Soldiers targeted--and soldiers playing "God Warrior"

No less than one of the primary groups responsible for targeting Iraqis for conversion is also strongly linked to military steeplejacking--Campus Crusade has been linked to both, and the Patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church specifically has called out Campus Crusade as one of the worst offenders in this regard.  Many of the persons most intimately involved with the Abu Ghraib torture scandal are linked with the Assemblies of God, which has increasingly gone not only militaristic in its imagery but has increasingly become virulently anti-Moslem (many in the Assemblies have in fact called for an outright ethnic cleansing of Moslems from the US and have even relied on Holocaust revisionism to support these calls)

And increasingly these actions--and the actions of American dominionist "missionaries"--are doing the equivalent of painting concentric circles on the backs of every man and woman in uniform in Iraq.

Campus Crusade and the Assemblies are by far not the only dominionist groups to be simultaneously targeting the Iraqi people and US soldiers in their own metaphysical wargames.  The Southern Baptist Convention--itself fairly recently steeplejacked--is rather aggressively targeting both soldiers and Iraqis by its own admission--and SBC churches themselves are increasingly adopting military imagery and other aspects of "Joel's Army" theology, up to and including imprecatory prayers against critics.  Interestingly, the SBC and other "fundamentalist Baptist" groups seem to be particularly targeting the USMC in similar manner to how neopentecostal groups have targeted the Army and Air Force.

A article in Salon from 2003 notes the danger:

The announcement by Franklin Graham and Southern Baptist Convention president Jack Graham of plans to proselytize in postwar Iraq have predictably deepened the hostility of the Muslim world to America's invasion of Iraq. In the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Graham called Islam "a violent and wicked religion"; the Islamic Web site Khilafah.com characterized Graham's plans as "enhancing the conviction among some Arabs and Muslims that the U.S.-led war of aggression on Iraq is part of a new 'crusade campaign.'" Khilafah.com has followed by issuing a downloadable prayer pamphlet called "Destroy the Fourth Crusader War," which reads like the antithesis of In Touch's "A Christian's Duty," urging readers to pray against Bush and take up jihad against the U.S. and Britain.

Again, Lebanon--and the heavy use of dominionist groups in agit-prop operations--pretty much foretold what would go on now:

In a worst-case scenario, the U.S. occupation of Iraq could resemble Lebanon's civil war, in which the dissolution of a government allowed various ethnic groups and opportunistic outsiders to act out their long-standing rivalries. Centcom's Col. Oliver was among Marines deployed to Lebanon in 1983 by President Reagan with the aim of restoring order to the country. As in the current war on Iraq, Oliver served as a spokesman for the Marines, eloquently explaining their noble intentions for Lebanon. Tragically, the Marines were sent packing by an Islamic radical with a fire in his heart and a truckful of deadly explosives. Oliver appears in Thomas Friedman's book "From Beirut to Jerusalem," standing around the rubble of the Marine barracks where 241 U.S. servicemen lost their lives. "You know," he remarks in disbelief, "these people just aren't playin' with the same sheet of music."

During the Lebanon conflict, Oliver says the Marines worked "hand-in-glove" with Pat Robertson and his Christian Broadcasting Network while he broadcast his overtly pro-American, pro-Israel sermons throughout the country. Despite the Marines' fate there and the reports of Islamic militants filtering into Iraq to wage jihad against what they view as a new "crusade," the Bush administration has not visibly discouraged ministers like Stanley and Graham from repeating Robertson's actions. With its credibility at stake, an American-led interim government looks likely to dig in in Iraq for a long and delicate occupation of Arab land with a group of Southern Baptist evangelicals by its side. And a battle of biblical proportions may be just beginning.

In the case of Iraq, this may prove to be especially explosive.  Fallujah, where the "Bible coin" incident took place, is one of the strongholds of Sunni Islam in Iraq--and, as the article notes, the "Bible coins" and prosyletising risk alienating the few friends we have in the country:

Sheik Abdul-Rahman al-Zubaie, an influential tribal leader in the city, spoke of his outrage over perceived proselytizing by American forces and warned patience was running thin.

"This event did not happen by chance, but it was planned and done intentionally," al-Zubaie said. "The Sunni population cannot accept and endure such a thing. I might not be able to control people's reactions if such incidents keep happening."

And again, almost from the time that US forces hit Iraq, coercion of soldiers as well as missionary activities targeted at Iraqis occured--including by men in uniform.

