–Jean-Francois Revel
Gwynne Dyer from the Salt Lake Tribune doesn’t deny that Nidal Hasan’s faith played a role in his going postal jihadi:
Let’s see, now. A devout Muslim officer, born in the United States but of Palestinian ancestry, is scheduled to deploy to Afghanistan in the near future. He opens fire on his fellow soldiers, shouting “Allahu akbar.” (“God is great” in Arabic.) What can his motive have been? Hard to guess, isn’t it? Was he unhappy about his promotion prospects? Hmm.
But what else does Dyer do? Blame America and the West for its campaign of warfare and persecution of Muslims:
America’s wars in Muslim lands overseas are radicalizing Muslims at home. Never mind that the home-grown Muslim terrorists who attacked the London transport system in 2005, and the various Muslim plotters who have been caught in other Western countries before their plans came to fruition, have almost all blamed the Western invasions of Muslim countries for radicalizing them.
Never mind, above all, that what really radicalized them was the fact that those invasions made no sense in terms of Western security. No Afghan has ever attacked the United States, although Arabs living in Afghanistan were involved in the planning of 9/11. There were no terrorists in Iraq, no weapons of mass destruction, and no contacts between Saddam and al-Qaida. So why did the U.S. invade those countries?
The real reasons are panic and ignorance, reinforced by militaristic reflexes and laced with liberal amounts of racism. But people find it hard to believe that big, powerful governments like those of the United States, Britain and the other Western powers involved in these foolish adventures could really be so stupid, so the conspiracy theories proliferate.
It is a testimony to the moderation and loyalty of Muslim communities in the West that so few of their members have succumbed to these conspiracy theories.
Lessee……
America is to blame for the dysfunction going on in the modern era of the Middle East? Racist America is “holding the Muslim man down”? American imperialism is responsible?
FA has found unclassified evidence from the U.S. Department of Defense (and hat tip to CJ, whose excellent milblog A Soldier’s Perspective is now on inactive duty) showing shocking and graphic day to day activities of the U.S. military’s campaign of aggression against Muslims:
U.S. soldier teases and mocks Afghan children:
U.S. Army Capt. Michael Wikstrom, a chaplain with Combined Security Transition Command – Afghanistan, shows Afghan children how to blow bubbles during a humanitarian aid delivery mission in Kabul, Afghanistan, July 24, 2009. (DoD photo by Senior Airman Marc I. Lane, U.S. Air Force)
U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class John Moyle, the platoon sergeant for 1st Platoon, 554th Military Police Company out of Stuttgart, Germany, gives a child a high-five while providing security during polling site assessments in the Nangarhar province of Afghanistan July 1, 2009. The unit is currently attached to Task Force Mountain Warrior, which is assessing polling sites in the province to ensure they are safe for residents. (DoD photo by Pfc. Elizabeth K. Raney, U.S. Army)
Afghan National Army commando Mohammed Jan, a Kandak commander with the 201st Corps, hands humanitarian assistance supplies to residents of a village in the Laghman province of Afghanistan May 23, 2009. The 1st Battalion, 178th Infantry Regiment, Illinois Army National Guard is working with the Afghan National Army to conduct a key leader engagement and to deliver humanitarian assistance to residents to build stronger relationships and fight insurgency. (DoD photo Spc. Jason Dorsey, U.S. Army)
U.S. Army Sgt. Juan Reyes high-fives an Iraqi boy while providing security in Sequor, Iraq, Sept. 9, 2009. Reyes is from the security detachment of 25th Special Troops Battalion, 25th Infantry Division. (DoD photo by Staff Sgt. Luke P. Thelen, U.S. Air Force)
Here we have a well-known U.S. Navy Admiral personally indoctrinating unsuspecting Afghan school girls with pro-U.S. propaganda:
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Navy Adm. Mike Mullen hands out notebooks during the opening of the Pushghar Village Girls School in the Panjshir Valley of Afghanistan July 15, 2009. The school was built by Greg Mortenson, a humanitarian and author of “Three Cups of Tea”, to promote and support community-based education for girls in remote regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan. (DoD photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Chad J. McNeeley, U.S. Navy)
U.S. Navy Hospital Corpsman 3rd Class Brandon Sills hands out candy to children in the Helmand province of Afghanistan Aug. 25, 2009. Sills is attached to the battalion aid station of 3rd Battalion, 11th Marine Regiment. (DoD photo by Sgt. Christopher R. Rye, U.S. Marine Corps)
U.S. Army Command Sgt. Maj. Jimmy Carabello distributes school supplies to Afghan children during a humanitarian assistance mission at the Shigal district center in the Konar province of Afghanistan Aug. 19, 2009. Carabello is deployed with the 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment. (DoD photo by Staff Sgt. Andrew Smith, U.S. Army)
U.S. Army Maj. Arnel David, from the 1st Infantry Division’s Federal Police Training Team, hands out clothing and toys to residents of a poor neighborhood in Baghdad, Iraq, Nov. 1, 2009. (DoD photo by Senior Airman Michael Wykes, U.S. Air Force)
U.S. Army Capt. Scott Warnke, with 4th Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, shows a photograph to an Afghan child in the Anzala Khil village of Afghanistan Nov. 5, 2009. Warnke is deployed to Forward Operating Base Wolverine in the Zabul province of Afghanistan to conduct counterinsurgency operations in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. (DoD photo by Staff Sgt. Christine Jones, U.S. Air Force)
Kerry: And there is no reason, Bob, that young American soldiers need to be going into the homes of Iraqis in the dead of night, terrorizing kids and children, you know, women, breaking sort of the customs of the–of–the historical customs, religious customs. Whether you like it or not–
Schieffer: Yeah.
