ASIA TIMES ONLINE – Fundamentalism at the US’s corps

Selected Article Excerpts:

• [Dooley’s] views are not official army doctrine by any means, and he has likely reached the end of his service career. However, Dooley’s views are based on neo-conservative ideology and co-mingle with fundamentalist ire and apocalyptic yearning. This is troubling not only for the conduct of an already vexing war but also for political and constitutional reasons.Neo-conservatism has a long connection to the US military. This may be initially puzzling, as most neo-conservatives skillfully avoided military service during the Vietnam War and their newer followers have only a somewhat closer connection to actual service.

  Yet the neo-conservatives were important in revitalizing the military after Vietnam. They instilled philosophical grounding and charged the military with vital missions around the world, including ones that continue to this day.

• The message is put forth in scholarly articles, on talk radio, and even from the pulpit – the latter two being closely tied in the US -sharia law was said to be on the rise, even in rural America. (Several US states, mostly with large fundamentalist populations, are mulling over, or have passed, laws prohibiting the use of sharia.) The West must defend Judeo-Christian civilization and the US must provide the vanguard, main force, and finance, all at once. The template of good and evil had been formed in the public mind during World War II, if not earlier, and an updated enemy simply had to be entered.

• One can live a devout Christian life without encountering much of this millenarian strand, but it is there, especially in militant fundamentalism, which sees the world entering a new stage – a final one. An impending war will bring the End Times. This cataclysm is something that the faithful can and must encourage because it is part of the divine plan as revealed in scripture, though imaginative interpretations are needed to see it.

• War with Islam fits into this plan along with restoring ancient Israel’s boundaries and rebuilding the Temple, which of course entails destroying the present structure there – the al-Aqsa mosque. This in turn will lead to total war between Islam and Christianity. [3]Neo-conservatism has substantial influence in US foreign policy as recent and mostly regrettable events have shown. Apocalyptic thinking, the neo-cons’ junior and heretofore relatively silent partner, is not as uncommon as may be thought. It is heard often enough on religious broadcasts, radio and television in many parts of the US, and its tracts have their own sections in major bookstores.

  It is not clear how extensive apocalyptic thinking is in the officer corps, which is charged to act for no higher authority than the American people and for no greater end than their security.

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