An incident in 2003 notes that the chaplain of Camp Bushmaster in Iraq, Josh Llano, would not allow soldiers to get food, water, or baths without being baptised and listening to a Southern Baptist altar call:

WASHINGTON - April 9 - U.S. military officials should order a chaplain in Iraq to stop offering food and fresh water for bathing to soldiers in exchange for being baptized and listening to his sermons, Americans United for Separation of Church and State told the Army today.

Americans United has asked the Army to rein in the activities of Chaplain Josh Llano at Camp Bushmaster in Iraq. On April 4, the Miami Herald reported that Llano bragged about enticing soldiers to become baptized by offering them clean water in his baptismal font.

"It's simple," Llano said. "They want water. I have it, as long as they agree to get baptized."

The newspaper reported that before going through the hour-long baptism, the soldiers must agree to listen to Llano, who calls himself a "Southern Baptist evangelist," deliver a 90-minute sermon. Llano admitted that some of the soldiers might just want the opportunity to take a bath but added, "Regardless of their motives, I get the chance to take them closer to the Lord."

Llano also added that if portable showers are installed in the area, he plans to bribe soldiers with scarce fruit and juice boxes.

After the Miami Herald reported on this, this was shut down, but unfortunately this is far from the only incident in question.

Disturbingly, the efforts by rogue US military chaplains--especially in the Army and Air Force, which have had particular problems with a minor invasion of neopentecostal chaplains in particular--are not just restricted to US military personnel.  In fact, some of the actions of the rogue chaplains in question have very serious national security implications in that they may directly place US forces in danger...because some of the very sorts of dominionist groups aggressively targeting Iraqis for conversion have been recruiting members of the US Army's chaplaincy to their efforts to target Iraqis for conversion.  

A particularly damning example of this is from a Spring 2004 newsletter from International Ministerial Fellowship.  International Ministerial Fellowship is a neopentecostal group that has, among other things, targeted Roman Catholic churches for steeplejacks from within and which can be considered yet another head of the hydra of Assemblies of God frontgroups (and, most likely, specifically a front of Youth With A Mission)--in fact, the newsletter in question explicitly describes the process of "church planting" via cell-churches.  

And, in typical neopente-dominionist fashion, there is a description by an Army chaplain by the name of Steve Mickel on how the group explicitly is using US military personnel to not only target Iraqi civilians for conversion but is actually using food and aid to perform "bait and switch" evangelism:

I lead a food ministry to the local Iraqi poor (in the village of Ad Dawr, where Saddam was captured). We take and distribute excess food from the chow hall. When I am handing out food, Iraqis often ask me about my religion, what do I believe, because they see the cross on my uniform.  The women, especially, are quick to ask because they are usually better at speaking English. I am able to give them tracts on how to be saved, printed in Arabic. I wish I had enough Arabic Bibles to give them as well. The issue of mailing Arabic Bibles into Iraq from the U.S. is difficult (given the current postal regulations prohibiting all religious materials contrary to Islam except for personal use of the soldiers). But the hunger for the
Word of God in Iraq is very great, as I have witnessed first-hand.

(Of particular note here--it is extremely likely that the "Bible coins" distributed by at least one Marine in Fallujah were mailed for "private use"--as I've noted in past, CARE packages are a historical favourite method of smuggling aid to "friendlies" by dominionists.)

There are also reliable reports that Chick tracts in Arabic may be shipped to "friendly" chaplains and soldiers and being distributed to Iraqi civilians including children:

In addition to coins and Bibles, there have been reports of the distribution to Iraqi children of Christian comic books published by companies such as Chick Publications. These inflammatory comic books, published in English and Arabic, not only depict Mohammed, but show both Mohammed and Muslims burning in hell because they did not accept Jesus as their savior before they died.

Chick Publications states on its website that its literature "is desperately needed by Muslims, but getting it to them without endangering our soldiers or enflaming the Muslim leadership will not be easy."

Postal regulations prohibit sending bulk religious materials contrary to Islam into Iraq, but allow religious materials to be sent to an individual soldier for their personal use.

Sending more of these materials than would be necessary for an individual's personal use, but not a large enough quantity to risk being flagged by the postal service, is one way that these materials are making their way into Iraq. Chick Publications advises those wanting to send their literature to military personnel to first find out "just what tracts would be most useful and how many they can effectively use," and "to find out whether the tracts can be drop shipped from Chick Publications or if they should be sent as personal mail from the soldiers' families."

