Muslim Soldiers

[tygerarmy]

Muslim Soldiers after the Fort Hood shooting.

At 2 o'clock on a Monday morning, the sound of angry pounding sent Army Spec. Zachari Klawonn bolting out of bed.
THUD. THUD. THUD.

Someone was mule-kicking the door of his barracks room, leaving marks that weeks later -- long after Army investigators had come and gone -- would still be visible.

By the time Klawonn reached the door, the pounding had stopped. All that was left was a note, twice folded and wedged into the doorframe.

"F--- YOU RAGHEAD BURN IN HELL" read the words scrawled in black marker.

The slur itself was nothing new. Klawonn, 20, the son of an American father and a Moroccan mother, had been called worse in the military. But the fact that someone had tracked him down in the dead of night to deliver this specific message sent a chill through his body.

Before he enlisted, the recruiters in his home town of Bradenton, Fla., had told him that the Army desperately needed Muslim soldiers like him to help win the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Yet ever since, he had been filing complaint after complaint with his commanders. After he was ordered not to fast and pray. After his Koran was torn up. After other soldiers jeered and threw water bottles at him. After his platoon sergeant warned him to hide his faith to avoid getting a "beating" by fellow troops. But nothing changed.

Then came the November shootings at Fort Hood and the arrest of a Muslim soldier he'd never met: Maj. Nidal M. Hasan, who is charged with killing 13 people and injuring more than 30 in a massacre that stunned the nation. And with it, things only got worse.

Staring at the note in his hands that dark February morning, Klawonn trembled with panic and frustration. His faith, he believed, had made him a marked man in the Army. Now the November rampage had only added to his visibility.

Most painful slur

For Klawonn, this is what it means to be a Muslim soldier in the wake of the Fort Hood shootings: You hide your flowing jalebi robes in your closet. You watch your words and actions, censoring anything that could be interpreted as anger. You do so even as you try to ignore the names piled on you.

Sand monkey. Carpet jockey. Raghead. Zachari bin Laden. Nidal Klawonn.
But the hardest to shake off -- the name that cuts deepest, especially for a man who defied his family and community to become a U.S. soldier -- is this one:
Terrorist.

"To be looked upon by the people you serve with, by people you've trusted your life with, as the enemy," Klawonn says, sitting in his barracks a month after receiving the note. His voice trails off as he struggles to describe the anger he feels. "It's not right."

[brendanjd]

I suppose that what you get when you build an army based on the concept of mindless killing via an us vs. them mentality.

All it takes is a little propaganda and a few choice words by certain individuals, and the army's whole perspective changed regarding who you are fighting.

War Without Mercy: Race & Power in the Pacific War is a good read for anyone trying to understand the idea of us v. them in the US military.

[skyfire]

A large part of the problem, IMHO, existed even before all the propaganda began.

Much with Pearl Harbor, we got hit by an unprovoked attack that took hundreds of American lives back on 9/11. Making matters worse is the attackers felt that it was their duty to attack us owing to who and what they were & what they believed.

From that point on, it was largely an "us vs. them" mentality. The moment that we learned the attackers were Arabs - and that reports started flowing of individual Arabs celebrating the incident - there was no stopping the shitstorm that was to be unleashed.

Making matters worse is the fact that ever since then, each and every incident caused by Al Qaeda and other groups has just been fuel for the fire. Each and every tape released by Bin Laden and his cronies has succeeded in drowning out those Muslims who honestly believe theirs to be a religion of peace. Each and every "honor" killing and killing of "infidels" has stolen the headlines away from Muslims who wish to live in the 21st Century.

Then we had the bit from '05 wherein radical Muslims were looking to murder the people responsible for a series of political cartoons that were critical of those terrorist groups claiming to be Islamic in origin.

And with Fort Hood? The Daily Onion entitled their article: "American Muslims to Fort Hood Shooter: Thanks a Lot, Asshole."

As much as people may want to make with the hand-wringing and blame it on the military being brainwashed, the truth of the matter is that what we're looking at is the incredibly ugly result of a good decade of racial and religious tensions that have all too often ended in bloodshed. What we're seeing is coming eerily close to being a replay of what used to take place in Ireland, wherein the Protestants and Catholics had been fighting each other so long many people knew nothing but "he's of a different religion than me; I must hate him."

