Tag Archives: Pentagon

Pentagon Grateful for Muslims on Front Lines, “Great Religion”

At a time when some critics accuse the US military of being too cozy with religion, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta hosted an iftar at the Pentagon to “celebrate a great religion.”

We’re grateful to be able to host this Iftar Dinner at the Pentagon and share in one of the great traditions of the Muslim faith…

During the decade of war that has followed [the 9/11] attacks, I am grateful that Muslim Americans have been fighting for Read more

Guilty Plea in Plot to Fly Remote Plane into Pentagon

Rezwan Ferdaus, planner of one of 12 terrorist plots against the US military by people apparently motivated by their Islamic faith, pleaded guilty to plotting to blow up the Pentagon by flying a remote controlled airplane into it laden with explosives.

Under a plea agreement, federal prosecutors agreed to drop four other charges. Prosecutors and Ferdaus’ lawyers also agreed to jointly recommend a 17-year prison term…

Siegmann said there were two main parts of his plan: to blow up the Pentagon and U.S. Capitol using remote-controlled planes and to kill American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan using improvised explosive devices detonated Read more

Pentagon to Host Gay Pride Event

Tomorrow the Pentagon will host the US military’s first-ever “gay pride” celebration.

The event will include speakers who will address the “value of gay service.”

The official poster was “proudly” distributed to a homosexual advocacy site by Lt Col Todd Breasseale of Public Affairs.

The military apparently had to be very careful in its wording of the event, because the “T” in LGBT, transgenders, are still prohibited from active duty military service, though it seems transgender civilians will be part of the “pride.”

Retired Chaplain (COL) Ron Crews of the Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty condemned the celebration and noted the interesting timing of the original announcement, coming just a day after the Pentagon publicized the fact it would no longer permit its service symbols to be used on military themed Bibles.

Presumably, in a spirit of equality, next month the US military will Read more

Marine’s Facebook Site Draws Military Attention

Gary Stein has a “Tea Party” Facebook site.  He’s also a US Marine.  In 2010 it attracted the attention of the military, who wanted to make sure he knew the rules.  He reviewed and acknowledged them, and the Facebook page continued, with the military’s awareness.

Recently, however,

Marine Sgt. Gary Stein first started a Facebook page called Armed Forces Tea Party Patriots to encourage service members to exercise their free speech rights. Then he declared that he wouldn’t follow orders from the commander in chief, President Barack Obama.

While Stein softened his statement to say he wouldn’t follow “unlawful orders,” military observers say he may have gone too far.

“Military observers” is an awkward way of trying Read more

Senate Testimony on Terrorist Threat from Within

Last week, Pentagon leadership gave testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee on their Annual Threat Assessment. A surprising, if somewhat understated, highlight was the pronouncement of a “growing concern” of terrorist threats from within the US intelligence and military communities:

Senior US military and intelligence officials are warning of their growing concern that rogue “radical” elements are operating – or preparing to operate – “within the ranks” of the intelligence community and armed forces.

Ultimately, this should be of little surprise, Read more

Lawsuit Filed over Deception of Pentagon DADT Data

The Thomas More Law Center has filed a lawsuit on behalf of the Center for Military Readiness:

The purpose of the lawsuit is to obtain records believed to show intentional deception by the Pentagon to gain congressional support for repeal of the 1993 law regarding open homosexual conduct in the military, usually called “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

The TMLC alleges the Pentagon has

engaged in a pattern of deception in its efforts to persuade Congress to allow open homosexuality in our military.

The lawsuit centers around the premise the Pentagon leaked information to the Washington Post in 2010 to sway public opinion and Congress Read more

Rep Randy Forbes Calls on Air Force to Put God Back in Motto

US Representative Randy Forbes (R-Va) has written a letter (PDF) signed by 35 members of the House asking the Air Force restore a unit’s motto that was changed after an atheist’s complaint.  The incident to which Rep Forbes is referring was actually first reported on ChristianFighterPilot.com, with the Religion Clause and the ADF Alliance Alert subsequently citing this site.

As noted three weeks ago, the USAF Rapid Capabilities Office responded to “needling” from former Army Captain Jason Torpy, an atheist, and changed its motto from “Doing God’s work with other people’s money” to “Doing miracles with other people’s money.”

The letter, addressed to Secretary of the Air Force Michael Donley and Air Force Chief of Staff General Norton Schwartz, says:

It has come to our attention that the US Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office (RCO) has modified the logo on its official patch to remove its reference to “God,” following a complaint from Read more

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