MUSLIM SOLDIER WANT TO AVOID DEPLOYMENT TO AFGHANISTAN….CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTOR?
http://weaselzippers.us/2010/08/24/muslim-soldier-wants-to-leave-army/
Didn’t he read a newspaper before he signed up? He enlisted in 2009! He had to know the US Armed Forces were involved in military operations in Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia.
A U.S. Army soldier wants to leave the military service as a conscientious objector based on his beliefs as a Muslim, but he says he’s concerned he may be deployed to Afghanistan anyway.
Pfc. Naser [sic] Abdo, 20, an infantryman assigned to the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, Ky., said Monday that if the military orders him to deploy, he will refuse to go despite the fact that it may result in a military charge against him.
Rick Rzepka, a Fort Campbell spokesman, said Abdo’s deployment has been deferred, but the military could deploy him while a decision was being made on his request.
According to Army regulations, a soldier’s submission of a conscientious objector application will not preclude the soldier from deploying. Abdo’s unit, the division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team, has already deployed to Afghanistan. He was assigned to the brigade’s rear detachment, which remains at the installation during deployments.
About Nasser Abdo in his own words and at his very own blog (This is the most blatant money grubbing, PR play you’ve ever seen. Abdo starts his blog two days before giving interviews to al Jazeera [it hasn’t even been translated in to English yet] and then he asks for the public to donate so he can have “quality representation at his C.O. hearing, any potential court-martial he may face, as well as the post-trial clemency process.†He takes Paypal.
PFC Abdo grew up in a mixed family (his father was a Muslim and his mother was a non-denominational Christian). In his late teens, PFC Abdo reclaimed his Muslim faith and began to practice his faith as a Muslim.
As a someone who was fairly new to practicing the Islamic faith, he struggled to navigate the moral issues of living in a largely non-Muslim society. There were also many issues that he came to understand more fully in time. One of these issues was that of the morality of service in the military.
On April 8, 2009, PFC Abdo enlisted in the military. When he joined, he did so with the best of intentions. He believed in good faith that a Muslim could be part of the military and still be a faithful Muslim.
Yet, it was during OSUT (one station unit training) at Fort Benning, Georgia that he began to see how difficult it was to be a Muslim in the military. He found himself compromising on issues of importance.
Can you be a Muslim and be a loyal American? It seems like Allah always comes first with the observant Muslim.
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