Political Correctness from Political Generals

PENTAGON FIRES INSTRUCTOR FOR HIS COURSE ON RADICAL ISLAM

A 19 year Army veteran and West Point graduate has been “flagged” for a course he was teaching on radical Islam. According to Fox and Friends Sunday, U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel Matthew Dooley was fired after his teachings at the Joint Forces Staff College were said to be “objectionable” by top military brass. Dooley believes what has happened is “political correctness.” And he has support. Richard Thompson, President of the Ann Arbor Michigan Thomas More Law Center has come to his defense.

“In October last year,” Thompson said, “fifth-seven Muslim organizations sent a letter to the Department of Defense demanding the purging of all instructive material that may be deemed offensive to Muslims and Islam, and they demanded all instructors using those materials should be punished.” In May of this year General Martin Dempsey, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, alongside the Secretary of Defense, publicly “excoriated” Dooley. He was fired from his teaching position and given a negative Officer Evaluation Report (OER), a death knell to a military career.  

Thompson believes what has occurred amounts to appeasing a Muslim group and sees political correctness permeating the upper echelons of the military. The course being taught was not low level; it was being taught to upper echelon military officers. The purpose of this course was to engage in a dynamic discussion to think the unthinkable, to expect the unexpected, because these officers one day will find themselves in a position say on a nuclear attack on the City of New York. And if the President turns to this officer and says ‘what should be our response?’, this officer can’t say ‘give me two weeks and I’ll come back to you.’ This officer has to have a response. And THAT’S what Lt. Colonel Matthew Dooley was teaching.”

 According to the website cited below, OERs are required at least once a year and are normally completed by two superiors, namely, a rater and a senior rater. “The rating officer on an OER is usually the rated officer’s immediate supervisor, an officer of higher rank, who is most familiar with the rated soldier’s specific duties and performance. The senior rater is a leader who occupies the next higher duty position up from the rater and is best positioned to assess both the rated soldier’s performance in comparison to his peers, as well as the rated soldier’s future potential to serve in higher ranks and increased levels of responsibility. 

The OERs clearly demonstrate that LTC Dooley’s raters and senior raters all considered him an outstanding officer and advocated his rapid promotion and advancement to the highest levels of responsibility.  Like many of his peers serving alongside him in the military, LTC Dooley has served honorably and with distinction through a number of complex operating environments. Nevertheless, he has become the latest victim of the “Great Purge” to appease the 57 Muslim groups which demanded that instructors using materials offensive to Islam be disciplined.

In fact, after General Dempsey’s public rebuke, a negative OER was ordered and prepared with direction from the Pentagon covering the period from June 2011 to June 2012.   In contrast to the inaccurate and unjust comments in the Pentagon-directed negative OER, the excerpts from earlier OERs describe LTC Dooley’s outstanding performance.” For further details visit http://www.thomasmore.org/news/muslims-offended-soldier-s-career-destroyed-official-army-records-show-loss-nation

“What happened to LTC Dooley is more than a personal miscarriage of justice.  When instructors are prohibited from teaching military officers about the true threat posed by Islamic Radicalism, it is a threat to our national security.”