U.S. Soldiers Learning Arabic at Wahhabist Islamic Saudi Academy

Cinnamon Stillwell's Blog ^ | 5/11/8 | Cinnamon Stillwell

[SmithL]

According to the Mount Vernon Gazette, twenty-two soldiers from Fort Belvoir in Fairfax, Virginia just graduated from the nearby Islamic Saudi Academy's "Arabic as a Second Language" program, where they also learned about "Middle Eastern culture and traditions."

While this would sound fairly harmless on the surface (and Arabic language instruction is certainly needed in the U.S. military), it turns out this school has Wahhabi skeletons in its closet.

This would be the same Islamic Saudi Academy (ISA) that came under scrutiny last year over its Saudi-produced textbooks. As reported by the Washington Post at the time:

In a report released yesterday, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom criticized what it called the promotion of religious extremism in Saudi-run schools around the world, including in the kingdom. It leveled particular criticism at the Islamic Saudi Academy, which operates two campuses in Fairfax County, expressing "significant concerns" that the school is promoting a brand of religious intolerance that could prove a danger to the United States.

The commission does not specifically criticize the school's teaching materials; it said Saudi officials would not make them available. But it said it is concerned about the textbooks used in the school because those used by schools in Saudi Arabia promote violence against Christians, Jews, Shias and polytheists.

...As evidence of the type of material it believes is being taught at the school, it cited a 2006 analysis of Saudi textbooks by the Center for Religious Freedom and Institute for Gulf Affairs. One ninth-grade textbook taught teenagers that violence toward Jews, Christians and others is sanctioned by God. A 12th-grade textbook, the 2006 report says, reads "the hour [of judgment] will not come until the Muslims fight the Jews and kill them.

[SmithL]

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[robomatik]

lets just hope they are learning real arabic and not gibberish.

[PapaBear3625]

The school would make a good place for Jihadi agents to seek out sources of information among the military. During the Cold War, would we have sent soldiers to learn Russian at a school run out of the Soviet embassy?

[sheik yerbouty]

No, the idea would be condidered batty..

[FFranco]

I am afraid that with a little Arabic language, our soldiers might be imbibing a lot of Muslim propaganda.

I don’t know why we need Muslims to teach Arabic to our soldiers. Aren’t there Americans who speak Arabic who can teach them? Or at least Jews from Israel? Arabic and Hebrew are sister languages.

[tbw2]

Or lebanese christian refugees? Or Coptic Christian egyptian refugees? Heck, Iraqi Christian refugees.