When I was a lieutenant colonel on active duty, I supervised an officer in the U.S. Air Force who was (and is) an Iraqi-American. He came to the US as a boy after President George H.W. Bush’s call to the Shia to revolt against Saddam in the aftermath of Desert Storm, which was ruthlessly suppressed by Saddam as Bush and company did nothing.
As an Iraqi-American in uniform, he served as an interpreter attached to the 101st Airborne in Iraq in 2004, if memory serves–dangerous times indeed for US troops in Iraq.
He wrote to me, rightly outraged, after Ben Carson made his anti-Muslim comments back in September of 2015 during the presidential primary season. It made him so sad, so angry, as a US Air Force veteran and as a Muslim-American to hear such ignorance, such bias, such Islamophobia. And it made me angry as well.
So many Muslim-Americans have served this country with distinction, troops like Navy veteran Nate Terani, who has written an eloquent article at TomDispatch.com on the prejudice he faced as an Iranian-American. Terani is doing his best to fight a new enemy, Islamophobia, the irrational fear of Islam fed by the unhinged rhetoric of candidates like Ben Carson and Donald Trump.
Here is how Terani puts it in his article:
In Iran, theocratic fundamentalists sowed division and hatred of outsiders–of Westerners, Christians, and other religious minorities. Here in America, the right wing seems to have stolen passages directly from their playbook as it spreads hatred of immigrants, particularly Muslim ones. This form of nationalistic bigotry–Islamophobia–threatens the heart of our nation. When I chose to serve in the military, I did so to protect what I viewed as our sacred foundational values of liberty, equality, and democracy. Now, 20 years later, I’ve joined forces with fellow veterans to again fight for those sacred values, this time right here at home.
As America builds walls and weapons and wages war all over the globe, as our leaders look outward for enemies, we’re forgetting the enemy within America, the enemy that is a much more serious threat to our national security. That enemy, which exists right here in America’s heartland, is ignorance, hatred, fear, aggression, compounded by a cowardly desire to “get even” and to “make America great again” by ostracizing other Americans who are considered “different” and “untrustworthy.”
But spreading fear and bigotry is not a way to national security; it’s a way to national insanity. Islamophobia, like all other irrational fears, must be fought and defeated.
William J. Astore is a retired lieutenant colonel (USAF). He taught history for fifteen years at military and civilian schools and blogs at Bracing Views. He can be reached at wastore@pct.edu. Reprinted from Bracing Views with the author’s permission.
There is no such thing as an “Iraqi-American”. You can be Iraqi or American, not both. Since this guy was born in Iraq, he is an Iraqi and has no business being in the United States. Deport him.
Since Melania Trump was born in Slovenia, she is a Slovenian and has no business being in the United States. Deport her.
Both that statement, and the one above, make precisely the same amount of sense.
Your logic is impeccable, so I think your argument will not be effective, as it is over his head.
If you start deporting people just because they weren’t born in the country, soon enough you’ll be deporting the children of immigrants, or the grandchildren of immigrants, or the great-grandchildren of immigrants. At what point do you stop and say, “This guy’s been here long enough, he can stay”?
At what point to you stop and say ‘why are all these illegal aliens being brought into our country in the first place’? What about OUR children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren – too bad for them??
“What about OUR children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren – too bad for them??”
Exactly how does an immigrant being in this country harm your children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren?
The answer is when waves of immigrants invade a country and then force a change in the culture of the country. The US has European roots and European ideals. Sharia Law is in opposition to those ideals. It is not hate to love one’s culture and it is not racism or Islamophobia to tell immigrants that they have to conform to our culture or go back to their own.
You wouldn’t know American culture if it walked up behind you and hit you across the ass with a bass fiddle.
I don’t need to defend myself to traitors and morons like you. Your reply is enough of an indication of where your loyalties are.
I’m not sure why you think that anyone expects you to “defend yourself” to anyone.
You’re free to come here and babble nonsense all day long if that’s what you feel like doing.
And I’m free to notice that you’re babbling nonsense.
“Your reply is enough of an indication of where your loyalties are.”
His loyalties are to truth, justice, and liberty, not to the American nation-state.
What waves of immigrants? Most immigrants are from Mexico, I am sure they have no interest is Sharia law. It is indeed an irrational fear that a few thousand Muslim immigrants will somehow be able to impose Sharia Law in this country. Even after the 8-year long tenure of a Muslim president I do not see Sharia law imposed anywhere in this country.
