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2010-09-02 Olde Tyme Religion

U.S. Muslim Soldier files for conscientious objector status - "Islam is a peaceful religion"

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Posted by GolfBravoUSMC 2010-09-02 14:01|| || Front Page|| [6 views ] Top

#1 Military duties have really consumed every part of my day and did not allow me time to involve myself with the Islamic community to maintain what duties I felt that I owed God. This is really what made me come to the conclusion that I'm not ready to die...

Yes, well...military duty does kinda take up a big part of your day. Especially if you're in the military.
I'd find the recruiter that signed this moron up and boot him in the ass.

Posted by tu3031 2010-09-02 14:31|| 2010-09-02 14:31|| Front Page Top

#2 Probably should kick this Islamic POS cockroach to the curb before we have another incidence of 'workplace violence'. Matter of face, kick them all out -- with a dishonorable discharge, of course.

Posted by Sleque Barnsmell1141 2010-09-02 14:35|| 2010-09-02 14:35|| Front Page Top

#3 "By no means am I expecting a standing ovation," he said."

Most likely a year in jail and a OTH or BCD discharge if application is denied. If his superiors are too wishy washy to see that this chap is not against all wars, and therefore is NOT a CO then they are idiots too. HT recruitment process is suspect, that is becoming pretty evident when the U.S. Army keeps signing up this muslim yahoos who roll on it.

Posted by Entertaining Prose 2010-09-02 14:51|| 2010-09-02 14:51|| Front Page Top

#4 I'm reminded of Hitler's song from Mel Brooks The Producers.

"I don't want war! All I want is peace...peace...peace...!
A little piece of Poland,
A little piece of France,
A little piece of Austria
And Hungary, perchance!
A little slice of Turkey
And all that that entails,
And then a bit of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales!"

Posted by Anonymoose 2010-09-02 14:59|| 2010-09-02 14:59|| Front Page Top

#5 So our peaceful adult age muslim voluntarily joins the armed forces of a country currently at ~~man made catastrophe contingency operations~~ war? Look at the bright side kid, if you are right and locals are peaceful you won't die.

If they kick him out, would it be too much to ask to send him the bill?

Posted by swksvolFF 2010-09-02 15:38|| 2010-09-02 15:38|| Front Page Top

#6 Give him a General Discharge under dishonorable conditions and call it a day. He can't collect anything after he is booted and keeps him from working as a contractor and keeping any clearance, but doesn't give the full slap a dishonorable would so it would be tough to sue.

Posted by DarthVader 2010-09-02 16:53|| 2010-09-02 16:53|| Front Page Top

#7 Islam is a peaceful religion

So let's ignore the real history [like most American 'educators'] of how Islam spread from the present day Saudi Peninsula to the reaches of Spain and Central Asia. Sort of skips over a long list of prominent battles on other peoples turf. The word is conquest. Maybe that's why the Spanish label their hundreds of years of war as the Reconquesta.

Posted by Procopius2k 2010-09-02 17:05|| 2010-09-02 17:05|| Front Page Top

#8 "Give him a General Discharge under dishonorable conditions and call it a day. He can't collect anything after he is booted and keeps him from working as a contractor and keeping any clearance, but doesn't give the full slap a dishonorable would so it would be tough to sue"

No way. A General can be upgraded after a year! Actually a General under Honorable is non- punitive and is "good paper" for a misdemeanor or some shite but otherwise the soldier member did their job generally well and may have even had a spotless record for years before an incident. Whilst it does exclude certain bennies, its not uncommon or all that bad. Therefore, in my opinion, it is too good for him, because he can collect certain VA health benefits and after 5 years or so have passed, has a good chance of obtaining a clearance from what some mil lawyers say, each clearance is adjudicated on a case by case basis and level of clearance also comes into play. So ideally something harsher suits. All told, an OTH or worse would be the way to go. Not in the league with "good paper", no GI Bill lesser chance for upgrade, etc. And he can't really get it upgraded the way a General can be upgraded after a year and the upgrade is a mail it in form. His superiors ought to give him an OTH and call it a day.

Posted by Entertaining Prose 2010-09-02 17:43|| 2010-09-02 17:43|| Front Page Top

#9 Isn't it part of the enlistment contract - that you are not a conscientious objector. I recollect reading (here on the 'Burg?) of some young troop who tried to pull this to get out of deploying to Iraq/Afghanistan, and his commander pulled out the enlistment contract and pointed out on it where he had indicated that he wasn't a conscientious objector. So, the commander wanted to know - was he lying when he enlisted, or lying now?

