By Granted Al Jazeera is trying to stir up trouble in Afghanistan with sensational journalism of an incident that happened a year ago, but still the chaplain involved is an idiot:
A former Afghan prime minister has called for an inquiry after Al Jazeera broadcast footage showing Christian US soldiers appearing to be preparing to try and convert Muslims in Afghanistan.
Ahmed Shah Ahmedzai said there must be a “serious investigation” after military chaplains stationed in the US air base at Bagram were filmed discussing how to distribute copies of the Bible printed in the country’s main Pashto and Dari languages.
In one recorded sermon, Lieutenant-Colonel Gary Hensley, the chief of the US military chaplains in Afghanistan, tells soldiers that, as followers of Jesus Christ, they all have a responsibility “to be witnesses for him”.
“The special forces guys – they hunt men basically. We do the same things as Christians, we hunt people for Jesus. We do, we hunt them down,” he says.
(…..)
The footage, shot about a year ago by Brian Hughes, a documentary maker and former member of the US military who spent several days in Bagram near Kabul, was obtained by Al Jazeera’s James Bays, who has covered Afghanistan extensively.
In other footage captured at Bagram, Sergeant Jon Watt, a soldier set to become a military chaplain, said during a Bible study class: “I also want to praise God because my church collected some money to get bibles for Afghanistan. They came and sent the money out.”
It is not clear that the Bibles were distributed to Afghans, but Hughes said that none of the people he recorded in a series of sermons and Bible study classes appeared to able to speak Pashto or Dari.
Hughes said: “The only reason they would have these documents there was to distribute them to the Afghan people and I knew it was wrong, and I knew that filming it … documenting it would be important.” [Al Jazeera]
Of course Al Jazeera didn’t bother to give the US side of the story which the Stars & Stripes did:
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.
Julian warned that the story “could incite violence that could cost someone their life.” [Stars & Stripes]
Well Colonel Julian that is exactly what Al Jazeera plans on doing and sadly a former soldier is helping them do this. If this Hughes guy knew what was going on was wrong why didn’t he go tell the Bagram commanding officer? Obviously someone else thought this was wrong because someone told authorities to have the Bibles confiscated.
This incident is not as dumb as the Korean missionaries, but still quite a stupid action by the chaplain involved even though the Bibles were confiscated.
1:47 am on May 6th, 2009 1
Wait a minute. The service member was not aware of General Order No. 1? I find that extremely hard to believe.
So, basically these religious people are traitors to their country. They have chosen to flagrantly disregard standing orders and have hurt the army’s mission and their country’s cause in the name of their religion. They have chosen their religion over their country. That gets people on the ground killed and I’m betting not everyone over there joined up to be a crusader.
If found guilty (and ignorance of the law is no excuse) They should be punished to the maximum extent possible under law.
/Don’t worry about them, I’m sure their god will make it all up to them later. Hell, maybe they’ll even earn a few brownie points.
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May 6th, 2009 at 4:13 am
“…these religious people are traitors to their country.”
“They have chosen their religion over their country.”
“Don’t worry about them, I’m sure their god will make it all up to them later.”
I am not going to argue one way or another on the right and wrong of what may or may not have been done in Afghanistan. However, your tone and choice of words betray your own prejudices and hostility toward religion. It reminds me of the attitude of the secularist and polytheist first century Romans toward the Christian church—A.D. 64 through A.D. 311. If Caesar tells me to place him before the clear teaching of my religion, Leon, I’ll opt for my religion. However, I get your point; if it is going to put one’s comrades in harm’s way or hinder the success of the military mission they have been called to then they should refrain from proselytizing. Having said this, if an Afghan were to initiate the inquiry, I would feel at liberty to give him a straight answer.
P.S. I was amongst the Pashto for a time, long before direct U.S. military involvement.
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May 6th, 2009 at 6:56 am
I hear you. Look, if you wish to place your religion before your country, by all means, follow your heart. What these guys should have done was leave the military and go back there and do this as individuals. I’m sure they would not have survived very long, but they are promised a heavenly reward, right?
I don’t see why these cowards need to hide behind the skirts of the US military to “spread the good news”. Their faith must be rather weak on a basic level. If what they are doing is righteous, they should have confidence that the Good Lord will protect them.
/Why does God need a starship?
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May 6th, 2009 at 7:38 am
“What these guys should have done was leave the military and go back there and do this as individuals. I’m sure they would not have survived very long, but they are promised a heavenly reward, right?”
I assume the correlation between survival relates to handing out Bibles and the potential deadly consequences of that action in a country like Afghanistan, fair enough.
“I don’t see why these cowards need to hide behind the skirts of the US military to “spread the good news.”
I am not quite sure I follow you on this one. I infer you are saying that they would not do this activity if they didn’t feel the US military would protect them against any adverse consequences. This may be true, but it is only conjecture.
All this goes to show that being born in the United States is still a great blessing. One does not have to die because he simply chooses to change his religion. I remember being in Peshawar once and having dinner with an Afghan cleric who chose to change his religion. We asked him what would happen should he be found out. They would have killed both he and the entire family, Leon. It’s nice being an American, isn’t it?
3:24 am on May 6th, 2009 2
Hear, hear. I thought ignorance of the law was no excuse. Some of the participants may not have known about the ban on proselytizing, but the chaplain surely did.
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3:40 am on May 6th, 2009 3
First…
“Julian warned that the story “could incite violence that could cost someone their life.” [Stars & Stripes]”
Followed by…
“Well Colonel Julian that is exactly what Al Jazeera plans on doing and sadly a former soldier is helping them do this. If this Hughes guy knew what was going on was wrong why didn’t he go tell the Bagram commanding officer?”
