SEAL training range will no longer show Muslim woman as target

[웃 910]

SEAL training range won't show woman as target

The Navy will not use a target depicting a Muslim woman holding a gun at a new training range for SEALs in Virginia Beach.

The announcement came hours after the Council on American-Islamic Relations asked the Pentagon to remove the target. A picture of the cardboard target, which shows a woman in a headscarf holding a pistol, was published in The Virginian-Pilot on Tuesday. The image shows verses of the Quran hanging on the wall behind the woman, which also generated criticism from the group.

Nihad Awad, executive director of the Washington-based council, said in the letter to Defense Secretary Leon Panetta dated Friday that the target "is offensive and sends a negative and counterproductive message to trainees and to the Muslim-majority nations to which they may be deployed."

Panetta's press office did not respond to a request for comment. Late Friday, Lt. David Lloyd, a spokesman for Naval Special Warfare Group 2, said the materials in question would not be used on the close quarters combat training range, which was dedicated Monday at Joint Expeditionary Base Fort Story.

"We have removed this particular target and Arabic writing in question from the range in the near term, and will explore other options for future training," Lloyd said.

Naval Special Warfare Group Two, which oversees SEAL teams 2, 4, 8 and 10 at Joint Expeditionary Base LIttle Creek, has not yet put the $11.5 million facility to use.

The 26,500-square-foot building contains 52 interconnected spaces, including mock-ups of markets, a hospital, schools, a bank, a bus depot and two mosques. It will allow small groups of SEALs to practice enemy engagement at close range.

Many of the details were taken from actual raids over the past decade, Capt. Tim Szymanski, the commodore of Naval Special Warfare Group 2, said during a tour of the facility Monday.

Szymanski said SEALs must differentiate in a split second between civilian bystanders and potential enemies, and noted other cardboard cut-outs on the range would show people holding animals, not weapons.

Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Islamic group, said it's important that military units not be trained to see Muslims as enemies, even if they are fighting in Afghanistan or other Muslim-majority nations.

"There are all kinds of people all over the world trying to do us harm. Why would you use this particular image in training people how to kill?" Hooper asked. "It creates the impression, we believe, in subtle and not-so-subtle ways, that you should view Muslim women in headscarves with hostility and suspicion."

The council also spoke out in recent months against an instructor at the Joint Forces Staff College in Norfolk who taught a course on Islamic radicalism that referred to the war on terror as a war against Islam.

The course was halted after a military officer who was a student complained. The instructor, an Army officer, was relieved of his teaching duties. A broader review of training across the military related to Islam found no other problems.

http://hamptonroads.com.nyud.net/2012/06/seal-training-range-wont-show-woman-target

[^_^ 5,021]

Politically correct madness. When Romney is President, I hope he gets that target back by executive order on his very first day!!!

[Captain Oates 911]

I wonder if my old shooting club in Washington state will take these targets down too ?

Bet they don't

I would like to see more reality in military training - for instance, if the British pilots who burned 100,000 civilians to death in one night in Dresden had been shown a film of what 100,000 civilians looked like, I think the outcome of the raid might have been different (faint hope)

Similarly the American pilots who set fire to hundreds of thousands of Japanese old men, women and babies

I hope that Western people are only able to do these things because they cant see a picture of what they are being told to do and simply put it out of their minds

If I thought they could see the reality and still do it , then my worst option view of western christian societies would be confirmed

[Ban Hammer 13,554]

train as you fight.

[^_^ 5,021]

I wonder if my old shooting club in Washington state will take these targets down too ?

Bet they don't

I would like to see more reality in military training - for instance, if the British pilots who burned 100,000 civilians to death in one night in Dresden had been shown a film of what 100,000 civilians looked like, I think the outcome of the raid might have been different (faint hope)

Similarly the American pilots who set fire to hundreds of thousands of Japanese old men, women and babies

I hope that Western people are only able to do these things because they cant see a picture of what they are being told to do and simply put it out of their minds

If I thought they could see the reality and still do it , then my worst option view of western christian societies would be confirmed

brutality in war is hardly something limited to western christian societies.

Edited July 5, 2012 by Habitual Offender

[Captain Oates 911]

brutality in war is hardly something limited to western christian societies.

But they have advanced and perfected it, while all the time removing more and more the people who do the killing, from the bodies of the 'collateral damage'. EG DRONES

I wish they would replace "collateral damage" with "civilians we killed accidentally" so that the reality of it is forefront

"Keeping it all hid" seems to be the priority

The Military always seeks to de-humanize the enemy and portray them as animals, non-human, so I am not surprised they are taking down pictures of actual people

They aren't doing it to be nice to Moslems or women. they are doing it so that trainees are kept less aware of what the militarily wants them to do

They can come to that understanding during the PTSD phase when they get home

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

The idea that war can be fought in a decent manner is ludicrous. If you insist on fighting in a humane and politically sensitive manner, you make war palatable, which is the last thing any peace loving liberal would want to do.

[^_^ 5,021]

In fact, one of the reasons we go to war so much these days is because the human costs of war have been reduced and hidden.

[Captain Oates 911]

The idea that war can be fought in a decent manner is ludicrous. If you insist on fighting in a humane and politically sensitive manner, you make war palatable, which is the last thing any peace loving liberal would want to do.

Using a computer virus to destroy Iranian centrifuges is an example of how war can be fought in a non violent manner

The British did not need to burn Dresden as it was right at the end of the war, the Germans were collapsing and the town was packed with refugees

So war can be made less cruel by using non violent methods (eg computer viruses) , and also by refraining from violence when it isn't necessary

These sort of considerations don't enter the minds of brutish, callous and cruel people who are intellectually lazy

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Using a computer virus to destroy Iranian centrifuges is an example of how war can be fought in a non violent manner

The British did not need to burn Dresden as it was right at the end of the war, the Germans were collapsing and the town was packed with refugees

So war can be made less cruel by using non violent methods (eg computer viruses) , and also by refraining from violence when it isn't necessary

These sort of considerations don't enter the minds of brutish, callous and cruel people who are intellectually lazy

You missed the salient point, as usual.

[Usui Takumi 1,562]

Most of the shooting ranges near me do not allow human targets. Perhaps its a bit PC to some but I prefer the ban.

Edited July 6, 2012 by Sousuke

[MyLittlePony 340]

I care less what is being used at a range as long as is not a wacko citizen idiot using it.

[slim 1,533]

Hooper asked. "It creates the impression, we believe, in subtle and not-so-subtle ways, that you should view Muslim women WITH GUNS! in headscarves with hostility and suspicion."

Fixored for that freedom-hating tree hugger.

U-S-A! U-S-A!

[talean nawaz 41]

As a muslim myself, I am not the least bit offended by this. There are enemies in all countries and ethnicities and that's important to recognize. I'm quite sure this was not the only target...

[MyLittlePony 340]

I rather be a tree huger than a gun user.