For the record, the Ikhwan (Muslim Brotherhood) is #2, Al Quaeda — misspelled in original — is #5, Hamas is #6. Islamophobia is at the bottom of the list. There are Jewish groups and other Muslim organizations, and fringe sects like those dastardly Huttaree.
Mark Steyn notes, with his characteristic understatement, that in the preparation of this training program, nobody thought to say, "Hey, this is totally dumb." (Not only the concept, but they couldn't even spell 'Al Qaeda' properly.)
Of course, this is dumb on all sorts of levels, not merely the poor spelling, nor just the listing of two of the most mainstream variations of Christianity in the U.S. For instance, President Obama supports Sunni Muslims (#13) and the Ikhwan/Muslim Brotherhood (#2), and is sending billions of taxpayer dollars to Egypt and elsewhere to prove it. He has also instructed NASA to make Muslims feel good about their (supposed) contributions to science and advancement. Yet here they are listed as extremists also.
If this all sounds like absurdist humor to you, you're not alone.
In fact, this reminds me of one of Woody Allen's essays in his book, Side Effects, where he comments on the UFO phenomenon:
Up until now, the entire subject of flying saucers has been mostly associated with kooks or oddballs. Frequently, in fact, observers will admit to being a member of both groups.
So it is with conspiracy theorists. Ten or even five years ago no one would have believed a US Army presentation would put forth such nonsense. But it seems this is just the tip of the iceberg, and it's no longer a theory when they really are out to get you.
Mark Steyn goes on to report a Daily Mail story which provides more slides (with more deplorable spelling errors) from the presentation, including this one, which prohibits soldiers from attending meetings or otherwise supporting the already defined extremist groups:
This of course suggests that U.S. soldiers would not be permitted to practice their Christian faith, go to church services, or tithe or otherwise support their church.
Further, if the U.S. Army now considers Evangelical Christians and Roman Catholics to be 'religious extremists', what might they say about Orthodox Christians!
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| Extreme Orthodox Piety! |
This is in full accord with the Obama administration's anti-homeschooling stance.
We could go on and on with examples like these tracking the erosion of our freedoms and the crafting of a Bolshevik-style narrative that Christians are the enemy, but I think Robert Spencer sums it up best:
This is not going to end well.