Sunday, September 18, 2011 5:33:14 AM
Air Force Cites New Testament, Ex-Nazi, to Train Officers on Ethics of Launching Nuclear Weapons
Wernher Von Braun, a former member of the Nazi Party who used Jews imprisoned in concentration camps, captured French anti-Nazi partisans and civilians, and others to help build the V-2 rocket for Hitler's Third Reich, is cited in an Air Force PowerPoint presentation about the morals and ethics of launching nuclear weapons.
(Image: Department of the Air Force)
by: Jason Leopold, Truthout | Report
Wednesday 27 July 2011
UPDATE: Following the publication of this exclusive report, the Air Force suspended [ http://www.truth-out.org/air-force-pulls-christian-themed-ethics-training-missile-officers/1311972789 ] its war ethics training for nuclear missile officers.
The United States Air Force has been training young missile officers about the morals and ethics of launching nuclear weapons by citing passages from the New Testament and commentary from a former member of the Nazi Party, according to documents obtained exclusively by Truthout.
The mandatory Nuclear Ethics and Nuclear Warfare session, which includes a discussion on St. Augustine's "Christian Just War Theory [ http://catholicism.about.com/od/beliefsteachings/p/Just_War_Theory.htm ]," is led by Air Force chaplains and takes place during a missile officer's first week in training at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
St. Augustine's "Qualifications for Just War," according to the way it is cited in a PowerPoint presentation [ http://truthout.org/files/nuclear_ethics.pdf ], are: "to avenge or to avert evil; to protect the innocent and restore moral social order (just cause)" and "to restore moral order; not expand power, not for pride or revenge (just intent)."
The Air Force documents were released under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and provided to Truthout by the Military Religious Freedom Foundation [ http://www.militaryreligiousfreedom.org/ ] (MRFF), a civil rights organization. MRFF President Mikey Weinstein said more than 30 Air Force officers, a majority of whom describe themselves as practicing Protestants and Roman Catholics, have contacted his group over the past week in hopes of enlisting him to work with the Air Force to have the Christian-themed teachings removed from the nuclear weapons ethics training session. [Full disclosure: Weinstein is a member of Truthout's Board of Advisers.]
Included with the PowerPoint presentation, consisting of 43 slides, are more than 500 pages of other documents [ http://www.scribd.com/doc/61068592/ICBM-Training-Material ] pertaining to a missile officer's first week of training, which takes place before they are sent to one of three Air Force bases to guard the country's Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) arsenal and, if called upon to do so by the president, launch their nuclear-armed Minuteman IIIs.
One of the slides quotes Wernher Von Braun [ http://www.operationpaperclip.info/wernher-von-braun.php ], a former member of the Nazi Party and SS officer. Von Braun, regarded as the father of the US space program [id.], is not being cited as a scientific expert, rather he's specifically being referenced as a moral authority, which is remarkable considering that the Nazi scientist used Jews imprisoned in concentration camps and captured French anti-Nazi partisans and civilians to help build the V-2 rocket, a weapon responsible for the death of thousands of British civilians.
"We knew that we had created a new means of warfare and the question as to what nation, to what victorious nation we were willing to entrust this brainchild of ours was a moral decision [emphasis in document] more than anything else," Von Braun said upon surrendering to American forces in May 1945. "We wanted to see the world spared another conflict such as Germany had just been through and we felt that only by surrendering such a weapon to people who are guided by the Bible could such an assurance to the world be best secured." [emphasis in document]
Von Braun was part of a top-secret military program known as "Operation Paperclip [ http://www.operationpaperclip.info/ ]," which recruited Nazi scientists after World War II who "were secretly brought to the United States, without State Department review and approval; their service for [Adolf] Hitler's Third Reich, [Nazi Party] and SS memberships as well as the classification of many as war criminals or security threats also disqualified them from officially obtaining visas," according to the Operation Paperclip web site [id.].
Von Braun and about 500 other Nazi scientists who were part of the classified program worked on guided missile and ballistic missile technology at military installations in New Mexico, Alabama and Texas.
Ethical Questions and The Bible
The Air Force has been mired in numerous religious scandals [ http://www.google.com/#sclient=psy&hl=en&source=hp&q=%22jason+leopold%22+and+%22air+force+academy%22 ] over the past decade and has been sued for allowing widespread proselytization at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. It has been citing Christian teachings in its missile officer training materials since at least 2001. [UPDATE: The Air Force said [ http://www.truth-out.org/air-force-pulls-christian-themed-ethics-training-missile-officers/1311972789 ] the ethics course has been in place for more than two decades.]
One Air Force officer currently on active duty, who spoke to Truthout on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak with the media, said he was trained as a missile officer in 2001 and vividly recalls how the chaplain leading the training session on the ethics of launching nuclear weapons said, "the American Catholic Church and their leadership says it's ok in their eyes to launch nukes."
Last year, however, Archbishop Celestino Migliore, the Vatican representative to the United Nations, said in speeches in Washington and New York City that "nuclear weapons are no longer just for deterrence but have become entrenched in the military doctrines of the major powers."
"The conditions that prevailed during the Cold War, which gave a basis for the [Catholic] Church's limited toleration of nuclear deterrence, no longer apply in a consistent and effective manner," the Archbishop said.