Posted by Sgt.Mom 2010-09-02 17:55|| http://www.celiahayes.com 2010-09-02 17:55|| Front Page Top

#10 Sgt Mom, Pfc Abdo may try to claim that as he has matured, his thinking on war has changed. I believe other "Conscientious objectors" have tried this approach.
Of course, he isn't saying he is against all war, just war against Muslim countries.
I have no sympathy. Call me out of retirement and I'll cheerfully sit on his court-martial. I'll give him a fair trial before his hanging.

Posted by Rambler in Virginia 2010-09-02 18:19|| 2010-09-02 18:19|| Front Page Top

#11 Instead of discharge, I like the WWII solution. Send him to the Aleutian Islands to "count penguins". With three square meals of MREs every day, which he is authorized to augment by catching fish. Relaxed uniform requirements, so he can grow a beard. And enough propane to keep his survey shack a snug 50F.

And he can pray five times a day, and memorize the Koran if he likes. When his enlistment is up, he outprocesses at Fort Irwin, in July, for a couple of weeks.

Posted by Anonymoose 2010-09-02 19:08|| 2010-09-02 19:08|| Front Page Top

#12 I'll do one better than that. Keep him on rear detachment serving the troops downrange but make it miserable and make him finish out his contract to the day, minute, and hour. The Army is well within rights to do this. Feed him. Then send him to pick up trash all day and other sundry hot sweaty disgusting tasks for duty with only four hours of sleep for the maximum time allowable. Deny any promotions and take his rank down to E-1.

Posted by Entertaining Prose 2010-09-02 19:17|| 2010-09-02 19:17|| Front Page Top

#13 And, of course, after all that still give him OTH.

Posted by Entertaining Prose 2010-09-02 19:23|| 2010-09-02 19:23|| Front Page Top

#14 From the article:

"The Army recognizes that even in our all-volunteer force, a soldier's moral, ethical or religious beliefs may change over time," an Army statement read. "The Army and Fort Campbell has procedures in place for soldiers who declare themselves to be conscientious objectors and who apply for conscientious objector status."

Applications for conscientious objectors -- defined by Army Regulation 600-43 as a person who is "sincerely opposed, because of religious or deeply held moral or ethical (not political, philosophical, or sociological) beliefs, to participating in war in any form" -- can take up to six months to process. Approval rates in the Army over the last seven years have averaged 58 percent. Across all U.S. military branches, 53 percent of conscientious objector status applications were approved from 2002 through 2006.

If Pfc Abdo really has been harassed for his faith as he claims, I could understand his change of heart about the military, and his grabbing on to this excuse to get out. For that matter, a young acquaintance of mine went in all gung-ho to be an MP, but has had a change of heart because he was assigned as a guard at Leavenworth prison. We'll see if he succeeds in his current goal of getting thrown out for failure to meet physical standards. People don't necessarily know what they want or what they can handle at that age.

I'd discharge him, glad that he didn't fall prey to Sudden Jihad Syndrome, and get back a fair portion of his signing bonus. (He served one year of the three he signed up for? Then he gets to keep 1/3rd of any signing bonus. Like that.) I'd definitely put him on all the watch lists for a while. Finally, I'd change the rules to say that nobody gets veterans benefits unless they've served either at least one full term of duty or been severely injured in the line of duty -- no splinter-in-the-finger Purple Hearts or sudden pacifists need apply.

Posted by trailing wife 2010-09-02 19:45|| 2010-09-02 19:45|| Front Page Top

#15 Interestingly, I would agree with the fact that young men may not know what they are getting into, however, does anyone entering military service know what they are really getting themselves into though? The expectation of finding something to believe in or even be devoted to is not guaranteed in the contract. Indeed, sometimes one's true alliane becomes all the more clear. Hindsight is 20/20. I would venture, not a chance. He signed a contract, and it is binding. He should forfeit all claims to his bonus, and he should be either discharged unfavorably or held to account to work in a non combatant role for the unit. He could be moved to another unit if harassment becomes problematic, but serve he must.

Posted by Entertaining Prose 2010-09-02 19:57|| 2010-09-02 19:57|| Front Page Top

#16 Let him go, just after he gets his special face-dot tatoo for the cameras in the drones, and a chip for grid references. Oh, and make him/the family/tribe buy his way out, with an end-user Bambi tax on the chip and ink.
He knew what he was getting into and has broken his end of the contract.

Posted by Rhodesiafever 2010-09-02 22:28|| 2010-09-02 22:28|| Front Page Top

#17 Our Zulu Impi King will hire him for a White House posting. No background ck or security clearance needed.

Posted by Besoeker 2010-09-02 23:25|| 2010-09-02 23:25|| Front Page Top

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