Suspended U.S. Military Instructor Taught Officers To Wage ‘Total War’ On Islam

By Eli Clifton and Ali Gharib

via Think Progress

The U.S. military is taking concrete action against an instructor, Lt. Col. Matthew A. Dooley, who taught U.S. military officers at the Joint Forces Staff College (JFSC) to wage “total war” on Islam.

The JFSC has been plagued by reports that course presentations delivered by visiting instructors as well as active duty U.S. military personnel cited numerous prominent American Islamophobes and promoted taking a war on Islam “to the civilian population wherever necessary.” Dooley’s suspension, as reported by Wired’s Danger Zone, marks a step forward in removing blatantly anti-Muslim teaching materials from the JFSC.

ThinkProgress has obtained one of Dooley’s PowerPoint presentations. The presentation (which can be downloaded here) offers a stark example of the Islamophobic curriculum taught to U.S. military officers.

The presentation, dated from July, 2011, offers a “counter-jihad op design model.” Dooley’s “model”:

  • “[Calls] for a direct ideological and philosophical confrontation with Islam (as it is self-defined, in Islam’s own words). This confrontation will likely make anyone who sees the world in morally equivalent and/or religiously equivalent terms very uncomfortable.”
  • “Presumes that Islam (as it currently defines itself) is an ideology rather than solely a religion, with the normally associated protections we afford such beliefs.”
  • “Asserts Islam has already declared war on the West, and the United States specifically, as is demonstrable with over 30 years of violent history.  It is, therefore, illogical to continue along our current global strategy models that presume there are always possible options for common ground and detent with the Muslim Umma without waging near ‘total war.’”
  • Dooley acknowledges that some of the examples provided in his class “will be seen as not ‘politically correct.” These include disregarding the Geneva Convention as “no longer relevant” and “taking war to a civilian population wherever necessary.”

    His presentation concludes with a “theoretical STRATCOM message (Issued with the ‘Jihadist’ in Mind).” It reads:

    In exploring Islam’s own stated doctrine, its own stated laws, and its own stated goals for the world, it is clear that Islam remains an ideology and system of governance that demands the extermination of anyone who does not subscribe to each and every one of its tenants. Given the factual basis of what “Islamists” say they seek to impose in this world, the United States has come to accept that radical “true Islam” is both a political and military enemy to free people throughout the world. […]

    It is therefore time for the United States to make our true intentions clear. This barbaric ideology will no longer be tolerated. Islam must change or we will facilitate its self-destruction.

    Dooley’s presentations threatening the destruction of Islam have now struck a chord with the military’s top brass, leading Marine Corps Col. David Lapan to declare, in a Defense Department statement released yesterday, “institutional failures in oversight and judgment” permitted Dooley’s blatantly Islamophobic curriculum to be taught at the JFSC since at least July, 2011.

    UPDATE

    This post has been updated to reflect that the portions of the PowerPoint presentation were previously published on Danger Room.

    Eli Clifton

    Eli Clifton reports on money in politics and US foreign policy. He is a co-founder of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. Eli previously reported for the American Independent News Network, ThinkProgress, and Inter Press Service.

    SHOW 0 COMMENTS