The 381st Training Group and 392nd Training Squadron are responsible for training every Air Force Space and Missile Officer. Several emails and phone calls left for spokespeople at Vandenberg Air Force Base, where the squadron is based, were not returned. The PowerPoint identifies Chaplain Capt. Shin Soh of the 381st Training Group as leading the nuclear ethics presentation.
One of the ethical questions contained in the PowerPoint presented to missile officers asks: "Can you imagine a set of circumstances that would warrant a nuclear launch from the US, knowing that it would kill thousands of non-combatants?
Another question trainees are confronted with asks: "Can we train physically, emotionally and spiritually for a job we hope we never have to do?"
To help the missile officers answer these ethical queries, the ethics course begins with numerous examples of characters from the New and Old Testament fighting what the PowerPoint refers to as "just" wars.
For example, in the Old Testament, "Abraham organized an army to rescue [his nephew] Lot," God motivated "judges (Samson, Deborah, Barak) to fight and deliver Israel from foreign oppressors," and "David is a warrior who is also a 'man after God's own heart.'"
In the New Testament, citing Timothy 2:3, according to the PowerPoint, "Paul chooses three illustrations to show what it means to be a good disciple of Christ":
• Farmer--work hard and be patient
• Athlete--be self-disciplined, train
• Soldier--be willing to put up with hardship
Moreover, in Romans 13:4, the PowerPoint notes, "In spite of personal blemishes, God calls the emperor to be an instrument of justice," [emphasis in document.]
A PowerPoint slide also contains a passage from the Book of Revelation that says "Jesus Christ is the mighty warrior."
The PowerPoint goes on to say that there are "many examples of believers [who] engaged in wars in Old Testament" in a "righteous way" and notes there is "no pacifistic sentiment in mainstream Jewish history."
Constitutional Violation?
The use of religious imagery in the slides and the numerous citations of the Bible would appear to be a violation of the First Amendment establishing a wall of separation between church and state and Clause 3, Article 6 of the Constitution, which specifically prohibits a "religious test."
Weinstein, a graduate of the Air Force Academy and a former Air Force Judge Advocate General (JAG), said a section of the PowerPoint presentation that has been cited by MRFF clients as being at the top of the list of "unconstitutional outrages" is the one "which wretchedly asserts that war is both ethical and part of 'the natural order' of man's existence on earth."
"Astonishingly, the training presentation grotesquely attempts to justify that unconscionable concept of 'war is good because Jesus says it is' by specifically textually referencing allegedly supportive bible passages from the New Testament Books of Luke, Acts, Hebrews, Timothy and, finally even Revelation," said Weinstein, a former White House counsel during the Reagan administration. "If this repugnant nuclear missile training is not Constitutionally violative of both the 'no religious test' mandate of the Constitution and the First Amendment's No Establishment Clause then those bedrock legal principles simply do not exist."
A senior Air Force Space and Missile officer who reviewed the materials, said the teachings are "an outrage of the highest order."
"No way in hell should this have been presented as a mandatory briefing to ALL in the basic missiles class," the officer, who requested anonymity so he could speak candidly, said in an email. "It presumes ALL missile officers are religious and specifically in need of CHRISTIAN justification for their service.
"If they wanted to help people with their spiritual/religious/secular justification for serving as missile officers, then they should've said something like 'for those of you with religious concerns about missile duty, we've arranged the following times to chat with chaplains from your particular faith group.' For those with secular concerns about the morality of missile duty, we'll have a discussion moderated by a professor [and/or] counselor, a noted ethicist, too. If you're already good with your role and duty as a missile officer, then you're welcome to hit the golf course or gym."
The senior Air Force officer added that the commander of the training squadron "that approved this, along with the Training Group Commander at Vandenberg, should be fired instantly for allowing it."
"Jesus Loves Nukes"
Former Air Force Capt. Damon Bosetti, 27, who attended missile officer training in 2006 and was stationed at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Great Falls, Montana, said he and his colleagues used to call the religious section of the ethics training the "Jesus loves nukes speech."
"What I went through in 2006 didn't have that level of inappropriateness in it, but it was still strongly religious," he said of the PowerPoint presentation the Air Force now uses for training missile officers.
Bosetti, who is represented by MRFF, said he believes the intent of quoting Bible passages was to make officers feel "comfortable" about launching nuclear weapons and signing a legal document stating they had "no moral qualms" about "turning the key" if ordered to do so.
The legal document from the Department of the Air Force, Air Education and Training Command, which was also released under the FOIA, states, in part, "I will perform duties involving the operation of nuclear-armed ICBMs and will launch them if lawfully ordered to do so by the President of the United States or his lawful successor." [emphasis in document]
Bosetti, an officer who left active duty in the Air Force last year and is now working as an engineer, said officers were immediately presented with the three-page document to sign after the end of the training session on nuclear ethics.
"I think the average American would be and should be very disturbed to know that people go through training where the Air Force quotes the Bible," Bosetti said. "This type of teaching sets a dangerous precedent because no one above you is objecting. It shifts the group definition of acceptable behavior more and more off track."
Weinstein said the combination of citing fundamentalist Christianity and a Nazi scientist as a way of explaining to missile officers why launching nuclear weapons is ethical is a new low for the Air Force.
"Leave it to the United States Air Force to find a way to dictate the 'ethical' value of nuclear war and it's inevitable role in the 'natural order' of humanity's existence, to it's missile launch officer trainees by merging unadulterated, fundamentalist Christian end times Armageddon doctrines with the tortured 'people who are guided by the bible endorsements of a former, leading Nazi SS official," Weinstein said.
