A law firm that defends and promotes Christian heritage and moral values says two members of Congress are demanding answers from the Chief of the Staff of the Army for his harsh discipline of an 18-year veteran Army officer for telling the truth about Islam.
The Thomas More Law Center contends that the Pentagon is taking its marching orders from Islamic groups in its disciplinary action against Lt. Col. Matthew Dooley, a highly decorated officer with a total of six combat tours during his career. At the behest of Chief of Staff General Martin Dempsey, Dooley was given a negative Officer Evaluation Report (OER) because he discussed negative aspects of Islam in an elective course entitled "Perspectives on Islam and Islamic Radicalism" at the Joint Services Staff College of the National Defense University (NDU).
Tom Lynch is director of mission advancement at the Thomas More Law Center. He says Republican Congressmen Tom Rooney of Florida and Duncan Hunter Junior of California, both military veterans, want some answers.
"They sit on the House Armed Services Committee," Lynch explains, "so they contacted us to get some information because they wanted to draft a letter directly to General Dempsey."
In that letter, dated October 10, 2012, the congressmen state: "It appears that LTC Dooley led this course well within the scope of NDU's professorial guidelines .... It is our understanding that LTC Dooley did not violate any established University practices, policies or DoD regulations to merit a negative OER."
According to Lynch, the National Defense University is a fully accredited institution with certain procedures that must be followed related to faculty.
"If there were any issues involving a course that's being taught there, the normal chain would be to have the university handle it," he tells OneNewsNow. "So for someone to make a complaint and go directly to the Secretary of Defense, and then the Joints Chiefs of Staff making a decision prior to even the inquiry being completed, we think that that's a big problem."
It is outrageous, Lynch adds, that LTC Dooley is being made a scapegoat because some Muslims were offended by the content of the course.