You need to do a little research about what is going on in Detroit. There are Muslims there who want sharia law.
If you do any research, when the Muslims become even a slight majority the want to impose their ways. There is no reciprocity in their culture. They build mosques in the US, but they won’t allow Christian Churches in Saudi Arabia. They won’t even allow a Christmas tree to be seen from the street in the compounds that house their foreign workers.
By the way, I am an old man and I remember well the days when Cesar Chavez represented the United Farm Workers Union. He was against masses of illegal aliens sneaking into the US because it drove down the wages of his farm workers. The wages US blue collar workers have not been helped by masses of Illegal aliens.
I have no animosity towards you, but you need to do some research.
Maybe you should do some research yourself.
It isn’t Detroit, it’s Dearborn and Hamtramck.
And yes, there are some Muslims who live in those areas and who would like sharia law. And they aren’t getting it.
Of course, part of the panic is because people haven’t done their research and realized that “Arab” and “Muslim” are not the same thing (a lot of the Arabs in the Detroit area are Christians, not Muslims).
I spent more than a decade living in one of the “most Muslim” areas of the US — St. Louis, Missouri, where a considerable part of the population is re-settled Bosnian Muslim refugees. They built a few mosques. And other than that they pretty much became model citizens.
Do you know Muslims are tearing down Christian churches in Europe in these days?
Muslims have been living in Michigan for ages they are mostly citizens, but still a minority in the state. The only Sharia law that will ever be implemented in the US will be Christian Sharia law because they are the majority, unless you think that all the Christians (or at least majority of them) will one day accept Islam.
There are plenty of Christians churches all over the Muslim world, Christmas is celebrated and many Muslim countries have Christmas as a holiday. Many even have Sunday as the day off.
Vice President of Iraq was a Christian before a born-again guy invaded and destroyed that country.
Christians are the most persecuted group in the world, mainly by Muslims. Before the invasion of Iraq there were about 1.4 million Christians in Iraq. Today, there are only about 200,000-300,000 Christians left.
Muslims have destroyed more than 30,000 Christian churches and it is an ongoing process even in Europe in these days.
It is true that we can se Christian churches in many Muslim countries. But, that is only as long as the Government in these countries accept it and protects the churches and the Christians in these countries.
By your own account it is invasion of Iraq that is root cause of the problem Christians are facing there. You should complain to the born again Christian here who invaded that country. Muslims destroying Christian churches in Europe? That would be a news to Europeans. As for the governments protecting Churches of course it is the responsibility of a government to protect place of worship of all its citizen. The American government does the same thing.
At what point do you stop and say “hey, wait a minute … deciding to come here is not ‘being brought’ here, I’ve been sold a load of goods by the Know-Nothings?”
I don’t have any grandchildren, but my children aren’t idiots. So they know that other people crossing imaginary lines drawn on the ground by politicians to find jobs and so forth, in addition to not being anything to worry about, is also none of their f**king business.
Why are you calling him an illegal immigrant? This Iraqi-American must be a legal immigrant, he was an officer in the US Air Force. He is protecting you and your children. And his children will probably protect their children and grandchildren. What an ingrate!
There is no such thing as ‘Iraqi’ or ‘American.’ Both made up social constructs. Try again, idiot.
Every empire falls and when they do, the most ignorant of their citizenry go looking for scapegoats. Commies, Jews, Mexicans, Muslims, they blame anyone but themselves for the failure of their hunger for conquest. Welcome to the decline of the American Empire. Muslims are the new Jews. The only question now is who’s next? Me? You? Let’s cut the bullsh*t right now. When they come for Muslims, this tranny anarchist (tranarchist?) is going to say something so when they come for me, I’ll have some f**king back-up. SOLIDARITY.
In my experience a bigot never changes their mind or at the very least it’s very rare that they do. The best thing for one to do is to exercise their second amendment rights, the only deal with non-bigots and organize defense networks. I’m on the ideological opposite of them but the Hewy Netwon gun club essentially did it the right way. They realized that the state is not going to help them so they helped themselves.
Bigotry is indeed an evil. Stupidity is also an evil. The Iraqi cited in the article or anyone who moves to the US must embrace the ideals of the US or be sent out. Just look at what is going on in Europe. It has been invaded by Muslims who want to rape European women and push Sharia law. The only way immigration can work in this instance is to arrest and deport anyone who is guilty of rape or who pushes Sharia law. Immigrants need to change to fit in. To have one’s eyes open and know about history and what has happened in the past when Muslims reach a majority of the population is not “Islamophobia” and anyone who calls it that is a deceiver. It is not hate to love one’s culture. If they love their culture, they should go back to it and not try and change ours.