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Listen to Jason Leopold discuss this story on The Nicole Sandler Show
http://traffic.libsyn.com/radioornot/7-28-11_Jason_Leopold_-_Jesus_Loves_Nukes.mp3
*
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http://www.truth-out.org/air-force-cites-new-testament-ex-nazi-train-officers-ethics-launching-nuclear-weapons/1311776738 [with comments]
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Top Air Force Official Issues Religious Neutrality Policy in Wake of Truthout's "Jesus Loves Nukes" Exposé
Air Force Joint Chief Gen. Norton A. Schwartz addresses National Guard delegates during the National Guard Association of the United States conference in Nashville, Tennessee, September 12.
(Photo: Tech. Sgt. Nick Choy, National Guard Bureau Public Affairs)
by: Jason Leopold, Truthout | Report
Wednesday 14 September 2011
A top US Air Force official, in an attempt to ensure the Air Force adheres to the Constitution as well as its own regulations and policies, issued guidelines that calls on "leaders at all levels" to take immediate steps to maintain "government neutrality regarding religion."
In his policy memorandum dated September 1, but sent Tuesday to all major commands, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton A. Schwartz said, "Leaders ... must balance Constitutional protections for an individual's free exercise of religion or other personal beliefs and its prohibition against governmental establishment of religion."
The First Amendment establishes a wall of separation between church and state and Clause 3, Article 6 of the Constitution specifically prohibits a "religious test."
The memo was issued a month after Truthout published an exclusive report [ http://www.truth-out.org/air-force-cites-new-testament-ex-nazi-train-officers-ethics-launching-nuclear-weapons/1311776738 (above)] revealing how, for two decades, the Air Force used numerous Bible passages and religious imagery to teach nuclear missile officers about the morals and ethics of launching nuclear weapons, a decision that one senior Air Force officer told Truthout last month should have "instantly" resulted in the firing of the commanders who allowed it to take place.
The Air Force suspended the mandatory Nuclear Ethics and Nuclear Warfare training immediately following the publication of Truthout's report. David Smith, a spokesman for the Air Education and Training Command told Truthout last month the ethics training "has been taken out of the curriculum and is being reviewed."
"The commander reviewed it and decided we needed to have a good hard look at it and make sure it reflected views of modern society," Smith said.
The decison angered Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) who fired off an angry letter [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chris-rodda/texas-senator-demands-tha_b_953064.html ] to Secretary of the Air Force Michael B. Donley criticizing the move and demanding Donley provide him with a report detailing "actions taken" by the Air Force that led to the suspension of the ethics training.
But the Air Force went further, pulling all of its training materials "that address morals, ethics, core values and related character development issues" pending a "comprehensive review," Smith told the Air Force Times.
That decision was made after a Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) instructor, who read Truthout's report, sent the Military Religious Freedom Foundation [ http://www.militaryreligiousfreedom.org/ ] (MRFF), a civil rights organization, copies of ROTC leadership training materials, which also contained Christian-themed citations from the Bible. The PowerPoint slides in that presentation the unnamed instructor sent MRFF are used in all colleges and universities that have an ROTC program.
While Schwartz does not state whether any particular incident prompted him to issue the memorandum, it would appear the media attention surrounding the revelations about the ROTC leadership training and the "Jesus loves nukes" ethics course, which is how one former nuclear missile officer referred to it during an interview with Truthout [ http://www.truth-out.org/air-force-cites-new-testament-ex-nazi-train-officers-ethics-launching-nuclear-weapons/1311776738 ], played a significant part.
UPDATE: Lt. Col. Sam Highley, a spokesman for Schwartz, told [ http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2011/09/air-force-schwartz-warns-commanders-on-religious-programs-091611/ ] the Air Force Times Friday, "we have seen instances where well-meaning commanders and senior noncommissioned officers appeared to advance a particular religious view among their subordinates, calling into question their impartiality and objectivity. We can learn from these instances."
Schwartz said commanders and supervisors, "must avoid the actual or apparent use of their position to promote their personal religious beliefs to their subordinates or to extend preferential treatment for any religion."
"Commanders or supervisors who engage in such behavior may cause members to doubt their impartiality and objectify," Schwartz added. "The potential result is a degradation of the unit's morale, good order and discipline."
Furthermore, he advised Air Force leadership who may have concerns "involving the preservation of government neutrality regarding religious beliefs" to speak with a chaplain and staff judge advocate "before you act."
Mikey Weinstein, MRFF's president and founder, referred to Schwartz's memorandum as a "damn good line drive single to potentially start a rally of Constitutional religious freedom compliance, which has been scandalously lacking in the entire Defense Department for decades." [Full disclosure: Weinstein is a member of Truthout's Board of Advisers.]
Weinstein had provided Truthout with copies of the PowerPoint presentation used during the nuclear ethics training course taught by chaplains at Vandenberg Air Force base in California. MRFF obtained the materials from an Air Force officer who received the documents in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.
Weinsten said Schwartz is the "most senior Pentagon official to date to ever send this strong a mandate of Constitutional religious compliance to our United States armed forces members."
"While MRFF wishes that such a letter had been sent by the Chief of Staff of the Air Force a very long time ago, the old adage 'better late than never' most certainly applies," Weinstein said in an email. "Gen. Schwartz has the Air Force at least now 'talking the talk.' Whether the Air Force can 'walk the walk' will depend upon many factors, not the least of which is whether ANYONE in the Air Force is EVER punished for violating its clear mandates of Constitutional recognition for BOTH the No Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause of the Bill of Rights' First Amendment." (Weinstein's emphasis.)
