According to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the US military Muslim outreach effort is clumsy and bungling. Admiral Mike Mullen wrote that the US military is “squandering goodwill and failing to live up to its promises. When did the military make promises to the Muslim world? I thought all of those promises came out of Washington.
Admiral Michael Mullen
Looks like another soldier taking the hit for the short comings of his superiors to me; the US military has been engaged in Afghanistan since 2001, in Iraq since 2003 and much progress has been made in both theatres. The problem seems to be from my perspective the utter incompetence of bureaucrats in Washington.
The media sites surveys that indicate an uptick in overall approval of the United States since Barack Obama’s election; however that doesn’t translate to approval in the Muslim world. Admiral Mullen has made numerous visits to Pakistan for instance, a very strong anti-American country. Mullen says:
“Most strategic communication problems are not communicatons problems at all,” Mullen wrote. “They are policy and execution problems.”
That would speak to politicians and not to military personnel. I think the Bush and the Obama administrations are more to blame for poor Muslim relations than the US Military. Muslim outreach, however is a two way street; something radical Muslims don’t understand.
The United States government and the US military will continue to reach out to Muslim countries in a politically correct effort to quell misconceptions about American’s since 9/11. The problem with the US military Muslim outreach isn’t with the US military, it’s with the Muslims themselves. They hate America and most likely always will.
Obama CAIR Video