Kerry: —Iraqis should be doing that.
Here are photos of U.S. soldiers breaking “into the homes of Iraqis in the dead of night, terrorizing kids and children”….
U.S. Army Capt. Charles Ford plays a video game with seven-year-old Wa’ad, who lost an arm and a leg to an improvised bomb, during a visit to the child’s home near Muqdadiyah, Iraq. U.S. soldiers from Hammer Company are arranging for the child to be fitted with prosthetic limbs.
An Iraqi man shows off his muscles after a house search by U.S. Army soldiers patrolling Baghdad’s Azamiyah neighborhood.
Anja Niedringhaus – AP
U.S. Soldiers with 30th Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division hand out toys to children during a human terrain team site survey mission in Kilabeen, Iraq, Sept. 15, 2009. (DoD photo by Spc. Benjamin Boren, U.S. Army)
U.S. Army Sgt. Maj. Cannaballo, from the 6th Iraqi Army Division’s Military Transition Team, interacts with Iraqi children while visiting the Al Wallah Elementary School with Iraqi soldiers in Al Hurriyah, Iraq, Oct. 25, 2009. (DoD photo by Spc. Jennifer Reed, U.S. Army)
A U.S. Soldier interacts with Iraqi children during a meeting to discuss potential medical micro-grants at the Qais Medical Clinic in the Radwaniyah area of Baghdad, Iraq, Oct. 3, 2009. The Soldier is from 1st Battalion, 150th Armor Reconnaissance Squadron, 30th Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division. (DoD photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Edwin L. Wriston, U.S. Navy)
U.S. Army Capt. Jayne Strathe, attached to the 1314th Civil Affairs Company, 17th Fires Brigade, talks with an Iraqi child at the Hojarat School for Boys and Girls in Basra, Iraq, Nov. 5, 2009. The Hojarat School is one of the schools selected for improvements by Soldiers with the company. (DoD photo by Spc. Samantha R. Ciaramitaro, U.S. Army)
Here we see an Iraqi child, terrified, as she attempts to ward off the U.S. aggressor:
Jan. 13: A U.S. soldier plays with a young girl during a patrol in Baghdad.
Jewel Samad – AFP/Getty Images
U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Robert Hoff gives kids high-fives, during a visit to a village, in Kirkuk, Iraq, May 14, 2009. Soldiers are visiting the village to distribute school supplies to children. Hoff is attached to Charlie Troop, 4th Squadron, 9th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division out of Fort Hood, Texas. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Gustavo Olgiati, U.S. Army)
U.S. Army Sgt. Craig Wayman puts eye drops into an Iraqi girl’s eye during a combined medical evaluation in a village in Kirkuk, Iraq, on May 7, 2009. Wayman is a combat medic attached to Charlie Troop, 4th Squadron, 9th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division. (DoD photo by Sgt. Gustavo Olgiati, U.S. Army)
In the following photo, we see a U.S. soldier do the despicable:
U.S. Army Master Sgt. Delano Wilson, assigned to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, gives an Iraqi child a soccer ball May 26, 2009, during a mission to check the progress of a water compact unit project near Babil, Iraq. The completed project will provide potable water to more than 4,000 Iraqi citizens. (DoD photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Kim Smith, U.S. Navy)
It is a new low, and signals a desperation of the U.S. military as they try out a new tactic: Instead of homicide vests, they load soccer balls with explosives and then pass them off to unsuspecting/unwilling suicide bombers.