Systemic Issues
That Schwartz, a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was forced to issue such an edict underscores how widespread [ http://www.google.com/#sclient=psy-ab&hl=en&source=hp&q=%22jason+leopold%22+and+%22air+force%22+and+%22proselytizing%22 ] the issues pertaining to commanders who appear to endorse religion, particularly fundamentalist Christianity, have become within the Air Force.
Indeed, some examples over the past few years include an email circulated [ http://pubrecord.org/religion/840/air-force-bible-study-described-jews-as-whiners/ ] in 2009 by military command and staff officers to all personnel stationed at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada inviting them to attend a Bible study class in which the topic of discussion referred to Jews as "whiners."
Air Force Capt. Melissa Danley, the military personnel chief at Creech, sent the initial announcement from her official government email account at the request of a chaplain. The 432nd Wing Commander's Office sent out another announcement soon after.
In December 2008, Chris Rodda, MRFF's director of research, reported [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chris-rodda/creationism-the-latest-in_b_147155.html ] that a presentation titled "Purpose Driven Airmen," which incorporated the teachings of megachurch leader Rick Warren and creationism as a means of suicide prevention, was sent by commanders from an official government email account to 5,000 servicemen and women stationed at RAF Lakenheath, the largest US Air Force base in England.
In January 2009, senior command officers again used a government email account to send an announcement, at the request of a chaplain [ http://pubrecord.org/religion/840/air-force-bible-study-described-jews-as-whiners/ ], to base personnel asking them to attend a screening of the Christian movie "Fireproof."
When commanders use their official government email accounts to send out such announcements, it implies that the events are officially endorsed by the United States Air Force.
No one was held accountable in either of those cases and Schwartz doesn't say whether Air Force commanders and supervisors who violate the policy would be punished or held accountable.
Schwartz does, however, state that while commanders are responsible for certain Chaplain Corps programs, "including activities such as religious studies, faith sharing and prayer meetings ... they must refrain from appearing to officially endorse religion generally or any particular religion."
"Therefore, I expect chaplains, not commanders, to notify Airmen of Chaplain Corps programs," he wrote.
Chaplain's Column Scrubbed
But, like the nuclear ethics training course taught by chaplains, there are other instances in which chaplains appear to be speaking on behalf of the Air Force, even unintentionally. For example, last month, some Air Force officers complained to Truthout and MRFF about a column they read written by a chaplain, Lt. Col. Curtiss Wagner of the 179 Airlift Wing, that was posted on the command's official web site.
The August 16 column, "The Dignified Transfer," centered around Wagner's six-month deployment to the Air Force Mortuary Affairs Operations at Dover Air Force Base. A portion of Wagner's column discussed the pain he saw in the eyes of family members who went to Dover to witness the return of their loved ones' remains. Wagner wrote that during his "deployment to mortuary affairs he was reminded ... just how important faith and a spiritual foundation is."
"It was very apparent who had a strong faith and who didn't." Wagner wrote. "Of course those who had a strong spiritual foundation still grieved at their loss, but they had hope and strength through that difficult time because of their relationship to God. I am reminded what the Apostle Paul stated in 1 Thess. 4:13 when he said that those who are Christ followers do not 'grieve like the rest of men,' who have no hope."
Several Air Force officers who contacted Truthout said they were deeply offended by the Biblical passage, "those who are Christ followers do not 'grieve like the rest of men,'" because it suggests family members of other faiths who do not worship Christ, as well as nonbelievers, "have no hope" and unless you accept Christ you grieve differently. Moreover, because it was published on an official government web site, it led them to believe that the Air Force endorsed Wagner's position.
Truthout contacted Holli Snyder, a spokeswoman for the Air Force's 179th Airlift Wing based out of Fort Campbell Kentucky, about whether Wagner's use of the Biblical passage in a column published on a government web site amounted to a policy violation. Snyder responded a week later and said Wagner column was "removed" from the170th Airlift Wing's web site "upon realization that his comments could be perceived as offensive and hurtful."
A link to the column [ http://www.179aw.ang.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123268348 ], now goes to a page not found. Wagner's column was also removed from Google's cache and can no longer be found on the web.
"Our most sincere apologies go out to any of those individuals who were offended by this commentary and will [sic] ensure in the future that statements published on our website could not be perceived as such," Snyder said. "With that being said, one must take into consideration that Lt. Col. Wagner was writing a commentary, a personal narrative, meaning it was his own thoughts and beliefs, on his tour of duty at Dover Air Force Base. Wagner was not expressing the thoughts and beliefs of the 179th Airlift Wing, the U.S. Air Force, or the Department of Defense, but I can see how that could have been misconstrued by being posted on the official base website for the 179th AW. There should have been a statement attached with his commentary that stated the following:
The views expressed in this commentary are the views of the individual and do not necessarily reflect the official views of the U.S. Government, the Department of Defense, the Air Force, the 179th Airlift Wing or Airmen assigned to the 179th AW.
Schwartz, the Air Force chief of staff, goes on to say in his memo that chaplains are "trained to provide leadership on matters related to the free exercise of religion and to help commanders care for all of their people, regardless of their beliefs."
