Islam in the military

November 9, 3:46 AMRichmond Evangelical ExaminerJames Leasure

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Clearing the combat readiness center.
AP Photo

Follow up to Nidal Malik Hasan case study:  In recent years, we have seen policy changes in the overall security of our nations government centers, event arenas and stadiums, transportation and public / domestic policies in general.  Concerns for safety quickly became noticeable after 9/11, even in the branches of the armed forces.  Then there were the law suits.  Our legislative offices and courts began working the constitutionality of stereo-typing.  Effectively suppressing any reports of concerns for suspicious behavior, the defects of those new laws created new opportunities for the very thing our government set out to arrest;  domestic and foreign terrorism.

March 22, 2003, the eve of 'Shock and Awe', Sgt. Akbar Hasan pulled the pins on three hand grenades and tossed them into the tents of his fellow soldiers.  His duties as an American soldier and a Muslim in the staging moments of an attack on other muslims was a conflict of interest.  He chose to defend Islam and kill what he saw as inferior to Islam as being the aggressor.

Soon, Sgt. Hasan's attack was seen as an isolated incident.  Surely, our government would implement policies and procedures to ensure this would not happen again.

November 5, 2009.  Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan opened fire at random soldiers in a combat readiness clinic at Ft. Hood, Texas.  The death toll is 13 and 30 injured, including Hasan.

The anger, questions and demands have surfaced again.  Should Muslims be permitted in the armed forces?  Of course.  However, there should be some regulations on what kind of Muslims. 

Islam, as does Christendom has many different sects.  There are those sects whom hold to a hard and fast line to observe and take very literally certain doctrines and verses in The Quran.  There are those sects whom choose to ignore certain ideology and interpret the Quran differently from those who hold to radical doctrine.  This article in Jihad Watch is a very powerful illustration of these differences.

The actions of Akbar Hasan and Nidal Hasan speak of Islamic sects who believe in Jihad.  Jihad is to call all muslims to arms in defense of Islam.  Akbar Hasan confessed to wanting to defend his fellow muslims.  Reportedly, Nidal Hasan made statements to more than a few people as to what should be done to stop American (counter) attacks on Islamic communities.

April 13, 2008, then Senator Obama stated, "I think about foreign policy now, is that Islam can be compatible with the modern world".

To a point, I agree.  However, it is these militant groups of Islam who continue to show up on the violent end of an atrocity.

 A handy piece of reference material available from the CIA is the World Fact Book.  Currently, there are only 0.6% Muslims among the rest of The United States population.  Of the roughly 548,000 active duty soldiers (not the available man power stat of 16 - 49 yr. olds listed in the CIA world Fact Book) 2,500 of those are muslim.  Two attacks on United States soldiers by United States muslim soldiers occurred since 2003.  It seems reasonable to assume a policy needs to be enforced to discover the sect an American muslim soldier identifies with.