‘US at War with Islam’ Training for Military

By Rizwan Khatik - Sat Apr 28, 12:19 pm

WASHINGTON: America’s top military officer has ordered a review of training materials for US troops that espouse the view that the United States is at war with Islam, The New York Times reported Thursday, April 26.

“Our concern is there are some unprofessional things being taught to students in professional military educational curriculum,” Capt. John Kirby, a Pentagon spokesman, told reporters.

The review, which was first reported by Wired.com, was ordered after a complaint from a soldier who had recently completed an elective course entitled “Perspectives on Islam and Islamite Radicalism” at the Joint Forces Staff College in Norfolk, Virginia

“A student who finished the course last month brought this to his attention, that some materials in that course were inflammatory,” Kirby said.

One of the training materials, presented in a power point slide for military students, states that “The United States is at war with Islam and we ought to ought to just recognize that we are war with Islam.”

Following the complaint, Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, ordered military schools to review their training courses for soldiers.

“This review will ensure our professional education programs exhibit the cultural sensitivity, respect for religion and intellectual balance that we should expect in our academic institutions,” Dempsey said in the letter, an excerpt from which were read to Reuters.

The 30-day inquiry will try to determine how the material got into the course, and how many US military officers received training using that material.

The course has been taught since 2004, but its curriculum was revised in the middle of 2011.

The Pentagon spokesman estimated that “hundreds” of mid-level officers have taken the course, primarily commanders and lieutenant colonels from all four branches of service.

“What we don’t know is when this inflammatory language was inserted in the course,” Kirby said