Pointing fingers isn't going to resolve the issue. Rather, as with Ireland, it's going to take a long, drawn-out process in which both sides learn to give and let go.

[Bluefinger]

Yes, skyfire, because all those muslims in the US Army deserve the shit that are getting thrown at them by virtue of being muslim.

It isn't a case of 'both sides' that need to calm down. It is a clear cut case of abuse within the US Army directed at muslim soldiers. Whilst the whole 'us vs them' mentality thing is probably the case, the fact it is being applied to people who want to fight for and are in the US Army, regardless of their own religion, is what is the problem.

The ones to blame here are those perpetrating the abuse towards the muslim soldiers. This isn't an issue that 'sides' should even come in to. It is a case of the US military not doing enough to change certain people's perceptions of muslims, and consequently, having their own freaking soldiers suffer as a result.

NOTE: Edited as rookie is correct.

[mistermuncher]

"What we're seeing is coming eerily close to being a replay of what used to take place in Ireland, wherein the Protestants and Catholics had been fighting each other so long many people knew nothing but "he's of a different religion than me; I must hate him."

The fuck you know about it? I know I only fucking live here, not sit on my as pontificating about it from 4,000 odd miles away, but I can assure you that outside of a very limited number of mentally subnormal people, the thought process you describe essentially doesn't exist.

Also, your finishing remarks regarding mutual compromise look pretty fucking hollow after spending the earlier part of your post explaining how Muslim soldiers and civilians being mistreated was essentially, really, and at the bottom, the fault of other Muslims. Not the people doing the harrassing, no.

[rookie]

Umm, some people here have a very distorted (?) view of the military. Brain washing? Mindless killing? Hey, can someone call me a baby-killer, you know, for symmetry, to complete the stereotype? Thanks. I'll leave that at that.

I do want to address the popular opinion that this hatred of Muslims/Arabs is a military problem. Guess where the soldiers, seamen, airmen, and Marines come from. General population, people. They walk in and mostly retain the attitudes they have. Yes, some come in with some blinding hatred of all people foreign. They had that coming in. It may have been further enforced while in service. But they were bigots long before they swore to protect the US Constitution from all enemies, foreign and domestic. It's no different than some jack-ass Klukker in the deep South burning crosses. He had those feelings before they ripped up their first sheet.

I guess what I'm asking is for some here (Skyfire, brendanjd, I'm looking at you) to remember that the men and women who make up our military are just that. Men and women. No better, no0 worse than those who don't enlist.

[jaHer]

Indeed, regarding the prejudice being there before enlistment. In fact, I'm pretty that some people enlisted because of that prejudice. This prejudice is being perpetuated in other places than military service. It like a clusterfuck. Even out here we've gotten a big slough of fucknuts bringing on this bullshit prejudice against Muslims, Islam, and immigration from Muslim countries.

[brendanjd]

I didn't call you anything rookie. I was referring to the way in which the military as an institution creates an environment of where mindless killing is a virtue and an us v. them mentality is predominant. I didn't call the individual soldiers anything.

Hell, if anything I praise you for being in the US military during this time. The fact that you are shows you have more balls than most people.

The point I was trying to make is this is the sort of behavior you get when military does the above. We saw it in WW1, WW2, and Vietnam.

Of course, I can call you a baby killer if you want. I sure you support abortion, lol.

[rookie]

It's the "mindless killing is a virtue" thing I have a problem with. To take a man's life is not so easy. Even in self defense, it's not like flipping a light switch. And you'd be hard pressed to get even the most jaded, disgruntled, experienced infantryman to say it doesn't bother them. Let me qualify that. Most won't. There will always be the odd sociopath who slips through the cracks. They will say they did the right thing, pulling the trigger, but they won't say they enjoy it.

Mindless killing is, well, counterproductive at best, dangerous at worst. We had to practice with our rifles every few months Oh, in the Army I was a mechanic. I fixed tanks and Humvees. Anyways, as a mechanic, I would have to go shoot paper targets every few months to be sure I could hit what I was aiming at. Bullets flying every which way is a bad thing, I think you can agree with that. It's much better to shoot at (and hopefully only hit) one thing, be it a pillbox or person.