Photo source
Secret photo source
Secret photo source
How do U.S. soldiers get a hold of so many soccer balls to begin with? Quite simply, they steal them from the Iraqis before rigging them with explosives through a mission directive known as Operation Soccer Ball.
Here are a couple of photo leaks of the soccer thieves in action:
A U.S. soldier plays soccer with a boy at the Al zawra club in Baghdad November 26, 2007.
REUTERS/Mahmoud Raouf Mahmoud
A U.S. Army soldier plays soccer with an Iraqi boy while on patrol in Baghdad’s Azamiyah neighborhood.
Anja Niedringhaus – AP
An U.S. soldier from 1st Platoon, Bravo Company (Bulldogs), 1-502 Infantry Battalion, kicks a soccer ball to an Iraqi boy while he patrols the Shi’ite-dominated Chercook neighbourhood in Baghdad’s Khadamiya district, May 10, 2008.
REUTERS/Oleg Popov
Not content with beating Iraqis on the field of battle, this U.S. soldier has to humiliate Muslims in a game of foosball:
A U.S. soldier plays foosball with residents by the side of a road in Baghdad’s Adhamiya district July 10, 2008.
REUTERS/Omar Obeidi
Afghan boys react as they play a game of marbles with a U.S. officer with Alpha Company, 32nd Infantry Regiment (not pictured) in the village of Damman, Kunar Province, eastern Afghanistan February 16, 2009.
REUTERS/Oleg Popov
A boy shakes hands with a U.S. soldier at the end of the opening ceremony of a playground which was renovated by U.S. forces in Baghdad’s al-Harthiya district, November 6, 2008.
REUTERS/Ceerwan Aziz
Beanie Babies are another popular weapon in the arsenal of the U.S. military.
Happy recipient of beanie baby
Nothing quite like seeing a U.S. soldier armed to the teeth, with three beanie babies to unload upon unsuspecting Iraqi children:
Source
Source
(Photo source and story)
Iraqi children proudly show the stuffed toys they received through Beanies for Baghdad. The program, started in 2003 by a soldier deployed to serve in Operation Iraqi Freedom, has sent more than 1 million toys to children in Iraq and Afghanistan. Courtesy photo
Photo source
This U.S. soldier is infecting this innocent Iraqi child with U.S. cooties:
REUTERS/Mahmoud Raouf Mahmoud
Iraqi children are currently suffering from a cooties epidemic at levels unheard of since Operation Iraqi Freedom began.
U.S. Army Sgt. Mark Davenport holds a child while on patrol in the Taji Qada, northwest of Baghdad, May 16, 2008. Davenport is the senior medic assigned to the 25th Infantry Division’s Company A, 1st Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment “Wolfhounds,” 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team “Warrior,” Multinational Division Baghdad.
U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Brad Willeford
Apparently, there have been some reports of U.S. soldiers forcing Iraqi children into the role of indentured servant. FA has found the physical proof:
A young boy feeds a U.S. Army soldier during a New Year’s Eve party for orphans and poor children in a suburb of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad December 31, 2003.
REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra
Maj. Tracy Fong, officer for the 13th Corps Support Command Civil Affairs, plays with an Iraqi boy. (US Army photo by Spc. Blanka Stratford)
The U.S. military is the most respected institution in Iraq, and many Iraqi boys dream of becoming American soldiers. Yes, young Iraqi boys know about “GoArmy.com.”–Michael Yon
We’ve all heard about how al Qaeda recruits children. Did you know our U.S. forces are doing the same? Here we see an Afghan boy testing out a new chemical weapon provided to him by the U.S. military:
A U.S. Soldier with the Nangahar Provincial Reconstruction Team plays with an Afghan child June 4, 2009, during a mission to deliver medical and school supplies to women and children in the Behsood District Women’s Prison in the Nangarhar province of Afghanistan. Silly string can be so much fun! (DoD photo by Spc. Nathaniel Allen, U.S. Army)
8/25/2008
The following two photos made frontpage headlines around the world a few years ago, as clear evidence of how U.S. soldiers utilize Iraqi children as human shields:
A boy seeks shelter behind a U.S. soldier as gunshots ring out following a car bomb explosion in Baghdad. At least 21 were killed in the bombing and 66 wounded, police and hospital officials said.
Khalid Mohammed- AP
This photo, which appeared on the front page of this morning’s edition of The New York Times, shows an Iraqi boy taking cover behind a U.S. soldier as civilians fled the sound of gunshots following a suicide bombing yesterday in central Baghdad that killed at least 21 people and wounded 66 others.Photo taken by Khalid Mohammed, AP
And more photos here and here and here.