“If they love their culture, they should go back to it and not try and change ours.”
They can’t go back, as we’ve bombed their countries into the Stone Age. When you are thinking more clearly, you will see it it not Muslims who are the problem, it is the destructive policies of our own government.
I do not say you are wrong in your opinion. But, it does not mean that you cannot send back criminals.
“The Ideals Of America” include freedom of religion.. As to people having their culture and religion changed on behalf of heavily armed invaders happened in America already, starting 524 years ago. Trump and his disciples are exploiting the fear you say is only deceit. It’s a classic tool of dictators, be they kings or priests or Fuhrers.
Does the author even realize the bigotry dripping from his own rhetoric? We must be tolerant of “all” creeds (Westboro Baptist too?) but watch out for those guys out in the “heartland” (aka Flyover America) because they are ” the enemy that is a much more serious threat to our national security”. Does he mean that they may not support US foreign adventures anymore? .
Is it also not strange how whenever any discussion of immigration comes up, someone always trots out an immigrant member of the MILITARY? As if the willingness to extend American Empire is somehow the noblest embodiment of civic participation?
“Is it also not strange how whenever any discussion of immigration comes up, someone always trots out an immigrant member of the MILITARY?”
I find it strange that whenever any discussion of immigration comes up, it’s always about violent immigrants, consumers of government benefits, terrorists, and those “lazy, no good, Mexicans who speak a foreign language.” It would be nice if people put forth the idea that maybe some immigrant can be peaceful, productive members of society.
Also, not all members of the military are militarists supporting expansion of the Empire. Note that polling consistently shows that if the election were held right now, active members of the military would elect Gary Johnson as President, who is arguably the most inclined toward peace of any of the major candidates.
No, Dr. Jill Stein is. The only reason people even know about Johnson is because the Billionaire oligarchs that are “never trump” push him as an alternative that siphons votes away from Trump. Compare MSM coverage of Johnson versus what any other third party candidate has ever received.
Immigration is a valid economic and social issue issue that proponents of mass immigration obscure by branding their opponents as racist.
“In my imagination, the Billionaire oligarchs that are ‘never trump’ push him as an alternative that siphons votes away from Trump.”
Fixed, no charge.
“Immigration is a valid economic and social issue issue that proponents of mass immigration obscure by branding their opponents as racist.”
True.
Of course, opponents of immigration freedom similarly obscure the issue by branding their pro-freedom counterparts as, among other things, “proponents of mass immigration.”
So are there any limits to immigration ‘freedom’, as you put it? Shall anyone, from anywhere, come here, no restrictions? Not even ‘throw the door open’, there is no door?
There are currently no immigration restrictions for crossing the border between California and Nevada. How is this different?
Sure, throw open the door, but keep the public purse closed. See how many of the immigrants still want to come. Ironically, almost all legal immigrants go on the public dole for a period of time, but only about half of the illegal immigrants do, out of fear of being discovered. The conclusion: illegal immigrants are more likely to be self supporting and productive members of society than legal immigrants. Kind of mind blowing, eh?
Your right about Stein but he did say “arguably”.
I think both mr Iraqi-American and mr William J. Astore have to educate himself in Islam, that is to say the Koran, Sira and Hadith.
Most Muslims do not know particulary more about Islam and its history than most Americans. Muslims need to educate themself so they understand Islam is not a nice religion. Western people need to understand that Islam is a threat against their culture.
I think it is better do understand above by knowledge than by prejudices.
I am a muslim American who has devoted the latter half of his life to study of Islam and its primary sources. I’ve studied in fundamentalist orthodox madrasas in the Middle East. For years, I have engaged in discourse about Islam with numerous individuals on the web and found the “arguments” of anti-Islam brigadiers are nothing more than a psychological projection of their own bias, consisting of cherry-picked passages devoid of historical context.
You’re likely correct in saying that most self-professed muslims don’t know the history of the religion they claim to follow, and this is a significant factor in the development of extremists and bigots among us.
By the way, most of today’s muslims spell it “Qur’an.”
