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The War On Terror: Enemy
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Terrorist Proof Islamic Chaplains
by James Dunnigan
April 12, 2005
Discussion Board on this DLS topic
The September 11, 2001 terror attacks shook up the rulers of Saudi Arabia in
many ways, and not just because most of the terrorists involved were from Saudi
Arabia. The aftereffects led to the creation of a very special corps of
chaplains for the royal guard in Saudi Arabia. The royal family (a group now
several thousand strong) of Saudi Arabia had been getting increasingly concerned
about the growth of Islamic fundamentalism in the kingdom. Some of the more
extreme preachers were calling for the overthrow of the monarchy. These
malcontents were easy enough to take care of in a place that still beheads
traitors. But it was the less obvious, and just as radical, clerics that really
worried the Saud family.
In addition to cracking down on known
troublemakers, the royal family also saw to it that their personal army, the
National Guard, was not corrupted by these radical troublemakers. The National
Guard was basically a mechanized infantry force recruited from tribes and
families that had traditionally been loyal to the al Saud family. The National
Guard was a counterweight to the regular armed forces, which was recruited from
the general population. The National Guard recruits tended to be less educated,
and more religious, than the average Saudi. To insure that National Guard
recruits did not get any misguided religious ideas, shortly after September 11,
2001, created its own "Chaplains' Corps," totally separate from the Saudi
religious apparatus and the Ministry of Religion. These special chaplains attend
to the needs of members of the National Guard, and was staffed by recruiting
promising young scholars, training them in its own religious school, and
assigning them to mosques on National Guard bases. This is an effort to keep the
new imams from becoming tainted by the ultra-conservatives who dominate the
clergy nation-wide. Since the invasion of Iraq two years ago, many Saudi Islamic
radicals have come out of the shadows and made terrorist attacks inside the
kingdom. As a result, the Saudi government has been searching everywhere for
Islamic radicals. Some were found in the police and armed forces, but very few
in the National Guard. That was no accident.
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See Jim Dunnigan's interviewed about his latest book The Perfect Soldier on ireadnet.com
The Perfect Soldier: Special Operations, Commandos, and the Future of Us Warfare by James F. Dunnigan
More Books by James Dunnigan |
