We are all familiar with the story…

Al-Qaeda terrorists plot to kill civilians in the West, innocent men, women and children. Think 9/11 New York, 7/7 London.  Western governments hunt down the conspirators and incarcerate them without charge or kill them with drones. Even to express sympathy with al-Qaeda type actions can lead you to imprisonment for life.

Western governments repeatedly condemn terrorist acts as barbaric, evil, and state that terrorism must at all costs be defeated.

This anti-terrorism rhetoric is such a part of our world view today that when it is disclosed that the US Military itself taught over 800 military officers the ‘necessity’ (see below) of making war on civilians no one seems to see the elephant in the room.

Lt. Col. Matthew Dooley until this week taught at the Joint Forces Staff College in Norfolk, Virginia. The college, for professional military members, teaches midlevel officers and government civilians on subjects related to planning and executing war.

Dooley presumed, for the purposes of his theoretical war plan, that the Geneva Conventions that set standards of armed conflict, are “no longer relevant.”

He added: “This would leave open the option once again of taking war to a civilian population wherever necessary (the historical precedents of Dresden, Tokyo, Hiroshima, Nagasaki being applicable…).”

His war plan suggests possible outcomes such as “Saudi Arabia threatened with starvation … Islam reduced to cult status,” and the Muslim holy cities of Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia “destroyed.”

His course on Islam was taught since 2004. It was offered five times a year, with about 20 students each time, meaning roughly 800 students have taken the course over the years.

The BBC’s North America editor Mark Mardell commented, “What does seem rather surprising is that all those commanders, captains and colonels must have sat through the course and not felt the need to tell someone that something rather weird was going on”

Lt. Col. Matthew Dooley still works for the college, but is no longer teaching, Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey said.

This is such an extraordinary statement that it is worth repeating:

Dooley still works for the college, but is no longer teaching.

Lt. Col. Matthew Dooley has not been sacked. He has not been charged with any terrorism related offenses. He has not been charged with anything at all. He has not been locked up without trial. He has not been rendered to Guantanamo Bay.

In fact the only change to his life appears to be the fact that ‘he is no longer teaching’.

Words fail me. I could condemn all this as hypocritical, self serving, two-faced, deceitful, double-dealing, and duplicitous, but this doesn’t even begin to express the revulsion the world must feel at the blatant double standards the US authorities maintain.

But the conclusion is obvious:

The United States government utterly condemns terrorism if it is perpetuated by Muslims, but it takes absolutely no action whatsoever against non-Muslim advocates of terrorism in the US itself such as Lt. Col. Matthew Dooley – who gets to keep his job.

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Compare the treatment of Lt. Col. Matthew Dooley with that of Muslim Tarek Mehanna who was recently sentenced to 17 years in prison for supporting the right of Muslims to defend themselves against US troops:

Tarek Mehanna: punished for speaking truth to power