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http://www.truth-out.org/aftermath-jesus-loves-nukes-scandal/1316010154 [with comments]
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Wernher Von Braun, a former member of the Nazi Party who used Jews imprisoned in concentration camps, captured French anti-Nazi partisans and civilians, and others to help build the V-2 rocket for Hitler's Third Reich, is cited in an Air Force PowerPoint presentation about the morals and ethics of launching nuclear weapons.
(Image: Department of the Air Force)
by: Jason Leopold, Truthout | Report
Wednesday 27 July 2011
UPDATE: Following the publication of this exclusive report, the Air Force suspended [ http://www.truth-out.org/air-force-pulls-christian-themed-ethics-training-missile-officers/1311972789 ] its war ethics training for nuclear missile officers.
The United States Air Force has been training young missile officers about the morals and ethics of launching nuclear weapons by citing passages from the New Testament and commentary from a former member of the Nazi Party, according to documents obtained exclusively by Truthout.
The mandatory Nuclear Ethics and Nuclear Warfare session, which includes a discussion on St. Augustine's "Christian Just War Theory [ http://catholicism.about.com/od/beliefsteachings/p/Just_War_Theory.htm ]," is led by Air Force chaplains and takes place during a missile officer's first week in training at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
St. Augustine's "Qualifications for Just War," according to the way it is cited in a PowerPoint presentation [ http://truthout.org/files/nuclear_ethics.pdf ], are: "to avenge or to avert evil; to protect the innocent and restore moral social order (just cause)" and "to restore moral order; not expand power, not for pride or revenge (just intent)."
The Air Force documents were released under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and provided to Truthout by the Military Religious Freedom Foundation [ http://www.militaryreligiousfreedom.org/ ] (MRFF), a civil rights organization. MRFF President Mikey Weinstein said more than 30 Air Force officers, a majority of whom describe themselves as practicing Protestants and Roman Catholics, have contacted his group over the past week in hopes of enlisting him to work with the Air Force to have the Christian-themed teachings removed from the nuclear weapons ethics training session. [Full disclosure: Weinstein is a member of Truthout's Board of Advisers.]
Included with the PowerPoint presentation, consisting of 43 slides, are more than 500 pages of other documents [ http://www.scribd.com/doc/61068592/ICBM-Training-Material ] pertaining to a missile officer's first week of training, which takes place before they are sent to one of three Air Force bases to guard the country's Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) arsenal and, if called upon to do so by the president, launch their nuclear-armed Minuteman IIIs.
One of the slides quotes Wernher Von Braun [ http://www.operationpaperclip.info/wernher-von-braun.php ], a former member of the Nazi Party and SS officer. Von Braun, regarded as the father of the US space program [id.], is not being cited as a scientific expert, rather he's specifically being referenced as a moral authority, which is remarkable considering that the Nazi scientist used Jews imprisoned in concentration camps and captured French anti-Nazi partisans and civilians to help build the V-2 rocket, a weapon responsible for the death of thousands of British civilians.
"We knew that we had created a new means of warfare and the question as to what nation, to what victorious nation we were willing to entrust this brainchild of ours was a moral decision [emphasis in document] more than anything else," Von Braun said upon surrendering to American forces in May 1945. "We wanted to see the world spared another conflict such as Germany had just been through and we felt that only by surrendering such a weapon to people who are guided by the Bible could such an assurance to the world be best secured." [emphasis in document]
Von Braun was part of a top-secret military program known as "Operation Paperclip [ http://www.operationpaperclip.info/ ]," which recruited Nazi scientists after World War II who "were secretly brought to the United States, without State Department review and approval; their service for [Adolf] Hitler's Third Reich, [Nazi Party] and SS memberships as well as the classification of many as war criminals or security threats also disqualified them from officially obtaining visas," according to the Operation Paperclip web site [id.].
Von Braun and about 500 other Nazi scientists who were part of the classified program worked on guided missile and ballistic missile technology at military installations in New Mexico, Alabama and Texas.
Ethical Questions and The Bible
The Air Force has been mired in numerous religious scandals [ http://www.google.com/#sclient=psy&hl=en&source=hp&q=%22jason+leopold%22+and+%22air+force+academy%22 ] over the past decade and has been sued for allowing widespread proselytization at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. It has been citing Christian teachings in its missile officer training materials since at least 2001. [UPDATE: The Air Force said [ http://www.truth-out.org/air-force-pulls-christian-themed-ethics-training-missile-officers/1311972789 ] the ethics course has been in place for more than two decades.]
One Air Force officer currently on active duty, who spoke to Truthout on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak with the media, said he was trained as a missile officer in 2001 and vividly recalls how the chaplain leading the training session on the ethics of launching nuclear weapons said, "the American Catholic Church and their leadership says it's ok in their eyes to launch nukes."
Last year, however, Archbishop Celestino Migliore, the Vatican representative to the United Nations, said in speeches in Washington and New York City that "nuclear weapons are no longer just for deterrence but have become entrenched in the military doctrines of the major powers."
"The conditions that prevailed during the Cold War, which gave a basis for the [Catholic] Church's limited toleration of nuclear deterrence, no longer apply in a consistent and effective manner," the Archbishop said.
The 381st Training Group and 392nd Training Squadron are responsible for training every Air Force Space and Missile Officer. Several emails and phone calls left for spokespeople at Vandenberg Air Force Base, where the squadron is based, were not returned. The PowerPoint identifies Chaplain Capt. Shin Soh of the 381st Training Group as leading the nuclear ethics presentation.
