Military educationTeaching about Islam in the U.S. military

U.S. military will review its Islam extremism course and materials // Source: socialnewsbd.com

Last week the Pentagon announced it had completed a review of the Joint Forces Staff College (JFSC) course, “Perspectives on Islam and Islamic Radicalism,” and other course content to determine whether the material used in the course was offensive to Muslims.

“The inquiry into the JFSC elective course … concluded there were institutional failures in oversight and judgment, which allowed the JFSC course to be modified over time in a manner that ceased to include instruction on U.S.[countering violent extremism] policy or counter-terrorism strategy and to adopt a teaching methodology that portrayed Islam almost entirely in a negative way,” said Col. Dave Lapan, spokesman for Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

“The inquiry recommends the course be redesigned to include aspects of U.S. policy and reduce its reliance on external instruction,” Col. Lapan said.

The Washington Times reports that the review was called after Muslim advocacy groups complained that one of the course lecturers was former Joint Staff terror analyst Stephen Coughlin, a specialist on Islamic law who, the Times says, “has been a target of Muslim groups for his hard-line but accurate views of Islamic law and its use by Muslims in conducting terrorist attacks.”

Asked whether political correctness was limiting the ability to the military properly to identify enemies in the war on terrorism, Col. Lapan told the Times’s “Inside the Ring” section: “The U.S. military shouldn’t be offending Muslims. We work closely with them, and people of all faiths, in many countries around the world. The military is very clear on the enemy, and the threat they pose to the U.S. We seek to dismantle and defeat al Qaeda and associated forces and counter violent extremism.”