Do you have any critical views on Muhammad’s life? Is there anything Muhammad did that you oppose a Muslim should not conduct, in general?
ummm. In Nineveh two and a half years ago, the ISIS people were tearing down ancient idols … Just as the commandments say. That would be Moses, of course, not Muhammad. If I point out that Christians when they take down a country have historically put the sword to the old religion, even if it’s another form of Christianity, to force them to join the New State Church. But that’s anti-christ to mention it, yes? Just as a Jewish person might take it as anti-Semitic to mention that Moses had more Israelites than other groups combined.
My opinion is that the Eye for an Eye is a statute of limitation, meaning that you can only take one eye for one eye, or one tooth for one tooth. Not, you know, somebody busts you in the grill so you get all your crew and ride into their village and just slice and dice the entire town except those they take as slaves, which was the prevalent law in Moses time.
A lot of people who partake of the Mosaic Law be they Jew or Christian or Muslim pick through scriptures to find a way of justifying their own sins. My faith is the people of understanding maintain their majority simply by living longer than the Stupid Ones.
Now I’m going to read the rest of these comments and then flush out my emails of the people who call me satanic for not preferring their understanding of God.
First, it bears repeating that an interventionist foreign policy is a guaranteed method of bringing large numbers of people from exotic locales right to our doorstep. Does America have the will and the resources to successfully assimilate them, or will they be — per the multiculturalist/identity-politics paradigm — relegated to ghettos where they’ll add to the destabilization and disintegration of this nation? As Patrick Buchanan put it, “They’re over here
because we’re over there.” We need to get out of the business of empire-building and of bringing shame and disgrace upon our nation by serving as an attack dog on Israel’s leash in the Middle East. Ask yourself who benefits from attempts to engineer a “clash of civilizations” between Christianity and Islam (hint: it isn’t “Christendom” — and it isn’t Islam). Gee, what could the source of this hateful rhetoric about Muslims and Arabs be? Are parallels to be found from 1917 in the portrayal of Germans as “baby-eating Huns,” when attempts were being made to engineer the consent of the American public for entering World War I?
Let us not blame just the Republicans or right wingers for the Islamophobia, many Democrats and so-called left wing liberal media is responsible for it too. From movies to TV series Muslims are depicted as bad guys. Much of the Mosque surveillance, infiltration by informants, and prosecution based on acts encouraged by informants took place under Obama administration.
You are absolutely right, it is a government thing. Big Government has an interest in creating perceived enemies, so it can pass all kinds of laws and regulations to “protect us.” My question is, “who will protect us from the government?”
OK, but Trump’s “Islamophobia” doesn’t involve attacking any Muslims. He ran on essentially defeating ISIS and otherwise getting the heck out.
The posters here are all projecting what they would like an evil Trump to be like. The real Trump is not as they imagine. Most of the posters here are living in a fantasy world.
Now, Trump could prove to be a war monger, but he didn’t run as such. Certainly the Neocons viewed Hillary as better on war.
Neither Trump nor Hillary is not a choice. Hillary has made several bad decisions that are costing Americans dearly. Let’s see how Trump dose. At the very least, we may have more discussion of alternatives than if Hillary had been elected.
The Christians have been among the greatest losers from US foreign policy.
One of the things Trump promised to US Christians is he wouldn’t abuse ME Christians. He made the promise in the early Liberty U speech.
Any real Christian who is actively following events is anti-war. Nearly all of the wars, revolutions, other interventions have been harmful to Christians.
One of the things Trump promised to US Christians is he wouldn’t abuse ME Christians.
That should include Palestinian Christians, of course.
He’s got his work cut out for him.
The problem isn’t going to be deporting Muslims, it’s going to be when his followers notice he wrote a no-funds check and they snatched it right up. It’s Their Perceptions of him that are far more dangerous. He rejected the endorsement of Stormfront, good for him. However, why would they believe him to be “one of their boys” in the first place? That’s troubling. People who are sensitized to race issues on both sides are forming their opinions based on that endorsement. And the huge presence of skinheads at his rallies.
The skins think he owes them. They love to have their outrages fully documented. It’s a major issue with sociopathic groups. It’s almost like they each carry around a Shooter’s Manifesto. Just in case.
And they believe and more, claim it loudly and often, that they’ll be allowed to take part in the Immigrant Roundups.
That is one aspect of his ascendancy that can’t be denied, and the most dangerous potential of extremist violence is that it breeds more of the same. Will most Americans bridge the political divide to effectively face down that threat if and when it rears its ugly head? God willing.
May President Trump exercise his authority to mitigate it rather than exacerbate it.