One of the ethical questions contained in the PowerPoint presented to missile officers asks: "Can you imagine a set of circumstances that would warrant a nuclear launch from the US, knowing that it would kill thousands of non-combatants?
Another question trainees are confronted with asks: "Can we train physically, emotionally and spiritually for a job we hope we never have to do?"
To help the missile officers answer these ethical queries, the ethics course begins with numerous examples of characters from the New and Old Testament fighting what the PowerPoint refers to as "just" wars.
For example, in the Old Testament, "Abraham organized an army to rescue [his nephew] Lot," God motivated "judges (Samson, Deborah, Barak) to fight and deliver Israel from foreign oppressors," and "David is a warrior who is also a 'man after God's own heart.'"
In the New Testament, citing Timothy 2:3, according to the PowerPoint, "Paul chooses three illustrations to show what it means to be a good disciple of Christ":
• Farmer--work hard and be patient
• Athlete--be self-disciplined, train
• Soldier--be willing to put up with hardship
Moreover, in Romans 13:4, the PowerPoint notes, "In spite of personal blemishes, God calls the emperor to be an instrument of justice," [emphasis in document.]
A PowerPoint slide also contains a passage from the Book of Revelation that says "Jesus Christ is the mighty warrior."
The PowerPoint goes on to say that there are "many examples of believers [who] engaged in wars in Old Testament" in a "righteous way" and notes there is "no pacifistic sentiment in mainstream Jewish history."
Constitutional Violation?
The use of religious imagery in the slides and the numerous citations of the Bible would appear to be a violation of the First Amendment establishing a wall of separation between church and state and Clause 3, Article 6 of the Constitution, which specifically prohibits a "religious test."
Weinstein, a graduate of the Air Force Academy and a former Air Force Judge Advocate General (JAG), said a section of the PowerPoint presentation that has been cited by MRFF clients as being at the top of the list of "unconstitutional outrages" is the one "which wretchedly asserts that war is both ethical and part of 'the natural order' of man's existence on earth."
"Astonishingly, the training presentation grotesquely attempts to justify that unconscionable concept of 'war is good because Jesus says it is' by specifically textually referencing allegedly supportive bible passages from the New Testament Books of Luke, Acts, Hebrews, Timothy and, finally even Revelation," said Weinstein, a former White House counsel during the Reagan administration. "If this repugnant nuclear missile training is not Constitutionally violative of both the 'no religious test' mandate of the Constitution and the First Amendment's No Establishment Clause then those bedrock legal principles simply do not exist."
A senior Air Force Space and Missile officer who reviewed the materials, said the teachings are "an outrage of the highest order."
"No way in hell should this have been presented as a mandatory briefing to ALL in the basic missiles class," the officer, who requested anonymity so he could speak candidly, said in an email. "It presumes ALL missile officers are religious and specifically in need of CHRISTIAN justification for their service.
"If they wanted to help people with their spiritual/religious/secular justification for serving as missile officers, then they should've said something like 'for those of you with religious concerns about missile duty, we've arranged the following times to chat with chaplains from your particular faith group.' For those with secular concerns about the morality of missile duty, we'll have a discussion moderated by a professor [and/or] counselor, a noted ethicist, too. If you're already good with your role and duty as a missile officer, then you're welcome to hit the golf course or gym."
The senior Air Force officer added that the commander of the training squadron "that approved this, along with the Training Group Commander at Vandenberg, should be fired instantly for allowing it."
"Jesus Loves Nukes"
Former Air Force Capt. Damon Bosetti, 27, who attended missile officer training in 2006 and was stationed at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Great Falls, Montana, said he and his colleagues used to call the religious section of the ethics training the "Jesus loves nukes speech."
"What I went through in 2006 didn't have that level of inappropriateness in it, but it was still strongly religious," he said of the PowerPoint presentation the Air Force now uses for training missile officers.
Bosetti, who is represented by MRFF, said he believes the intent of quoting Bible passages was to make officers feel "comfortable" about launching nuclear weapons and signing a legal document stating they had "no moral qualms" about "turning the key" if ordered to do so.
The legal document from the Department of the Air Force, Air Education and Training Command, which was also released under the FOIA, states, in part, "I will perform duties involving the operation of nuclear-armed ICBMs and will launch them if lawfully ordered to do so by the President of the United States or his lawful successor." [emphasis in document]
Bosetti, an officer who left active duty in the Air Force last year and is now working as an engineer, said officers were immediately presented with the three-page document to sign after the end of the training session on nuclear ethics.
"I think the average American would be and should be very disturbed to know that people go through training where the Air Force quotes the Bible," Bosetti said. "This type of teaching sets a dangerous precedent because no one above you is objecting. It shifts the group definition of acceptable behavior more and more off track."
Weinstein said the combination of citing fundamentalist Christianity and a Nazi scientist as a way of explaining to missile officers why launching nuclear weapons is ethical is a new low for the Air Force.
"Leave it to the United States Air Force to find a way to dictate the 'ethical' value of nuclear war and it's inevitable role in the 'natural order' of humanity's existence, to it's missile launch officer trainees by merging unadulterated, fundamentalist Christian end times Armageddon doctrines with the tortured 'people who are guided by the bible endorsements of a former, leading Nazi SS official," Weinstein said.
