Marines honor Muslim vet … who supports the Taliban

At a ceremony dedicating Quantico’s new Islamic prayer center.

The Times of London knows just which questions to ask:

Gordon England, the US Deputy Defence Secretary … singled out Nazim Abdul Karriem, a former US servicemen who was seated in the front row and took part in the D-Day landings in Normandy 62 years ago. Mr England asked the 87-year-old veteran to stand and take a bow, but he might have been a little more circumspect if he had spoken to Mr Karriem first. Mr Karriem converted in 1956 and later became involved in Malcolm X’s Nation of Islam.

What did he think about the Iraq war? “I see it as a war against Islam. We have had this before with the Crusades. We have occupied land which does not belong to us,” Mr Kariem told The Times. Should the Taleban have been allowed to remain in power over Afghanistan? “Well, it’s their country,” he replied.

The author, Tom Baldwin, doesn’t say if he asked the obvious follow-up about whether Germany belonged to the Nazis, but we can guess.

Here’s the transcript of England’s remarks. You’ll see that he also lauded Gath Noor Kashif, who makes a cameo in ToL’s article as well. WaPo has a report on the dedication ceremony, too; they manage to find someone there with a few kind words to say about America but you’ll have to read to the very end to find it.

Query for our Marine readers: is there a temple or synagogue or any sort of Jewish prayer center at Quantico? I googled around and all I found was the schedule of services on the USMC Chaplain’s webpage. Christians get the chapel, Muslims get the prayer center, and Jews get … to truck on over to Fort Belvoir. Are there so few Jewish Marines that the Corps thinks it’s worth outsourcing them? And by “few” I mean “less than 30,” because that’s how many people WaPo says will be using the new Islamic digs.

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