These must be the photos of Muslim abuse that drove Nidal Hasan to massacre his fellow U.S. soldiers (or I suppose the non-graphic “retelling” of such abuse and violence, driving him into anti/pre-traumatic stress/violence disorder). Allah be praised! Hasan has done right, defending his fellow Muslims from such Crusader aggression. As Amy Proctor points out:
The discussion is about Muslim soldeirs troubled by fighting in Middle Eastern countries. Well, that should raise red flags to the military. WE’RE FIGHTING TERRORISTS AND IMPOSTER MUSLIMS, not good devout law abiding Muslims. Why would a Muslim soldier have a consciencious objection to fighting Muslim heretics who kill women and children, who behead and rape? They shouldn’t unless they are sympathetic to their cause. THAT IS CAUSE FOR ALARM.
Who uses the mentally handicapped to carry out suicide bombings?
Who uses human shields?
Who fights from behind mosques?
Who organized the rape of 80 women to recruit them as suicide bombers?
Who recruited 24 children to act as homicide bombers?
Who is accused of baking children and then serving them up to the parents?
Who is committing Muslim on Muslim violence? Muslims in the U.S. military or al Qaeda and the Taliban?
Because of current difficulties in trying to help a fledgling democracy take root in Afghanistan, people blame the U.S. for the corruption of Karzai’s government and the suffering of the Afghan people. Because Iraq isn’t transformed over night into a stable, functioning democracy, people blame the U.S., forgetting the decades of suffering Iraqis suffered under the brutality of Saddam and his muderous sons.
It’s funny to hear lefties call Karzai a “U.S. puppet” when he’s acting in ways we don’t approve of. Do we have influence? Sure. But Afghanistan has sovereignty over its own self-determination. Let’s not forget that Afghanistan in the previous 20 years suffered under the Soviets and the Taliban governance. Today, there is a promise and potential for a brighter future. That’s thanks to the overthrow of the Taliban in 2001. Today, Iraq is on the path to a brighter and more prosperous future. That’s thanks to the overthrow of Saddam.
Nothing is guaranteed and it is up to Iraqis and Afghans themselves to take the opportunity they have been given today, to make that bright future into a present-day reality.
What is needed in the Muslim world is not blame, conspiracies, misperceptive propaganda, and the mentality of victimhood.
Jean-Francois Revel, in his 2002 book Anti-Americanism, writes:
But the truth is that the United States’ actions historically have been far less damaging to Muslim interests than the actions of Britain, France, or Russia. These European powers have conquered Muslim countries, occupied and indeed oppressed them over decades and even centuries. American, on the other hand, have never colonized a Muslim nation. Americans evince no hostility towards Islam as such today; on the contrary, their interventions in Somalia, Bosnia and Kosovo, as well as the pressure exerted on the Macedonian government, were designed to defend Muslim minorities. And the coalition of twenty-eight countries, led by the United States, that removed the Iraqi army from Kuwait was formed at the request of the Saudis, who feared what the Butcher of Baghdad might do next; so here again the Americans and their allies were defending a small Muslim country against a secular dictator who had used chemical weapons against the Muslim Shi’ites in the south and the Muslim Kurds in the north. It is strange that America-hating Muslims see nothing disturbing in the fact that Iraq, with a largely Muslim population, has attacked Muslim countries- first Iran in 1981, then Kuwait in 1990- in primitively imperialistic and bellicose fashion. Likewise in Algeria, Muslims have been massacring their coreligionists since 1990.
The greatest killer of Muslims are other Muslims.
America was not the historical cause of the emergence of Israel, which arose as a result of endemic European anti-Semitism. And Muslims may perhaps remember that in 1956 it was the United States’ unilateral intervention that stopped the Anglo-French-Israeli military operations in Egypt during the Suez Crisis.
Another myth that has been strenuously maintained since September 11 is that of a moderate and tolerant Islam.
Barack Obama perpetuates the belief.
The burden of proof that “Islam is a religion of peace” is upon its practitioners- both “moderates” and “extremists”. Not on the rest of the world.
You, too, can personally help U.S. soldiers terrorize innocent children all over the world. Just go here.
“Every purple finger is a bullet in the chest of terrorism.”
–Mohammed Al-Rehaief
A former fetus, the “wordsmith from nantucket” was born in Phoenix, Arizona in 1968. Adopted at birth, wordsmith grew up a military brat. He achieved his B.A. in English from the University of California, Los Angeles (graduating in the top 97% of his class), where he also competed rings for the UCLA mens gymnastics team. The events of 9/11 woke him from his political slumber and malaise. Currently a personal trainer and gymnastics coach.
The wordsmith has never been to Nantucket.