One way the US military can weed out radical Islamists from ordinary Muslim troops is to define an adherence to sharia law as being incompatible with the Constitution of the United States.
Adherents to sharia law, understood as Islamic law, by definition cannot support and defend the US Constitution. Therefore, the US military would be correct to determine legally that a proponent of sharia law is incapable of taking the oath of enlistment or as a commissioned officer, and, once sworn in, cannot uphold his or her oath and sympathize with or believe in sharia.
Not all Muslims in America believe in sharia law, or in Islamic law to be imposed on America's secular society, so an anti-sharia policy of the US military would not be picking on Muslims. (Indeed, many Muslims immigrated to the US to escape sharia law in their homelands.)
The standard would apply only to those who advocate a religious legal system that would subvert or supersede the US Constitution. The standard would not affect foreign military forces allied or in coalition with the United States, such as Iraq or Afghanistan, whose governments are Islamic republics.
The American service member or officer embracing sharia law would have to resign or be expelled from the military, or, if found to have joined under false pretenses, tried in the military justice system for having taken a fraudulent oath. They would also be required to reimburse the US military for the costs of training, paying, and supporting them while they were fraudulently in the service.
Had such a sharia standard been applied to MAJ Nidal Hasan when he first began openly espousing Islamic fundamentalism, the officer-turned-terrorist would not have been free to have committed murder and maiming at Fort Hood last week.
US Army enlistment and commissioned officer oaths are as follows:
"I, _____, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God." (Title 10, US Code; Act of 5 May 1960 replacing the wording first adopted in 1789, with amendment effective 5 October 1962).
"I, _____ (SSAN), having been appointed an officer in the Army of the United States, as indicated above in the grade of _____ do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign or domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservations or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office upon which I am about to enter; So help me God." (DA Form 71, 1 August 1959, for officers.)
The wording is there; the intention of the oath was, in part, to defend the military against infiltration from foreign powers and ideologies hostile to the Constitution. Let's use it while we can.
Comments