According to their website, Christian Freedom International has taken on the cause of the US Marine who was removed from duty after distributing coins with a Christian message (previously noted). CFI believes that punishing the Marine for his actions would be counter to American freedoms.
According to CNN, a US Marine has been removed from his post for distributing coins with a Christian message of evangelism to local Iraqis.
According to CNN (with more commentary here), a US Army Major General formally apologized to an Iraqi village after a soldier used a Koran for target practice. The General called the soldier’s actions “criminal behavior,” and a military official “kissed a Koran” and provided it as a gift to the village.
An Iraqi party claimed that the apology and reassignment were insufficient and demanded “the severest punishment.”
UPDATE: According to CNN, President Bush has personally apologized to the Iraqi Prime Minister. CNN has updated the article in response to the White House assertion that there was no “apology.”
The World Net Daily, which can sometimes be justifiably accused of sensationalizing its stories, carries a report about a fundamental Baptist Chaplain who claims that his services in Iraq were “suppressed” because “it was offensive to the brigade chaplain.”
Without the true facts of the case, it is impossible to draw a conclusion. It is true that it would be improper for a chapel service to be cancelled for its theology; it is also true that the military is under no obligation to have a chapel service for every “flavor” of religion in its ranks.
It is possible that this is the case to which the ACLJ previously referred.
An AF.mil article highlights the unique circumstances of a Jewish US Air Force Chaplain in Iraq. The article notes that he is the only AF Jewish Chaplain in the AOR, though a recent article at the Jerusalem Post indicates that there are four more in the US Army also deployed there.
Actually, its not…
As of this posting, a review of both the CNN and Fox websites reveals only a single article related to Iraq (and it was in the health section, on PTSD). While the bloodshed is by no means over, the significant drop in violence (a good thing) appears to have resulted in a dearth of news reporting.
Gone are the days of up-to-the-minute casualty counts and roadside bomb tallies. Apparently “good” news doesn’t generate sufficient ratings.
To our men and women “over there:” Keep up the good work. Some of us are still paying attention.
Michael Yon regularly writes personal experience articles for FoxNews, and did so recently when he saw an Iraqi Catholic service–attended by Iraqi Muslims and American soldiers–in which the Americans were thanked for their sacrifices.
Notably, Yon reports that local Muslim Iraqis specifically asked the American military to come and provide protection for the local Christian population. Read his full article on Dispatches From Iraq: Come Home.
It is regrettable that some will undoubtedly seize upon this positive story (and the presence of American soldiers in a Christian service in Iraq) as evidence for the rest of the world of our “crusade” in the Middle East.
From my arrival in Qatar in February until my departure in April, I spent approximately 70 days in what was classified as a combat area. During my entire stay I never experienced fear for my life, either in the air or on the ground. Our base was on a peninsula in the Persian Gulf, relatively distant from the fighting in Iraq and low even in potential terrorist threat. Prior to the outbreak of hostilities, a small civilian aircraft had approached the airfield undetected, much to the chagrin of the Patriot batteries ringing the base. During the war, the presence of a light aircraft near the base was the cause of the only increased threat condition during our stay. The base rapidly went from MOPP 0, a protective posture where no chemical protection gear is worn, to MOPP 4, where full gear—heavy overgarments, boots, gas masks, and gloves—is required. Whatever it was that approached the base turned out to be no threat, and there were no further reactions while we were there. In fact, a few days before I returned home they brought the base out of “lock-down” and allowed us to leave the base to see the local area. So our home was a fairly safe one, particularly when compared to the airbases further north that came under fire from SCUDs and other missiles and were in a MOPP 4 fairly frequently. Our route to and from the combat area was also a safe one. While we flew along the gulf we were in range of several other neutral countries, but we could virtually walk along the Navy sea craft from Qatar to Iraq.
The true threat only began once in Iraq, and even then the threat was minimal. Read more