"Total war against Islam" taught at Pentagon... no longer

Walt has been wondering what possessed the American soldiers who burned copies of the Qu'ran, had themselves photographed pissing on corpses, or went on a killing spree offing 16 (or so) Afghans. Is this any way to win the hearts and minds of those benighted Muslims? What were they thinking?!

Turns out the idea of waging "total war" against the Afghans and all Muslims has been put into the troops' robotic minds by the Pentagon! BBC News reports that the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was shocked and saddened to hear that the Joint Forces Staff College has been teaching that America’s enemy is Islam in general (not just terrorists) and suggesting that the USA might ultimately have to obliterate the Islamic holy cities of Mecca and Medina without regard for civilian deaths.

Gen. Martin Dempsey said the course was "totally objectionable" and "against our values", and has now been suspended. That's "suspended" like the Santorum and Gingrich campaigns, not "cancelled". Certain training materials at the FBI have also been rewritten for being similarly politically incorrect.

The military now says that the teaching in the course, led by Lt. Col. Matthew Dooley, was at odds with the government's repeated claims that the American war in Iraq and Afghanistan -- not forgetting Libya -- is against Islamic extremists. It's not a Christian crusade against Islam itself. As if Hussein Obama would be leading a Christian crusade!

Before we condemn Lt. Col. Dooley, let's hear a bit of what he was saying to his students. In a presentation last July at the Staff College, he said, "[The Muslims] hate everything you stand for and will never coexist with you, unless you submit."

He went on to say that, for the purposes of his theoretical war plan, the Geneva Conventions that set standards of armed conflict are "no longer relevant". "This," he added, " would leave open the option once again of taking war to a civilian population wherever necessary (the historical precedents of Dresden, Tokyo, Hiroshima, Nagasaki being applicable...)."

Lt. Col. Dooley's war plan suggested possible outcomes such as "Saudi Arabia threatened with starvation ... Islam reduced to cult status" and the Muslim holy cities of Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia "destroyed".

Pretty strong stuff. But wait a minute. Haven't we seen this movie before? Only with the characters reversed... Aren't the Muslims saying that we "Christians" are mounting a crusade, a holy war, against Islam? Aren't they calling on the faithful to wage jihad against us? Haven't they plotted to destroy our cities and holy places, just as they did in the Middle Ages? Is it not their wish...their prayer...to wipe the infidels (i.e. non-Muslims) off the face of the earth?

Where is Santiago Matamoros (St. James the Moor-slayer) when we need him?