Let’s see. Open large-scale black marketing, leadership’s cozy relationships with pimps and human traffickers, thinly-veiled shadiness on seemingly every contract awarded… the list goes on.
Why don’t we go tell the commanding officer?
Because nothing will change… he is either in on it or he supports/ignores it for political gain. At the most, to appease public perception, there will be some kind of Saturday training to show Something Is Being Done… but nothing will really change… except the policy on letting documentary film makers have any sort of access.
Now, if leadership can’t/won’t stop actual crimes and open military/America-hurting corruption when made aware of it, what makes anyone think they will go after good deeds of the Christian Mafia which is firmly entrenched at all levels in the military?
And their Sunday training says to spread the Word.
This happened because the military didn’t really solve the problem the last time this happened… or the time before that… or the time before that… because they got a lot less attention. There are many examples. You could start with Googling “Travel the Road”.
Another way to look at this is to THANK “this Hughes guy” for doing what it took to expose a small problem before it became a larger problem that “could incite (even more) violence that could cost (a lot more) someone(s) their life(s).”
It never ceases to amaze me how those who correctly identify, and do their best to solve, very real problems in the military are quickly attacked while the actual issue gets very little attention and even less work on a solution.
Kinda like when the spaz kid has gobs of food in his braces… and you say, “Dude, your braces are gross and full of food and stuff.”… and he says, “No, they aren’t!” while turning his head and quickly looking down… and then he says, through almost sealed lips, “But you’re stupid.”… and you say, “Yeah, whatever. That’s why you are the spaz kid.”… and he says, “Funk you,” and pokes around at his slimy teeth with a dirty finger without actually removing the food when he thinks you aren’t looking… and you go back to your hot girlfriend and he slinks off alone muttering, “Funkin arshole,” under his breath.
Many of the people who post here remind me of the spaz kid.
Quit worrying about the messenger and start worrying about the message. With that policy, there eventually will be no need of messengers.
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May 6th, 2009 at 5:31 am
CH, someone must have told the commanding officer because the Bibles were ceased from the Chaplain before being distributed. So somebody did the right thing and had those bibles confiscated. I do wonder what happened to the chaplain because neither story said. He pretty clearly knew he was violating an order so I wonder if anything was done to him?
However, an entire year after the fact this documentary film maker decides to give the film to Al Jazeera of all people even though the problem has been addressed.
If he gave the film to lets say NBC it would be less inflammatory then giving it to Al Jazeera that this guy knows is going to use for propaganda purposes to inflame the locals like with the false Koran desecration story at Gitmo.
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5:22 am on May 6th, 2009 4
It is my understanding that Afghanistan has a law against converting to any religion other than the state supported religion. Those who convert face a possible sentence of death. This goes against every thing we stand for in America. Our country was founded on and for freedom of religion and that is why we became the most powerful country on
Earth. Our history has been one of instilling democratic and religious freedom values in countries we “occupy”. One can argue that its NATO in Afghanistan and not only the US, but I think we all know the truth of who is doing and paying the most. If we support a government that is so openly against Christianity we will surly lose God’s favor and will not be successful. I think we need to let our Soldiers know what type of government they are supporting and give them a choice to go or not go into this type of situation. This would be true religious freedom. God blessed America (not Mohamed)
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May 6th, 2009 at 10:11 am
“Our history has been one of instilling democratic and religious freedom values in countries we “occupy”.”
Hmmm? Proselytizing, whether done by Islamic or Christian zealots is usually justified to save heathens from their godless ways. And, it was federally sanctioned and institutionalized in the good ol’ USA up to less than a century ago; see the histories of the http://www.twofrog.com/rezsch.html
“I think we need to let our Soldiers know what type of government they are supporting and give them a choice to go or not go into this type of situation.”
Would this be a new form of conscientious objector? Or would it be a new way to get out of combat duty as opposed to fleeing to Canada, getting pregnant, or suddenly discovering you’re gay?
What would happen if a clandestine Islamic group in the military were procuring Korans for proselytizing operations in America. The military investigated it, found it was nothing more than an isolated, over-zealous group of Muslim soldiers, and shut it down. But a former soldier had secretly filmed the activities and a year later, gave the film to Fox News for broadcast. Would we hear the same criticism of this exposure?
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May 6th, 2009 at 10:43 am
Correction: The first link should have been to The Reservation Boarding School System
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7:31 am on May 6th, 2009 5
GI,
I wonder if because of this religious problem, you will support the idea of the US banning de dispatch of US Christian soldiers to Afghanistan, like you claim about Korean soldiers.
They are potential idiots like the Korean missionaries and soldiers.
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May 6th, 2009 at 7:43 am
If these soldiers cannot separate their “beliefs” from their “duty” as soldiers, then they need to be chaptered out. Period. I say this as a veteran and a christian.
Duty, honor, country. Same then, same now.
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7:09 am on May 20th, 2009 6
Now they’ve gone from possibly pissing off fundamentalist Muslims to possibly pissing off fundamentalist Christians.
Military burns unsolicited Bibles sent to Afghanistan
How many bad turns will this story take?
The military’s explanations are getting more incredulous every time. I personally don’t believe those bibles were burned as trash. Call me a skeptic.
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May 20th, 2009 at 7:49 am
Joe thanks for the update. I think they did burn them for the reasons given about worries that the church would send them right back to some one else. What I don’t believe is that the soldier didn’t know he couldn’t hand them out. That sounds like BS to me.
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