Crusading In Afghanistan

By Steve Hynd

There will be people who see nothing wrong with the U.S. army becoming an army of evangelising Christian Soldiers. None of them should be allowed anywhere near a critical and  supposedly "population-centric COIN" operation.

Al-Jazeera became aware of the above video through the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, who have been aware of it since last fall. Jeremy Scahill at HuffPo has the rundown:

...US military forces in Afghanistan have been instructed by the military's top chaplain in the country to "hunt people for Jesus" as they spread Christianity to the overwhelmingly Muslim population. Soldiers also have imported bibles translated into Pashto and Dari, the two dominant languages of Afghanistan.

...In a video obtained by Al Jazeera and broadcast Monday, Lieutenant-Colonel Gary Hensley, the chief of the US military chaplains in Afghanistan, is seen telling 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.

"Get the hound of heaven after them, so we get them into the kingdom. That's what we do, that's our business."

The translated Bibles appear to be the New Testament. According to Al Jazeera, US soldiers "had them specially printed and shipped to Afghanistan." On the tape, one soldier describes how his church in the US helped raise money for the bibles. Al Jazeera reports that "What these soldiers have been doing may well be in direct violation of the US Constitution, their professional codes and the regulations in place for all forces in Afghanistan." The US military officially forbids "proselytising of any religion, faith or practice."

But by describing the bibles as "gifts" the chaplain hints to troops, they can get around the regulations.

In the comments to Scahill's post,Chris Rodda of the MRFF writes:

I've posted quite a few pieces here [at HuffPo] about the proselytizing of Muslims by our military, but all the photographs, other videos, and even quotes from military officers admitting they're doing this have, for some reason, not been enough to convince most people that this is really going on, and how serious a problem it is. Maybe this video will wake people -- and our military leadership -- up.

Maybe it will serve as a wake-up call for those who believe that anything even close to "textbook" COIN operations can be done by the US military in Afghanistan. For Obama's vague plan to have any chance of success, so-called "hearts and minds" operations are essential. Fat chance of those working well if a band of zealot Christian Soldiers are tasked with them. As Scahill notes:

Trying to convert Muslims to any other faith is a crime in Afghanistan. The fact that the video footage is being broadcast on Al Jazeera guarantees that it will be seen throughout the Muslim world. It is likely to add more credence to the perception that the US is engaging in a war on Islam with neo-crusader forces invading Muslim lands.

Former Afghan prime minister Ahmed Shah Ahmedzai described the video as "very damaging for diplomatic relations between the two counties," while Sayed Aalam Uddin Asser, of the Islamic Front for Peace and Understanding in Kabul, told the network: "It's a national security issue ... our constitution says nothing can take place in Afghanistan against Islam.told Al-Jazeera "If people come and propaganda other religions which have no followers in Afghanistan [then] it creates problems for the people, for peace, for stability."

Yet more colonial White Man's Burden thinking, just like the other set of American interventionists in charge of US foreign policy.

Comments

[Ron Beasley]

Evangelical Christians have virtually taken over the military, you can find details here.

[geoff]

Now I'm wondering why the USA has any military allies what so ever. What sane country would let its troops be anywhere near an American outfit of crazed Christian sales people in a Muslim country.

[HP Stevens]

Evangelical fundamentalist Christians have increasingly conflated their Christian faith with their love of country. Reagan began by blurring the lines, and the GOP establishment has been working to eradicate the lines altogether ever since.

Seeing Palin stirring up self-righteous fury and bigotry at her campaign rallies last year, I finally realized that GOP decisionmakers were now buying into their own horseshit. Many of them really do believe that "they hate us for our freedoms" and that non-Republicans have an agenda to make America over into a socialist state.

The Republicans have created a monster, and now it's loose and on the rampage. Don't they know that freed monsters always destroy their masters first?

[JD]

"But by describing the bibles as "gifts" the chaplain tells troops, they can get around the regulations."

Except no Chaplain said what you're saying they said; it was the enlisted soldier sitting next to the Chaplain that said it. We don't know the full response, because al Jazeera cuts off the video at that point, though you can clearly see the Chaplain continue the conversation.

Watch the video again.
Also here:
http://christianfighterpilot.com/blog/?p=321

[Norman Rogers]

Come unhinged and make a rash judgement much?

Just a quick question--were the Bibles ever handed out to the (mostly) illiterate Afghans? No, of course not. Because someone interceded to stop the act of proselytizing.

