U.S. Begins "Religious Enlightenment" Programs For Iraqi Detainees To "Bend Them Back To Our Will"

Washington Post:

The U.S. military has introduced "religious enlightenment" and other education programs for Iraqi detainees, some of whom are as young as 11, Marine Maj. Gen. Douglas M. Stone, the commander of U.S. detention facilities in Iraq, said yesterday.

Stone said such efforts, aimed mainly at Iraqis who have been held for more than a year, are intended to "bend them back to our will" and are part of waging war in what he called "the battlefield of the mind."

Read the whole story: Washington Post

Comments

[bhougen]

04:45 PM on 09/20/2007

Wonderful.
Another American crusade to christianize the "unenlightened". What a joke.

[Purple Girl]

04:16 PM on 09/20/2007

There detainee that are 11 years old and have been held for a year? I've got to know what these kids did to deserve that.granted we've seen many kids go wrong at a young age. But what act deserved military incarceration? Were they hiding WMD's in their hoodies ??
And this DEprogramming education is ridiculous. They're in prison- they hate you they never listen to what you say - because they hate you.More waste of time & money, doing exactly what we shouldn't be doing.Who's conducting these sessions- military or psychologist? do the 'classes' go on for days, with minimal food, rest, bathroom breaks?
Truth and logic do not require mind control techniques. That's for the hacks like Jim Jones and Keresh (Waco). And I also do not want them indoctrinated into the christian faith either, there just another form of a warring theolgy. If it's buddhism or another peaceful religion I want the Neo Cons to be required to attend also. Their two sides to the same coin, thats held in Isreals hand.

[CarmanK]

01:54 PM on 09/20/2007

See, Bush was telling the truth when he said that he was embarking on a "crusade" in the Middle East after 9/11. It created public outrage at the time, so he just changed the word and kept the mission. Thomas Merton said that "The God of Peace is never glorified by Human violence". Unfortunately that message gets lost among those who use religion to conquer,enslave and demean world populations. Bush just never misses an opportunity to undermine the constitution and spread the power of his imperial presidency.

[BuyRubles]

01:50 PM on 09/20/2007

"Stone said he wants to identify "irreconcilables" -- those detainees whose views cannot be moderated -- and "put them away" in permanent detention facilities."

HAS SOMEONE BEEN READING STALIN LATELY?

[Podewumun]

02:12 PM on 09/20/2007

Did you also pick up that comment about "the battlefield of the mind"?
Dammit, if we had fought this one in Bush's "battlefield of a mind", it would have been over in about thirty seconds. didi.

[gardengoddess]

01:09 PM on 09/20/2007

What bunch of frigging religious hypocrites the righties have become. They claim they believe in God; the God who, according to their Bible, gave each of us "free will"...and now they're trying to take that free will away from others!

[mam]

01:08 PM on 09/20/2007

Amazing how you can have an officer who speaks fluent Arabic, reads the Koran daily, and still can't help but come out with a Christian reference, i.e. Easter. Sigh.

[MajorKong]

08:20 AM on 09/20/2007

They could have come up with a better name. It just sounds too much like a Vietnamese re-education camp.

[Macready]

07:37 AM on 09/20/2007

this is so sick . . . . I am sure this re-training is against the Geneva Convention . . . like so much that has been done in Iraq and Gitmo . . . they should not try to convert them to Christianity . . .

[K-Dog76]

11:30 AM on 09/20/2007

they aren't converting them to Christianity, read the article.

[CologneCitizen]

03:14 AM on 09/20/2007

Are you sure John Cleese and his old gang are not behind this ?

[Janco54]

01:47 AM on 09/20/2007

This ideology worked so well with the Native Americans I can really see their point in trying it again!
What morons.
Bend them to "our will"? What the hell does that even mean? The arrogance of that statement is giving me a headache.

[Sanjong Thapa]

11:27 PM on 09/19/2007

"U.S begins religious enlightenment" programs for Iraqi detainees..."

WHAT THE HECK HAVE WE BEEN WAITING FOR ?!?!

[bookish]

09:42 PM on 09/19/2007

Is our Muslims learning?

[Podewumun]

10:24 PM on 09/19/2007

dam avarbuddy noes thets spelt larnin, DUH!
M R SNAKES.
M R NOT.
M R 2. C M E D B D I Z?
DAM! M R SNAKES!

Well, crap! Now I'm going to have to go upstairs and find the damned box that my copy of the Texas State High School Spelling Proficiency Exam is in!
The things I'll do just to get a laugh.

[PazparaTodod]

08:31 PM on 09/19/2007

I was going to say that at this point thinking that we could enlight anyone is arrogant, but quite frankly is just plain idiotic.

[cynara]

08:43 PM on 09/19/2007

Too sadly true..

[Captain EdwardGraham]

06:43 PM on 09/19/2007

meanwhile:

09/19/07 DoD Identifies Army Casualty
Spc. Matthew J. Emerson, 20, of Grandview, Wash., died Sept. 18 in Ninewah Province, Iraq, of injuries suffered from a non-combat related incident. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team...

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xazvn_humvee-ied-attackcommander?from=rss helicopter evacuates wounded after ied attack on humvee

[Captain EdwardGraham]

06:39 PM on 09/19/2007

Reminds me of Vietnamization in Viet Nam. We were going to turn them all into capitalist Christians. Only problem is most couldnt read and write and were just simple peasant people who wanted to be left alone to grow rice and raise kids.

If the Muslems want a government of Clerics governing them, what business is it of ours?
They dont want a democracy and cant conceive of the idea of a democracy. They simply want to pray Five times a day and keep their women folk covered from head to foot. Whats wrong with that?

=====

Wouldnt it have been far cheaper to simply pay the going price for their OIL and leave them alone?

[cynara]

08:42 PM on 09/19/2007

Cheaper for you and me. But think of all the money Bush's family would of lost on those potential oil deals...

[Gary47]

10:01 PM on 09/19/2007

For all the money bush has wasted we could've bought out the terrorists years ago and given them all mansions in the Carib with hot and cold running virgins. And money left over to educate many kids and feed lots of hungry people. The way it is now, we're out of money, there's way more terrorists, kids are still uneducated and people are still hungry. Good work george! Now we know what a "C" student can do for the presidency.

[K-Dog76]

11:28 AM on 09/20/2007

actually Gary all that wasted money went back into the economy, well most some of it did go to bribes ie payoffs to Middle Eatern Governments but ultimately it drives the ecobomy, sadly, like in "Wag the Dog"