Our politically correct military ...
Chaplain Lt. Gordon James Klingenschmitt has been court-martialed and
dismissed from the U.S. Navy. His crime? Praying in Jesus' name in uniform
outside a chapel. You read it right. After 15 1/2 years of exemplary
service, Lt. Klingenschmitt is being drummed out of the Navy.
Understand that Klingenschmitt has a meritorious military record. He
graduated from the Air Force Academy and spent 11 years as an Air Force
missile officer. He was promoted to the rank of Major and was offered a
job at the Pentagon at the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. However,
Klingenschmitt wanted to be a chaplain. A s such, he willingly took a
demotion in order to serve in the U.S. Navy as a chaplain at the rank of
Lieutenant.
Chaplain Klingenschmitt served in the Persian Gulf. While there, he and
his men won 6 awards, including Best in the Navy, for outstanding
Community Service. But now this fine Christian man is being discharged.
He is losing his career (not to mention a million-dollar pension) for the
"crime" of praying in Jesus' name.
I recently interviewed Chaplain Klingenschmitt on my radio program and
invite readers to listen to that interview at
http://www.chuckbaldwinlive.com/Interview_Klingenschmitt.html
Now, compare what the Navy has done to Lt. Klingenschmitt to this report
from World Net Daily. "[T]he Pentagon recently promoted a Wahhabi-trained
Muslim chaplain who catered to al-Qaida detainees at Guantanamo and fought
to establish the first Mosque in Marine Corps history."
According to WND, "Deputy Defen se Secretary Gordon England personally
promoted Navy chaplain Abuhena Mohammed Saifulislam from lieutenant to
lieutenant commander. Saifulislam also received a Joint Service
Commendation Medal at the Pentagon ceremony held on the fifth anniversary
of the 9/11 attacks. Pentagon officials say the ceremony was
unprecedented. 'It's unusual for a deputy secretary to personally promote
an officer of that rank,' said one official who wished to go unnamed. 'No
one has known of such a high-level dignitary doing that.'"
Furthermore, the WND report stated, "England also earlier this year
personally dedicated a new Islamic center at Marine headquarters in
Quantico, Va., on the advice of Saifulislam . . ."
Now get this: "The Muslim chaplain, who is stationed at Quantico, recited
verses from the Quran in Arabic and English at the summer dedication
ceremony, which included representatives from the Council on
American-Islamic Relation s, several leaders of which have been convicted
on terrorism-related charges."
Yet, it gets worse. According to the WND report, "Saifulislam, which is
Arabic for 'Sword of Islam,' received his religious training at a radical
Islamic school raided by federal agents after 9/11." Terror expert Paul
Sperry said, "The Pentagon is giving him a permanent, taxpayer-supported
platform from which to convert grunts to Islam." He also said, "With the
Quantico mosque, the Pentagon is facilitating the study of the holy text
the enemy uses, heretically or not, as their manual of warfare."
This kind of idiocy is what happens when presidents and their subordinates
become consumed with political correctness. Logic, common sense,
character, and appreciation for truth are thrown out the window. And good
men such as Lt. Klingenschmitt must bear the brunt of it all.
Readers should know that since Chaplain Klingenschmitt's dismissal, public
outcry convinced the Pentagon to reverse its policy of punishing
chaplains who pray in Jesus' name. Unfortunately, the decision is not
being grandfathered back to Klingenschmitt's case, and he is still being
drubbed out of the Navy.