Posted on 11/10/2009 9:25:38 PM PST by Saije
U.S. Muslim service members say they stand out in both their worlds.
Among fellow troops, that can mean facing ethnic taunts, awkward questions about spiritual practices and a structure that is not set up to accommodate their worship. Among Muslims, the questions can be more profound: How can a Muslim participate in killing other Muslims in such places as Iraq and Afghanistan?
Just 3,557 members of the 1.4 million-member U.S. armed forces describe themselves as Muslim, and followers of Islam said the military is just starting to accommodate them by recruiting Muslim chaplains, creating Muslim prayer spaces and educating other troops about Islam.
Active and retired Muslim service members recalled difficulties concerning their religion but said they cannot relate to the extreme isolation and harassment described by Maj. Nidal M. Hasan, the suspect in last week's Fort Hood slayings. They also said they hope the killings do not roll back the progress they have seen.
Joshua Salaam, 36, said superiors told him when he joined the Air Force that he could not take time for regular prayer. He remembered being warned at a briefing for a posting in Qatar not to go to mosques because of potential violence. Once he arrived, other service members told him that Muslims there wore baggy clothes because Islam calls for them to avoid public bathrooms.
"They are the enemy," is how Muslims were sometimes characterized, he said.
But Salaam said he received many awards in the Air Force. He wore his "kufi" -- a rounded cap popular with some African American Muslims--on base and came to like being a "cultural translator" for both sides.
"As a Muslim growing up in America, we've been doing that our whole lives anyway," he said.
Interviews with Muslims revealed a range of experiences.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
They do it regularly. And not just in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Yes. I'm sure this is the dilemma every suicide bomber struggles with when he or she blows up in a marketplace.
Who is forcing them to join the military?
The obvious solution is to ban Muslims from the US military,and just ignore the howling and screeching of the diversity police.
Muslims killing muslims or anyone else is like their hobby.
Here is a paper by murderer Hasan’s Imam about how to do the jihad thing, at the link - 44 ways to kill or support your fellow killer, or be a “gunman” as described by our Resident. These islamist people are in a criminal murdering cult. Who else but muslims would fly planes into skyscrapers, suicide bomb their own shopping markets, frag fellow soldiers in tents, lob missiles indiscriminately into cities of civilians? Muslims are just crazy killers. If the muslim Shitites and Sunni-ites want to kill each other, then they should just have at it and we should encourage the to do so, because any survivors will just be gunning for someone else, especially Christians and Jews, their favorite targets, or Americans or Brits - killing for Allah: its what they do, like their job or whatever.
http://www.nefafoundation.org/miscellaneous/FeaturedDocs/nefaawlaki44wayssupportjihad.pdf
Did the author of this propaganda piece have an I.Q. over 35?
Muslims do it every day.
Their called suicide bombers.
The strap on bombs or drive vehicles loaded with
explosives in to the local market place
and kill other Muslims.
American solders do not target Moslem's.
They target suicide bombers and terrorists.
So the issue is not with killing other Muslims but stopping
the terrorists that are killing other Muslims by the thousands.
Muslims are good at killing Muslims. Major Hasan just wasn't willing to do anything as a shrink in a deployed environment that might help our soldiers. More than likely, he knew he wouldn't have been outside the wire, and he sure wouldn't have been killing Muslims unless they shot at him. His real outlook is that he wants a foreign policy that allows for Islamic hegemony.
“Who is forcing them to join the military?”
An appropriate point.
“came to like being a “cultural translator” for both sides.”
........
it’s called prosletysing. ALL Muslims are suppose to preach to the infidels to CONVERT them.
They are the enemy!
Surely after Gulf War I, and with absolute CERTAINTY after 9/11, anyone who joined the military KNEW that they would participating in the death of some muslims. Either they accepted that fact, or had an ulterior motive.
I believe that President Bush (in recruiting Muslims, and providing religious accommodation) was trying to say to the islamic world that we were at war with people who want to kill us, and NOT at war with those Muslims who DON'T want to kill us. I think he was right to do this — that is the basic issue.
Unfortunately, radicals on both sides seek to blur that distinction, and make it a war of all against all. That way lies madness.
DG
“He wore his “kufi” — a rounded cap popular with some African American Muslims—on base and came to like being a “cultural translator” for both sides.” Is this allowed?
>>”Is this allowed?”
One can only imagine that it is. IIRC, 40 years ago, some blacks were allowed to wear their hair “afro style,” rather than military style. Recently a Sikh Doctor was allowed to wear a turban (this, I think, is an actual essential part of the Sikh religion/culture, rather than an affectation).
Although I agreed with President Bush’s intention, doesn’t mean I think that it was implemented particularly well.
DG
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