*
Listen to Jason Leopold discuss this story on The Nicole Sandler Show
http://traffic.libsyn.com/radioornot/7-28-11_Jason_Leopold_-_Jesus_Loves_Nukes.mp3
*
This work by Truthout is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.
http://www.truth-out.org/air-force-cites-new-testament-ex-nazi-train-officers-ethics-launching-nuclear-weapons/1311776738 [with comments]
===
Top Air Force Official Issues Religious Neutrality Policy in Wake of Truthout's "Jesus Loves Nukes" Exposé
Air Force Joint Chief Gen. Norton A. Schwartz addresses National Guard delegates during the National Guard Association of the United States conference in Nashville, Tennessee, September 12.
(Photo: Tech. Sgt. Nick Choy, National Guard Bureau Public Affairs)
by: Jason Leopold, Truthout | Report
Wednesday 14 September 2011
A top US Air Force official, in an attempt to ensure the Air Force adheres to the Constitution as well as its own regulations and policies, issued guidelines that calls on "leaders at all levels" to take immediate steps to maintain "government neutrality regarding religion."
In his policy memorandum dated September 1, but sent Tuesday to all major commands, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton A. Schwartz said, "Leaders ... must balance Constitutional protections for an individual's free exercise of religion or other personal beliefs and its prohibition against governmental establishment of religion."
The First Amendment establishes a wall of separation between church and state and Clause 3, Article 6 of the Constitution specifically prohibits a "religious test."
The memo was issued a month after Truthout published an exclusive report [ http://www.truth-out.org/air-force-cites-new-testament-ex-nazi-train-officers-ethics-launching-nuclear-weapons/1311776738 (above)] revealing how, for two decades, the Air Force used numerous Bible passages and religious imagery to teach nuclear missile officers about the morals and ethics of launching nuclear weapons, a decision that one senior Air Force officer told Truthout last month should have "instantly" resulted in the firing of the commanders who allowed it to take place.
The Air Force suspended the mandatory Nuclear Ethics and Nuclear Warfare training immediately following the publication of Truthout's report. David Smith, a spokesman for the Air Education and Training Command told Truthout last month the ethics training "has been taken out of the curriculum and is being reviewed."
"The commander reviewed it and decided we needed to have a good hard look at it and make sure it reflected views of modern society," Smith said.
The decison angered Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) who fired off an angry letter [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chris-rodda/texas-senator-demands-tha_b_953064.html ] to Secretary of the Air Force Michael B. Donley criticizing the move and demanding Donley provide him with a report detailing "actions taken" by the Air Force that led to the suspension of the ethics training.
But the Air Force went further, pulling all of its training materials "that address morals, ethics, core values and related character development issues" pending a "comprehensive review," Smith told the Air Force Times.
That decision was made after a Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) instructor, who read Truthout's report, sent the Military Religious Freedom Foundation [ http://www.militaryreligiousfreedom.org/ ] (MRFF), a civil rights organization, copies of ROTC leadership training materials, which also contained Christian-themed citations from the Bible. The PowerPoint slides in that presentation the unnamed instructor sent MRFF are used in all colleges and universities that have an ROTC program.
While Schwartz does not state whether any particular incident prompted him to issue the memorandum, it would appear the media attention surrounding the revelations about the ROTC leadership training and the "Jesus loves nukes" ethics course, which is how one former nuclear missile officer referred to it during an interview with Truthout [ http://www.truth-out.org/air-force-cites-new-testament-ex-nazi-train-officers-ethics-launching-nuclear-weapons/1311776738 ], played a significant part.
UPDATE: Lt. Col. Sam Highley, a spokesman for Schwartz, told [ http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2011/09/air-force-schwartz-warns-commanders-on-religious-programs-091611/ ] the Air Force Times Friday, "we have seen instances where well-meaning commanders and senior noncommissioned officers appeared to advance a particular religious view among their subordinates, calling into question their impartiality and objectivity. We can learn from these instances."
Schwartz said commanders and supervisors, "must avoid the actual or apparent use of their position to promote their personal religious beliefs to their subordinates or to extend preferential treatment for any religion."
"Commanders or supervisors who engage in such behavior may cause members to doubt their impartiality and objectify," Schwartz added. "The potential result is a degradation of the unit's morale, good order and discipline."
Furthermore, he advised Air Force leadership who may have concerns "involving the preservation of government neutrality regarding religious beliefs" to speak with a chaplain and staff judge advocate "before you act."
Mikey Weinstein, MRFF's president and founder, referred to Schwartz's memorandum as a "damn good line drive single to potentially start a rally of Constitutional religious freedom compliance, which has been scandalously lacking in the entire Defense Department for decades." [Full disclosure: Weinstein is a member of Truthout's Board of Advisers.]
Weinstein had provided Truthout with copies of the PowerPoint presentation used during the nuclear ethics training course taught by chaplains at Vandenberg Air Force base in California. MRFF obtained the materials from an Air Force officer who received the documents in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.
Weinsten said Schwartz is the "most senior Pentagon official to date to ever send this strong a mandate of Constitutional religious compliance to our United States armed forces members."
"While MRFF wishes that such a letter had been sent by the Chief of Staff of the Air Force a very long time ago, the old adage 'better late than never' most certainly applies," Weinstein said in an email. "Gen. Schwartz has the Air Force at least now 'talking the talk.' Whether the Air Force can 'walk the walk' will depend upon many factors, not the least of which is whether ANYONE in the Air Force is EVER punished for violating its clear mandates of Constitutional recognition for BOTH the No Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause of the Bill of Rights' First Amendment." (Weinstein's emphasis.)
