an inside war is going on amongst our troops in Iraq

[donsu]

http://www.talk2action.org/story/2007/8/7/223944/5016/Front_Page/Atheist_Mistreatment_in_Iraq


religiously insane attacking atheists


Atheist Mistreatment in Iraq


No, not by radical Muslims but by our own military. This email was forwarded to me from a soldier in Iraq whose friend is being harassed at another base for organizing a meeting of atheists on the base. The email was originally sent to Kathleen Johnson, the military director for American Atheists, who is currently serving in Iraq herself. The full email is below the fold:
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Kathleen Johnson:

Thought you'd be interested in this report of the first-ever meeting of Atheist service-members in Iraq under the umbrella of the MAAF-Iraq chapter of the Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers. This meeting was put together by the same young MAAF member who recently had his second letter published in the Stars and Stripes.

One of our members, a young Atheist enlisted soldier, thought he would like to see if he could generate some interest in MAAF meetings at his Forward Operating Base (FOB) here in Iraq (not the base I'm at, by the way). He got things coordinated and started hanging flyers, and after weeks of having to re-hang his flyers almost daily because some vandal kept tearing them down, he finally succeeded in having a small MAAF meeting. I wasn't there because the meeting wasn't on my FOB, but I knew he was holding it and was expecting to hear from him after the meeting. Keep in mind that this young soldier did everything right - he went through the Chaplain's office and jumped through all the hoops it takes to legally hold meetings that are religiously or philosophically based. Four soldiers attended this meeting - all of them very junior enlisted soldiers with the exception of one Major (an O-4), who claimed to be a "freethinker".

Well, to make a very long story a little shorter, the Major turned out to be a fundamentalist Christian who verbally berated the other attendees, accused them of plotting against Christians and disrespecting soldiers who have died protecting the Constitution, and threatened them with punishment under the UCMJ for their activities (said they were "going down") and said he would do whatever it took to shut the meetings down. Keep in mind that by this point, he had two of the attendees (one soldier fled when the shouting started) standing at the position of attention so that he could yell at them, berate them, and humiliate them. This apparently went on for several minutes at which time the Major shut down the meeting by saying he wasn't some "push-over Chaplain" and that he would not tolerate the meetings to continue.
-snip-
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the religiously insane are dangerous

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. What is the recourse for these folks?

I mean, what does the UCMJ say about this, especially if the young fellow followed all the rules? Does the opinion of the Major trump protocol?

If the Major gets away with it, what keeps this Major from requiring everyone to attend Christian indoctrination?

[IndianaJones]

2. this certainly shouldn't be questioned as authentic at all. nt.

[NYVet]

3. I have to say this...

If this is true, then the soldier needs to contact his chain of command and bring it to the attention of other officers who can stand toe to toe with the major.

IF his chain of command will not do it, then he needs to visit IG and make his concerns known.




But I have my concerns on the veracity of this story.

[StClone]

4. Crips vs. the Bloods?

The gangs and drug lords are moving in too.