I mentioned it's counterproductive to be a mindless killing machine. When occupying a country, be it France in the 1940s or Afghanistan today, it's a good thing to have the local villagers on your side. The military term is "winning the hearts and minds". And to that end, people (mostly the higher-ups) work very hard to get that to happen. They try to help the villagers. Taking out Mohammed as he's plowing his dirt patch for funsies is a bit more than frowned upon. Indiscriminately picking off random people while in a firefight is just as bad, only harder to prove.

I'm afraid the mindless killing you are talking about is a few stories (May Lai for example) and Hollywood. It's not a hard mistake to make.

[skyfire]

Mar 25, 2010 10:07:38 GMT -5 rookie said:

I guess what I'm asking is for some here (Skyfire, brendanjd, I'm looking at you) to remember that the men and women who make up our military are just that. Men and women. No better, no0 worse than those who don't enlist.

That's actually what my entire post was about: people here in the US are seeing all of the stuff done by militant Muslims, associating that with all Muslims, and as a consequence treating anyone who is Muslim like shit. It's turning into a rather unpleasant cycle, one which is going to take time and effort to break.

[m52nickerson]

Mar 25, 2010 16:00:49 GMT -5 skyfire said:

That's actually what my entire post was about: people here in the US are seeing all of the stuff done by militant Muslims, associating that with all Muslims, and as a consequence treating anyone who is Muslim like shit. It's turning into a rather unpleasant cycle, one which is going to take time and effort to break.

We will get a break when all those racist idiots on the TV, radio and the internet are collectively told by the rest of us to shut the fuck up.

[Thejebusfire]

Sand monkey. Carpet jockey. Raghead. Zachari bin Laden. Nidal Klawonn.
But the hardest to shake off -- the name that cuts deepest, especially for a man who defied his family and community to become a U.S. soldier -- is this one:
Terrorist.

I hope these assholes realize that not all terrorists are Muslims.

[perv]

Mar 25, 2010 10:07:38 GMT -5 rookie said:

Umm, some people here have a very distorted (?) view of the military. Brain washing? Mindless killing? Hey, can someone call me a baby-killer, you know, for symmetry, to complete the stereotype? Thanks. I'll leave that at that.

You are a baby killer or aspire to be in the future.

Is that close enough?

[erictheblue]

Mar 25, 2010 9:43:19 GMT -5 Bluefinger said:

Yes, skyfire, because all those muslims in the US Army deserve the shit that are getting thrown at them by virtue of being muslim.

That is not at all what sky said. All he said was that it isn't just the US Army that assumes all Muslims are terrorists.

It isn't a case of 'both sides' that need to calm down. It is a clear cut case of abuse within the US Army directed at muslim soldiers.

I read sky's comment not ask "Muslim soldiers need to cool down" but "Muslims need to stop partying when the US is attacked."

Note I did not say it is all US Muslims doing it. The fact is, some Muslims did celebrate, and some Muslims think Osama bin Laden is the greatest thing since sliced bread.

Sadly, some of those Muslims are in the US.

The ones to blame here are those perpetrating the abuse towards the muslim soldiers.

And sky didn't blame the Muslim soldiers.

It is a case of the US military not doing enough to change certain people's perceptions of muslims, and consequently, having their own freaking soldiers suffer as a result.

Very true. But the military can only do so much. It can force soldiers to work together, but it cannot stop the asshats who keep screaming "Muslim = Murderer."

Mar 25, 2010 9:51:07 GMT -5 mistermuncher said:

The fuck you know about it? I know I only fucking live here, not sit on my as pontificating about it from 4,000 odd miles away, but I can assure you that outside of a very limited number of mentally subnormal people, the thought process you describe essentially doesn't exist.

Are you trying to claim no one in all of Ireland has those thoughts any more? Are you trying to claim no one ever believed that? Sky didn't say those beliefs are common today. He only stated they existed at some point.

Also, your finishing remarks regarding mutual compromise look pretty fucking hollow after spending the earlier part of your post explaining how Muslim soldiers and civilians being mistreated was essentially, really, and at the bottom, the fault of other Muslims.

Sadly, sky is right. I won't repeat what I said above. Suffice to say it fits here, too.

[mistermuncher]

"Are you trying to claim no one in all of Ireland has those thoughts any more? Are you trying to claim no one ever believed that?"

Yeah, pretty much, I am. The notion it was/is a religious conflict is much overplayed. It is, at root, a political conflict that happens to pretty strongly correlate to religious divides.

I also didn't make the claim of absolute absence you've created here, either.