Systemic Issues
That Schwartz, a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was forced to issue such an edict underscores how widespread [ http://www.google.com/#sclient=psy-ab&hl=en&source=hp&q=%22jason+leopold%22+and+%22air+force%22+and+%22proselytizing%22 ] the issues pertaining to commanders who appear to endorse religion, particularly fundamentalist Christianity, have become within the Air Force.
Indeed, some examples over the past few years include an email circulated [ http://pubrecord.org/religion/840/air-force-bible-study-described-jews-as-whiners/ ] in 2009 by military command and staff officers to all personnel stationed at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada inviting them to attend a Bible study class in which the topic of discussion referred to Jews as "whiners."
Air Force Capt. Melissa Danley, the military personnel chief at Creech, sent the initial announcement from her official government email account at the request of a chaplain. The 432nd Wing Commander's Office sent out another announcement soon after.
In December 2008, Chris Rodda, MRFF's director of research, reported [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chris-rodda/creationism-the-latest-in_b_147155.html ] that a presentation titled "Purpose Driven Airmen," which incorporated the teachings of megachurch leader Rick Warren and creationism as a means of suicide prevention, was sent by commanders from an official government email account to 5,000 servicemen and women stationed at RAF Lakenheath, the largest US Air Force base in England.
In January 2009, senior command officers again used a government email account to send an announcement, at the request of a chaplain [ http://pubrecord.org/religion/840/air-force-bible-study-described-jews-as-whiners/ ], to base personnel asking them to attend a screening of the Christian movie "Fireproof."
When commanders use their official government email accounts to send out such announcements, it implies that the events are officially endorsed by the United States Air Force.
No one was held accountable in either of those cases and Schwartz doesn't say whether Air Force commanders and supervisors who violate the policy would be punished or held accountable.
Schwartz does, however, state that while commanders are responsible for certain Chaplain Corps programs, "including activities such as religious studies, faith sharing and prayer meetings ... they must refrain from appearing to officially endorse religion generally or any particular religion."
"Therefore, I expect chaplains, not commanders, to notify Airmen of Chaplain Corps programs," he wrote.
Chaplain's Column Scrubbed
But, like the nuclear ethics training course taught by chaplains, there are other instances in which chaplains appear to be speaking on behalf of the Air Force, even unintentionally. For example, last month, some Air Force officers complained to Truthout and MRFF about a column they read written by a chaplain, Lt. Col. Curtiss Wagner of the 179 Airlift Wing, that was posted on the command's official web site.
The August 16 column, "The Dignified Transfer," centered around Wagner's six-month deployment to the Air Force Mortuary Affairs Operations at Dover Air Force Base. A portion of Wagner's column discussed the pain he saw in the eyes of family members who went to Dover to witness the return of their loved ones' remains. Wagner wrote that during his "deployment to mortuary affairs he was reminded ... just how important faith and a spiritual foundation is."
"It was very apparent who had a strong faith and who didn't." Wagner wrote. "Of course those who had a strong spiritual foundation still grieved at their loss, but they had hope and strength through that difficult time because of their relationship to God. I am reminded what the Apostle Paul stated in 1 Thess. 4:13 when he said that those who are Christ followers do not 'grieve like the rest of men,' who have no hope."
Several Air Force officers who contacted Truthout said they were deeply offended by the Biblical passage, "those who are Christ followers do not 'grieve like the rest of men,'" because it suggests family members of other faiths who do not worship Christ, as well as nonbelievers, "have no hope" and unless you accept Christ you grieve differently. Moreover, because it was published on an official government web site, it led them to believe that the Air Force endorsed Wagner's position.
Truthout contacted Holli Snyder, a spokeswoman for the Air Force's 179th Airlift Wing based out of Fort Campbell Kentucky, about whether Wagner's use of the Biblical passage in a column published on a government web site amounted to a policy violation. Snyder responded a week later and said Wagner column was "removed" from the170th Airlift Wing's web site "upon realization that his comments could be perceived as offensive and hurtful."
A link to the column [ http://www.179aw.ang.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123268348 ], now goes to a page not found. Wagner's column was also removed from Google's cache and can no longer be found on the web.
"Our most sincere apologies go out to any of those individuals who were offended by this commentary and will [sic] ensure in the future that statements published on our website could not be perceived as such," Snyder said. "With that being said, one must take into consideration that Lt. Col. Wagner was writing a commentary, a personal narrative, meaning it was his own thoughts and beliefs, on his tour of duty at Dover Air Force Base. Wagner was not expressing the thoughts and beliefs of the 179th Airlift Wing, the U.S. Air Force, or the Department of Defense, but I can see how that could have been misconstrued by being posted on the official base website for the 179th AW. There should have been a statement attached with his commentary that stated the following:
The views expressed in this commentary are the views of the individual and do not necessarily reflect the official views of the U.S. Government, the Department of Defense, the Air Force, the 179th Airlift Wing or Airmen assigned to the 179th AW.
Schwartz, the Air Force chief of staff, goes on to say in his memo that chaplains are "trained to provide leadership on matters related to the free exercise of religion and to help commanders care for all of their people, regardless of their beliefs."
This work by Truthout is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.
http://www.truth-out.org/aftermath-jesus-loves-nukes-scandal/1316010154 [with comments]
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