MILITARY.COM – Marine Squadron Again Abandons “Crusaders” Moniker

Selected Article Excerpts:

• A controversial decision by local commanders to again refer to a Beaufort F-18 squadron as the “Crusaders” has been reversed by a three-star general, according to Marine Corps officials.

• Wiegel’s decision to return to Crusaders drew the scorn of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, an Albuquerque, N.M., group that demanded that the squadron stop using the Crusaders name, which the group claimed illegally blurred the lines between church and state.The group also alleged that the nickname and its insignia would stir anti-American sentiment in the Middle East and other parts of the Muslim world because they evoke images of the Christian conquests during the Middle Ages.
• Mikey Weinstein, president and founder of the foundation, told MSNBC that the decision to abandon the controversial nickname was a “great victory” but stopped short of thanking Marine Corps brass.
  “We commend the Marine Corps, but … the Marines Corps does not get a gold star for doing the right thing, because they shouldn’t have done the wrong thing in the first place,” Weinstein told MSNBC.

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