Caught on Tape: Military Officials at Bagram Urge U.S. Soldiers to Evangelize in Afghanistan

[babsbunny]

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/waroniraq/139686/caught_on_tape%3A_military_officials_at_bagram_urge_u.s._soldiers_to_evangelize_in_afghanistan/


A new report by Al Jazeera shows U.S. troops being told to "hunt people for Jesus ... so we get them into the kingdom."


New video evidence has surfaced showing that U.S. military forces in Afghanistan have been instructed by the military’s top chaplain in the country to "hunt people for Jesus" as they spread Christianity to the overwhelmingly Muslim population. Soldiers also have imported bibles translated into Pashto and Dari, the two dominant languages of Afghanistan. What’s more, the center of this evangelical operation is at the huge U.S. base at Bagram, one of the main sites used by the U.S. military to torture and indefinitely detain prisoners.

[BrklynLiberal]

1. The military is being turned into a Christan proselytizing machine

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=103&topic_id=445781&mesg_id=445781

[OneGrassRoot]

2. Wow. Every negative criticism possible is going through my head...

sheer stupidity, ignorance, arrogance and unprecedented hypocrisy (given the whole torture thing) are a start.

Unfrigginbelievable.

[madeline_con]

3. Don't they have enough to worry about?

Without being beheaded for "spreading the word"?

[jsamuel]

4. War for the 3 G's - Guns, God, and Gold (the black kind)

[EFerrari]

5. Obama needs to look into Bagram just as he did Gitmo.

Torture centers are not great places for our troops. This shouldn't be a big surprise.

[nichomachus]

6. The proselytizing Christian soldiers are the best recruiting tool the Taliban has

[LAGC]

12. Yep.

All the proof the radicals need to show that the intentions of the "infidel crusaders" is really to conquer and indefinitely occupy, not "liberate" anything at all. So much for winning the "hearts and minds"... :eyes:

[niyad]

7. I am sick to death of MY dollars being used to proselytize ANY religion (that would include

my own, but we don't proselytize)

this has been going on for years in the military--I fought against it back in the late 80's/early 90's with the military chaplains in the navy. and, of course, the big fight at the AFA about it just a few years ago.

and who was that idiot marine who whined because he was sent back stateside when his command realized he was hawking his belief system to the iraqis?

[hootinholler]

8. Isn't this covered by the UCMJ? n/t

[14thColony]

11. Not really

Unless the chaplains were given a specific order not to encourage/incite troops to proselytize in a war zone. By agreement military chaplains do not try to convert those in uniform, but there is no proscription that I am aware of about encouraging others to convert those not in uniform.

While there're many good chaplains, there are also quite a few who joined so that they could really be 'warriors for God.' Some military chaplains have flat-out scared the crap out of me.

[jazzjunkysue]

9. It took the religous right to get the votes to invade Iraq, along with the

support of big business.

The military is only holding up it's end of the deal.

They had the bibles in warehouses in all languages before the public k new we were going in.

This was a crusade from the beginning, George even called it that.

Convert or die. Nothing new about that. Standard biblical operating procedure.

[dysfunctional press]

10. crusades rock! onward christian soldiers...

if they won't accept jesus- use your weapon to send them directly to him.

[Cid_B]

13. Stars and Stripes Story....

ARLINGTON, Va. — A spokesman for U.S. forces in Afghanistan has slammed an Al Jazeera story about a soldier in Afghanistan who received copies of the Bible in Pashto and Dari.

Al Jazeera has aired footage of a Bible study class last year at Bagram Air Base, in which the soldier said: "I also want to praise God because my church collected some money to get bibles for Afghanistan," according to Al Jazeera English’s Web site.

The Bibles were confiscated before they could be distributed because that would have violated General Order No. 1, which prohibits proselytizing, said Spc. Mary L. Gonzalez, a spokeswoman for Combined Joint Task Force 101.

"The servicemember was not aware of that at the time," Gonzalez said Monday.

The Bibles were not paid for or translated by the U.S. military, she said.

"This is very irresponsible on their part to try to contort something out of video of a service and a Bible study class on a U.S. base for U.S. soldiers a year ago," said Col. Gregory Julian, a spokesman for U.S. forces in Afghanistan.


snip....

_______________________________________

http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=62490

[Echo In Light]

14. "hunt people for Jesus" ....wowzer

[Mari333]

15. oy vey. nt

[winyanstaz]

16. The United States Air Force now belongs to the Born Again crowd...

I understand that unless you agree to believe what they tell you to..you will be run out of the Air Force. You will NOT be promoted and atheists or any other religion is NOT tolerated.
What have we become when this is allowed in our armed services?

[14thColony]

17. It's not nearly that bad in the USAF

I'm a serving regular USAF officer. In my 20 years I've perceived no net increase in proselytizing or in religious pressure. By the way I am not a Christian and I make no bones about that fact.

Our promotion system for both officers and enlisted is in many ways remote from the whims of the people who might wish to punish a person for being the wrong religion. Promotion decisions are made in San Antonio Texas by computers, or by boards made up of people unknown to us, and mostly we to them. It would be very evident if a local commander was trying to screw a person over or sabotage his/her promotion, since there are so few effective ways to do it.