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SgtMunro
Soldier of the King
USA
Bumppo's Patron since [at least]:
September 23 2002
Status: offline
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 Posted - November 08 2009 : 6:32:57 PM
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Another attack leaves US Muslims fearing backlash
By RACHEL ZOLL and MICHELLE ROBERTS Associated Press Writers
As word spread that a gunman had opened fire at Fort Hood leaving a trail of carnage, a chilling realization swept across the U.S. Muslim community: He has an Islamic name.
From a professor who just testified in Congress, to a White House adviser appearing before a Jewish group and a former Marine driving home from work, Muslims across the country were shocked, angry and afraid that the attack would erode efforts to erase anti-Islamic stereotypes.
Many Islamic leaders said the Fort Hood tragedy that left 13 dead and 30 wounded including the alleged gunman, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, could likely pose the sternest test for U.S. Muslims since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
"A lot of us work very hard for this country, to make America a better place," said Muqtedar Khan, a progressive Muslim scholar who has just given Congressional testimony on U.S. foreign policy in Afghanistan before Thursday's attack. "And this one nut like Maj. Hasan comes along and in one crazy episode of a few seconds he undermines these years and years of hard work we are doing to make American Muslims part of the mainstream in the community."
Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, is a Muslim who attended his former mosque daily and had an "Allah is Love" bumper sticker on his car. Soldiers reported Friday that the shooter shouted "Allahu Akbar!" _ Arabic for "God is great!" _ during the rampage.
Other troubling details also emerged, including reports that authorities suspect Hasan posted online messages about suicide bombers and violence, was struggling with a pending deployment to Afghanistan and was being harassed in the Army for being a Muslim.
While a motive remains unclear, the confirmation of Hasan's faith alone prompted major Muslim groups and mosques to issue statements condemning the killings as contrary to Islam and praising the service of the many Muslim Americans in the U.S. military.
Of immediate concern was security at mosques Friday, Islam's main day of communal prayer.
In Washington, Chicago and elsewhere, mosques asked police for extra patrols. In Garden Grove, Calif., officers stood watch outside a mosque as a precaution.
Muslim leaders warned people to be vigilant and avoid exposing themselves unnecessarily _ including walking alone, said Hussam Ayloush, director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Southern California.
"This is one of those moments where we have to sit and pray that most Americans will come out stronger, more united, and more tolerant," said Ayloush, adding that Muslim organizations have received dozens of death threats and hate e-mail.
At the Muslim Community Center in Silver Spring, Md., which Hasan attended before moving to Fort Hood, Imam Mohamed Abdullahi urged worshippers Friday to tell their non-Muslim neighbors that Islam was not responsible for the deaths. He also advised them to keep their tempers in check.
"Whenever we hear the name turns out to be Arabic or Muslim we feel a double shock" about such incidents. "And then we worry about backlash," said Imam Mostafa Al-Qazwini of the Islamic Educational Center of Orange County in Costa Mesa, Calif.
U.S. Rep. Andre Carson, an Indiana Democrat who is one of two Muslims serving in Congress, cautioned against focusing on the alleged shooter's religion and instead said the discussion should be about mental health issues.
"This is no way a reflection of Islam any more than Timothy McVeigh's actions are a reflection of Christianity," said Carson, who supervised an anti-terrorism unit in Indiana's Department of Homeland Security and comes from a family of Marines.
Eboo Patel, the executive director of Chicago-based Interfaith Youth Core, had just spoken at a Union of Reform Judaism conference in Toronto on Thursday night when a rabbi told him: "The guy had a Muslim name."
"I had just spoken from the tradition of Islam ... on the importance of interfaith cooperation and building Muslim-Jewish bridges," said Patel, who sits on a White House faith-based advisory board. "I wish that was viewed as reflective of Islam instead of a deranged lunatic who was acting only in the tradition of deranged lunacy, not in the tradition of any faith."
But other Muslims were weary of what has become a routine: a Muslim does something unspeakable, and Islamic organizations issue statements condemning it.
"Truth be told, we're getting a little exhausted because we've done this to death," said Robert Salaam of Maryland, a former Marine who converted to Islam shortly after the 9-11 attacks and now blogs and hosts a radio show on Muslim affairs. "We're apologizing for people we don't know."
Still, driving home from work listening to the news Thursday, Salaam thought: "God, I hope it's not a Muslim."
Sarge's Assesment: For those who may not be aware, yet another terrorist attack has occured against U.S. Soldiers on our own soil. This time the cost is 13 dead and 30 wounded; but judging from how our so-called 'Commander-In-Chief' initially responded, one would never have known the gravity of the situation (although he did make it a point to send a 'shout-out' to Dr. Joe Medicine Crow, while addressing the Department of the Interior's Indian Affairs Conference, and to further apologize for America's past 'evils'). But setting aside this most recent embarassing behavior of 'The One', there remains yet another issue to address.
The issue is the questionable conduct of Muslim citizens of this country. Years ago, I pondered as to why there was no "Allah Bless America' campaign after the 9/11 attacks. It has been over eight years, and still the only thing I hear from the 'American' Muslim community is their incessaant pissing & moaning about how non-muslims do not trust them, and this article is no different. As you see in the above article, the first and main concern was how this was going to affect public perception of their community.
Do you want to know who I am going to blame for this attack? Who ultimately is responsible? None other than the Bush Administration, since it was during their watch that this terrorist a**hole was granted a military commision. It was their soft-handed approach against radical Islam, which gave the whole muslim community license to play the 'victim card'. And it was President Bush's less than total war approach, which has caused setbacks in the Southwest Asian Theatre, and presented a chance for his Marxist successor to sacrifice our fighting men all in the name of global approval and moral equivalence.
What this, and other cases of questionable loyality of muslims serving in the armed forces, should teach us is that we do not want these people serving in uniform. Now before someone says, "But gee Sarge, you cannot legally block a group of people from serving in the military...", my answer to them is, "Yes you can, and we already have."
For instance, until recently Americans from the Sikh culture were prevented from serving in the military due to their cultural grooming standards. That's right folks, the most patriotic group of recent immigrants to this country, and proud decendants of a warrior people, were prevented from serving in the armed forces due to arcane grooming regulations. A Sikh male can cut his hair and shave his beard, to go to war (and therefore remove any possiblility of interference with protective equipment); so why then would the military have a problem with them retaining their traditional grooming during non-combat service? The same armed forces which has been on the 'cultural diversity' bandwagon since the Clinton years, and the same armed forces which eagerly looks for Islamic clerics so serve as military chaplains, had fought hard to prevent these honorable and loyal men from serving. So why then do they allow people of the Islamic faith, who have demonstrated questionable loyalty, to serve?
I am not saying, "let's lock'em all up, or deport them back to the sandbox of their choice"; no, let them come here, let them worship freely as they choose to, let them live and work and raise their families without fear, but do not let them have a role in our national defense. I do welcome them here to join our culture, and I do wish them well. But, do I trust them? Hell no! And I have many, many reasons not to trust those of the Islamic faith, both from historical examples, and firsthand experience. They have not yet given me a reason to trust them, but have demonstrated on many occasions that they merit watching.
YMH&OS,
The Sarge
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Serjeant-Major Duncan Munro
Capt. Thos. Graham's Coy.
42nd Royal Highland Regiment of Foote
(The Black Sheep of the Black Watch)
"Nemo Me Impune Lacessit"
-Or-
"Recruit locally, fight globally." |
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