One of the branches worst affected by the "dominionist invasion" is the US Air Force--and, again, rogue chaplains are explicitly partnering with dominionist groups to conduct prosyletising aimed at Iraqi civilians and US military in violation of DoD regs:

A recent article published on the website of Mission Network News reported that Bible Pathway Ministries, a fundamentalist Christian organization, has provided thousands of a special military edition of its Daily Devotional Bible study book to members of the 101st Airborne Division of Fort Campbell, Kentucky, currently stationed in Iraq, the project "came into being when a chaplain in Iraq (who has since finished his tour) requested some books from Bible Pathway Ministries (BPM)."

"The resulting product is a 6"x9" 496-page illustrated book with embossed cover containing 366 daily devotional commentaries, maps, charts, and additional helpful information," the Mission Network News report says.

Chief Warrant Officer Rene Llanos of the 101st Airborne told Mission Network News, "the soldiers who are patrolling and walking the streets are taking along this copy, and they're using it to minister to the local residents."

"Our division is also getting ready to head toward Afghanistan, so there will be copies heading out with the soldiers," Llanos said. "We need to pray for protection for our soldiers as they patrol and pray that God would continue to open doors. The soldiers are being placed in strategic places with a purpose. They're continuing to spread the Word."
. . .
Meanwhile, members of the 101st Airborne stationed in Iraq will continue their work evangelizing Iraqis unless it is told otherwise.

Llanos, the division's chief warrant officer, said about 2,000 copies of the military edition of the Bible provided to the 101st Airborne will soon be distributed to Iraqis.

However, reports on the Bible Pathway Ministries website up to 30,000 of the Christian books have been distributed to military personnel, some of which will presumably end up in the hands of Iraqis.

And soldiers who have tried to speak out have been targeted.  There has been persistent speculation that Pat Tillman may have been "fragged" due to his opposition of prosyletisation in the military (the truth is, we will probably never know definitively one way or the other), and a soldier participating in an MRFF lawsuit in regards to prosyletisation has been threatened with being "fragged" as well:

In today's Army, it's hard to fight for God & Country if you have the wrong (or no) God. Such is the case with Jeremy Hall, an Army specialist based in Iraq, whose personal safety is now in severe jeopardy.

If your blood runs cold when you read this, it will freeze when you read why.

Because of the frequent occurrences of "fragging" and what happened to Pat Tillman's and other "friendly fire" occurrences, Hall has every reason to fear for his safety. After word got out that he was a plaintiff in a landmark lawsuit that named Secretary of Defense Robert Gates as a Defendant, alleged postings of messages on military and civilian based blogs, such as military.com, apparently threatened Hall with "fragging," a colloquial expression used by the military in which an unpopular soldier could be killed by intentional friendly fire during combat. Weinstein indicated he has not yet been able to verify the authenticity of the blog postings threatening Hall with "fragging." Weinstein further states that he "takes the threat of violence against Hall seriously and has already reached out to senior officials in the Pentagon as well as senior Army operations officials to ensure Hall's safety."

Sgt. Jeremy Hall and other persons involved in the lawsuit against the DoD have apparently been the target of multiple death threats--not just online, but also in the field.  When he attempted to report these threats, he was essentially told it was his own fault for reporting abuse and has had to be kept out of service in Iraq due to threats by fellow soldiers, and has since been the target of retaliation:

After his run-in with Major Welborn, Specialist Hall did not file a complaint with the Army's Equal Opportunity Office because, he said, he was mistrustful of his superior officers. Instead, he told leaders of the Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers, who put him in touch with Mr. Weinstein. In November 2007, Specialist Hall was sent home early from Iraq after being repeatedly threatened by other soldiers. "I caution you that although your `legal' issues are yours and yours alone, I have heard many people disagree with you, and this may be a cause for some of the perceived threats," wrote Sgt. Maj. Kevin Nolan in Specialist Hall's counseling for his departure.

Though with a different unit now at Fort Riley, Specialist Hall said the backlash had continued. He has a no-contact order with a sergeant who, without provocation, threatened to "bust him in the mouth." Another sergeant allegedly told Specialist Hall that as an atheist, he was not entitled to religious freedom because he had no religion.

For that matter, Mikey Weinstein has himself been subject to not only death threats but attempted vandalism of his home for merely speaking out against the steeplejacking of the military.

Even more disturbingly, it looks like some of this "God Warrior" zeal crossed over into frank torture--in actions that have given the US something to be really ashamed of.

Tomorrow, we go into what may be the biggest bombshell of all regarding prosyletisation in Iraq--the direct involvement of the Assemblies of God's own chaplains in the torture chambers of Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay.