...] investigators assumed the case was closed — until one of them, a hunch, learned that the three soldiers were responsible for a string of violent crimes that year in the area surrounding Fort Carson.
On July 28th, Bastien and Bressler had fired three shots at a man walking to get gas for his truck, hitting him once in the shoulder. A week later, on August 4th, they executed Robert James, a fellow private from Fort Carson, as he begged for his life in a parking lot. On October 27th, Bressler ran over a 19-year-old nursing student in his Suzuki; Bastien then stabbed her six times with a combat knife. A drive-by shooting in which no one was hurt rounded out the charges. "Those are just the attacks we know about," says Derek Graham, a homicide detective who served as a lead investigator on the case. "My gut feeling is that they were involved in more." ~ Rolling Stone Political Article
Why wasn't there an outrage by Joe Lieberman and his Fox/Rush/teabagger friends then? Well, for one thing it was on GW's watch, and they were all white boys from Amurika. This type of call to racism against a faith is a recipe for despicable violence in the name of "JEEsus".
Islam is a faith - NOT a race!