US course taught end of Islam
A COURSE for US military officers has been teaching that America's enemy is Islam in general, not just terrorists, and suggests the country might ultimately have to obliterate the Islamic holy cities of Mecca and Medina without regard for civilian deaths.
In revelations certain to reverberate through the Islamic world, the course said such extreme action had WWII precedents in the nuclear attack on Hiroshima and firebombing of Dresden.
The Pentagon suspended the course in April when a student objected to the material. The FBI also changed some agent training last year after discovering that it, too, was critical of Islam.
The teaching in the military course was counter to repeated assertions by US officials over the last decade that the US is at war against Islamic extremists — not the Muslim religion. "They hate everything you stand for and will never coexist with you, unless you submit," army instructor Lieutenant-Colonel Matthew Dooley said in a presentation last July for the course at Joint Forces Staff College.
The college, for professional military members, teaches mid-level officers and government civilians on subjects related to planning and executing war. Lieutenant-Colonel Dooley also presumed, for the purposes of his theoretical war plan, that the Geneva Conventions that set standards of armed conflict, were "no longer relevant. This would leave open the option once again of taking war to a civilian population wherever necessary (the historical precedents of Dresden, Tokyo, Hiroshima, Nagasaki being applicable)," he said.
His strategy suggested possible out-comes such as "Saudi Arabia threatened with starvation ... Islam reduced to cult status," and the Muslim holy cities of Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia being "destroyed".
A copy of the presentation was posted online by Wired.com's 'Danger Room blog'. The college did not respond to requests for copies of the documents but a Pentagon spokesman authenticated the documents.
Lieutenant-Colonel Dooley still works for the college but is no longer teaching, Joint Chiefs Chairman General Martin Dempsey said yesterday.
Lieutenant-Colonel Dooley refused to comment, saying: "Can't talk to you, sir," and hanging up when contacted yesterday.