But that didn't stop you from rushing to judgement and helping al Jazeera smear these troops, did it?

[Steve Hynd]

JD, you're correct and I apologise. The chaplain doesn't say it outright, he just leads another soldier to say it. I've altered the post accordingly.

Norman, are you blithely unaware that this fits into a wider pattern of attempted (often successful)military evangelising? Would you even try to argue that such evangelising of the 28% of literate Afghhans (the village headmen, town dwellers, civil servants, police etc) is a good idea from a counter-insurgency "hearts and minds" point of view?

Regards, Steve

[Norman Rogers]

Norman, are you blithely unaware that this fits into a wider pattern of attempted (often successful)military evangelising? Would you even try to argue that such evangelising of the 28% of literate Afghhans (the village headmen, town dwellers, civil servants, police etc) is a good idea from a counter-insurgency "hearts and minds" point of view?

No, I am not "blithely unaware" of anything because at the heart of this incident is the undeniable fact that NO BIBLES were actually handed out to illiterate Afghans. A member of the US Army stepped in and STOPPED this from happening and issued a very lengthy explanation as to what was discovered, what the policy was, how it was carried out, and how it was documented for the media. Rarely do you see any liberal web site acknowledge that the US Army has done what it was supposed to do; instead, you trod on the old "Bush era" path that says that the military is full of evangelicals.

Well, if that were the case, wouldn't those Bibles have been handed out? Wouldn't a few high ranking officers have looked the other way, shoveled some Bibles into the hands of the Afghans who can't read?

I mean, let's be frank here--you're assuming that General Petraeus and his officers know nothing of COIN. In point of fact, promotion in the US Army for the last few years has hinged on an acceptance of COIN and a warfighting discipline that should lead you to conclude that perhaps, just perhaps, someone knows what the hell they're doing. Is that too scary for you to contemplate? That someone knows what they're doing? Or are you locked in a paternalistic, "oh, them dumb troops jes' don't know they been brainwarshed by them evil Smirky Chimp promoted offisars...!"

You would rather assume that there is widespread proselytizing. Fine, but in this case--al Jazeera did a drive by hit job and a bunch of liberal clowns sucked it up like gospel and ran with it because none of you can think for yourselves.

Again--no Bibles were handed out. The literacy rate in Afghanistan is below 30%. Christians have crossed through that area for two thousand years. Ever heard of Coptic Christianity? Ever heard of Eastern Orthodox Christianity? Think those things are new?

No--the "meme" of the day is "attack the Bush-led, Bush-ruined military, smear soldiers who did nothing wrong, and have another smear-fest" --and all of it at the expense of people who are defending this country and following orders from their new Commander in Chief. You do acknowledge that there is a new CINC and that these supposedly proselytizing members of the military have not started a Jeebus-inspired mutiny? You do acknowledge that no one has refused to follow orders and has run around wearing a cross strapped to their back, seeking to convert dogfaces to radical Baptist fundamentalism, do you not?

Last time I had a gander at the news, General Petraeus was still running CENTCOM. Do you think if he was not the right man for the job that President Obama would have left him where he is? Obama picked new ambassadors for Pakistan and Iraq and Afghanistan and put Richard Holbrooke and George Mitchell on the case. But he left Odierno and Petraeus right where they were--think that was an accident? Or do you think President Obama realizes that the people he has in place can do COIN and clean up after a dozen dogfaces and a wayward contractor (the dude in the video with the shitty beard wasn't a soldier--he was likely a contractor in civvies) and wage this war properly? Or are you smarter than Obama? Not likely.

How 2006 of you. Learn much?

[russ]

Islam is a false religion, spawned by Lucifer himself, the Great Deceiver. People who worship Allah need to be saved, and Jesus Christ is the one and only Savior. Chaplains in the US Army are spreading the Word of the the Gospel in the darkest recesses of the planet. They are doing the Lord's work, literally.

[Steve Hynd]

Norman, read Russ's comment. Learn much?

And I don't assume there is widespread proselitysing, I can remember such cases as the Christian coins some soldiers were handing out in Iraq, while Petraeus was in command there.

Here are the people groups of Afghanistan. Christians make up about 0.1% of the current population because the only Christians are occupiers. The American contingent are 5 times as evangelical as their nearest rivals. Orthodox and Coptic are further East, Norman.

Regards, Steve

PS, you got the accent wrong in your wrongfully assumed attempt at my internal dialogue - I'm Scottish.