Pamela has an interesting post about CAIR’s calling attention to Muslim World War II veterans, and the Muslim American Veterans Association, which was founded in…1997, a scant 52 years after the end of the Big One.
Pamela notes that high-profile Muslims, such as the Mufti of Jerusalem, were on the other side during World War II, and apparently no Muslims participated in the Normandy invasion — contrary to CAIR’s claims.
Does anyone know more about this Muslim American Veterans Association? Were its World War II vets actually Muslims during the war, or did they convert afterward?
Why should anyone raise questions about a Muslim American Veterans Association? Isn’t it just the kind of thing we want to see — evidence that Muslims are loyal American citizens who are proud to fight to defend their country? Indeed. But what was happening fifty-two years after the cessation of hostilities that suddenly gave these vets the idea that such an association was needed? And if these vets were not Muslims during the war itself, is this an attempt to — as Pamela says — rewrite history to put an Islamic presence where there wasn’t one?
And even if CAIR’s story is 100% true, and there were Muslim soldiers participating in the Normandy invasion, does this really do anything to answer questions about the attachment of Muslims in America, and CAIR itself, to political Islam? Since CAIR has never clarified its position about ultimately replacing the U.S. Constitution with Islamic Sharia, and Ibrahim Hooper is on record saying he’d like to see an Islamic government in the U.S., these are legitimate questions. But don’t hold your breath waiting for answers from the helpful folks at CAIR.
UPDATE: Patrick Poole kindly sends in this info:
http://www.defenselink.mil/transcripts/transcript.aspx?transcriptid=14
In this speech, [Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon] England identifies ONE Muslim who was at Normandy.
This story from today’s PK Daily Times cites the same guy:
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007%5C11%5C04%5Cstory_4-11-2007_pg7_32