One of the core functions of government is to defend the nation from all enemies, foreign and domestic — that’s part of the oath of enlistment that all service personnel take. But only a flinty, clear-eyed — and politically incorrect — assessment of all threats can enable the military can do its job.
Today, however, the brass at the Pentagon seems hell-bent on turning the world’s most powerful military into an arm of the PC Police, a fresh field for “politically correct” bureaucrats on which to push their morally blind relativism.
Take the recent Defense Department briefing document that classified Catholics and Evangelical Protestants as “extremists” — the moral equivalent of al Qaeda and the Ku Klux Klan. It also lumped Christians together with free-floating “Islamophobia,” Hamas, Sunni Muslims, the Jewish Defense League and the backwoods Hutaree militia as potential threats to the Republic.
“Religious extremism is not limited to any single religion, ethnic group, or region of the world,” the briefing paper notes, which is true: The military must prepare for every eventuality, however remote, which is why we have plans for war with Canada and France, should the need arise.
But including half the country’s population on a list of potential terrorists does seem a bit extreme — especially when some 40 percent of active-duty military self-identify as evangelicals.
The Army quickly disavowed the presentation and blamed it on faulty “Internet research” by an Army Reserve figure outside the chain of command.
Problem is, this thinking isn’t new to the Pentagon.
Last year, then-Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told an environmentalist group that “climate change” is a national-security threat, a claim that the Pentagon’s PC desk jockeys have been banging on about for years.
“Rising sea levels, severe droughts, the melting of the polar caps, the more frequent and devastating natural disasters all raise demand for humanitarian assistance and disaster relief,” said Panetta.
Of course, recent studies show that there’s been no “global warming” for at least 15 years. More important, what the US Army can do to fight the melting of the poles is unclear. And the idea that the Army and Navy ought to be an international meals on wheels service should have gone out with the Clinton administration.
Too often, though, PC has serious consequences in the real world. One lethal example is Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the self-proclaimed “soldier of Allah” and spontaneous jihadi who opened fire on his fellow soldiers at Fort Hood in 2009, killing 13 and wounding 32.
Incredibly, Hasan’s still awaiting trial for his religiously inspired rampage — but that’s not the worst of it.
The Army immediately insisted that the rampage had not been a case of Islamic extremism — and never mind that Hasan reportedly shouted “Allahu akbar” as he emptied his gun into his unarmed victims at the inaptly named Soldier Readiness Processing Center.
In fact, PC had kept the rest of the government from even keeping a closer eye on Hasan — though it knew he’d been receiving “spiritual guidance” from Yemen-based al Qaeda cleric Anwar al-Awlaki
Because he was a Muslim officer, the Army treated him with kid gloves — and is still giving him favored treatment today.
Last December, the trial judge who’d ordered Hasan forcibly shaved in order to stand trial was removed from the case by a military appeals court, citing the appearance of “bias” against Muslims. Never mind that Army regulations prohibit facial hair — Hasan’s hirsute Muslim identity apparently trumps common sense and speedy justice.
To this day, the Army calls Hasan’s crimes “workplace violence,” and refuses to award Purple Hearts to the wounded, on the grounds that they might compromise the trial.
Imaginary threats from Christians and apocalyptic natural events make good movie scenarios but poor public policy. When it comes to national defense, political correctness is something the nation just can’t afford.