Tag Archives: MRFF

Report Details Afghan Threats to US Military

The recent remarks by Gen John Allen that Ramadan contributed to the rise in attacks by Afghan Soldiers on allied troops — despite the fact Ramadan has occurred yearly in the decade long war — inspired Andrew Boston, author of The Legacy of Jihad, to look a little deeper.  Boston cited an unclassified report dated 12 May 2011 by a “red team” of American analysts.

In an odd twist, just yesterday the Stars and Stripes noted this very report was rejected by the military and its author, Jeffrey Bordin, was blacklisted — yet it is now being used to guide some parts of the American conduct in Afghanistan.

The report goes into a long investigation of the tension between US and Afghan military members, including multiple references to “near-fratricides” — in which Afghans (most often) or US troops (occasionally) threatened each other with loaded weapons:  Read more

Weinstein on Accused Fort Hood Shooter Will Shave, or Be Shaved

Col Gregory Gross, the judge presiding over the murder trial of US Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan for the Fort Hood massacre, followed through on his threat and issued an order that Hasan must shave — or he will be shaved.

Gross…issued his order Thursday after a hearing to determine whether a federal religious freedom law applied to Hasan’s case.  Soldiers may be granted permission to grow beards for religious reasons, and six soldiers have been allowed to do so: a rabbi, two Muslim doctors and three Sikhs, according to Army records.

Hasan said he is violating regulations not out of disrespect, but of religious requirement:

Hasan told the judge last week that he grew a beard because his Muslim faith requires it, not as a show of disrespect. Gross ruled Thursday that the defense didn’t prove Hasan is growing a beard for sincere religious reasons.

While the whole concept might sound a bit odd to outsiders, forced Read more

Rush Limbaugh and the Petition of American Military Atheists

The Air Force Times recently admitted to letting the “news” slip by without reporting it.  After checking the White House “We the People” petition website (to view the White House beer recipe), an astute reporter noticed that the White House had responded to a petition to pull Rush Limbaugh off AFN, the worldwide DoD radio and TV broadcast system.  That is, the White House responded in July.  From the AFTimes:

[The petition] threshold for a reply was 25,000 people — a level reached in April — but the reply wasn’t posted until July and got scant Read more

Yet Another General Officer Endorses Non-Federal Charity

Michael Weinstein will no doubt be up in arms again.  Just days after he excoriated MajGen Marty Umbarger for his September 2011 video favoring a military support charity, it seems another General officer has done a similar thing.  The self-appointed watchdog for endorsements of non-Federal entities by uniformed officers will likely be enraged.

Brigadier General Loree Sutton appears in a video on the website of the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund, which is clearly a charity and non-Federal entity.  The “problem,” if there is one, is Gen Sutton sings the praises of the National Intrepid Center of Excellence and its facilities, which were funded and built entirely by the charity Read more

Family Research Council Cites ChristianFighterPilot.com

Just a short time after a gunman fired on a security guard at The Family Research Council building in Washington, DC — apparently because he ‘didn’t like their politics’ — the FRC and the Liberty Institute published The Survey of Religious Hostility in America (PDF, 2MB).  The Survey is 135 pages covering “more than 600 recent examples of religious hostility” detailing “religious bigotry throughout America.”  The paper includes not just independent government action, but moves by citizens to use the government to take action “hostile” toward religion.

America today would be unrecognizable to our Founders. Our first freedom is facing a relentless onslaught from well-funded and aggressive groups and individuals who are using the courts, Congress, and the vast federal bureaucracy to suppress and limit religious freedom. This radicalized minority is driven by an anti-religious ideology that is turning the First Amendment upside down.

Naturally, the report covers perceptions of religious hostility in the US military, with which they included this citation of ChristianFighterPilot.com:  Read more

Local Editorial Scolds Over-the-Top Weinstein

The IndyStar, which has naturally followed accusations against Indiana’s Adjutant General MajGen Marty Umbarger, published a short editorial that scolded Michael Weinstein for his self-appointed role as judge, jury, and executioner:

[Umbarger’s video] raised the ire of a self-appointed watchdog, an attorney named Mikey Weinstein, who started an organization that bills itself as the Military Religious Freedom Foundation…

In an over-the-top protest, Weinstein has demanded that the general be relieved of his command and court-martialed…

The editorial does not attempt to proclaim General Umbarger’s video statement as without error; it merely says that, if it is an error, it does not rise to the ridiculous demands Weinstein makes:  Read more

US Soldiers who Burned Korans Receive Punishment

The investigation into the burning of Islamic religious material confiscated from an Afghan prison was reportedly completed, with no one criminally charged or court-martialed.  (Recall that “religious freedom” advocate Michael Weinstein had demanded the court-martial of these Christians — without explaining how he knew what, if any, faith they held.)  Administrative “non-judicial punishments” were meted out for the error, which was determined not to be malicious:  Read more

Weinstein Sticks Foot in Mouth over West Point Survey

Michael Weinstein, of his self-founded Military Religious Freedom Foundation, has threatened to “file a federal lawsuit” if the US Military Academy at West Point doesn’t stop using a survey that “violates…constitutional protections.”

West Point is currently in direct violation of Clause 3, Article 6 of the United States Constitution’s absolute prohibition against the utilization of any “religious test”…

West Point has grievously transgressed against and is in clear violation of the Constitution of the United States of America, period.

You know its serious when he spells out “period.”  Further, Weinstein asserted that his “clients” were anonymous because they “gravely” feared reprisal:

Our 42 MRFF clients at West Point gravely fear the distinct possibility that they could be the target of nontrivial direct or indirect reprisals and/or retribution if they were to voice their concerns and demands to their superiors at the Academy…

Weinstein’s main points — West Point violated the Constitution and its cadets and faculty are cowering in fear — are fairly easy to debunk:

“West Point Violated the Constitution”

Most honest Constitutional historians would likely admit Weinstein is misusing the “no religious test” clause.  (Even Weinstein’s own research assistant, Chris Rodda, Read more

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