26 January 2011

Seymour Hersh's Fails to Link the S.M.O.M to U.S. Military Conspiracy

Journalist Seymour Hersh who become famous for breaking the story on the Mai Lai Massacre in Vietnam gave a talk recently at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service in Qatar where he attempted to implicate the Order of Malta in a conspiracy of high ranking U.S military officials seeking to "turn Churches into Mosques." In a transcript of the speech published at Foreign Policy, Hersh claims that
"a large percentage of the Special Operations Command, the JSOC, General McChrystal, Vice Admiral Bill McRaven --all are members or at least supporters of Knights of Malta. That's an attitude that pervades, I'm here to say, a large percentage of the Special Operations Command, the Joint Special Operations Command and Stanley McChrystal, the one who got in trouble because of the article in Rolling Stone, and his follow-on, a Navy admiral named McRaven, Bill McRaven -- all are members or at least supporters of Knights of Malta. McRaven attended, so I understand, the recent annual convention of the Knights of Malta they had in Cyprus a few months back in November. They're all believers -- many of them are members of Opus Dei. They do see what they are doing -- and this is not an atypical attitude among some military -- it's a crusade, literally. They see themselves as the protectors of the Christians. They're protecting them from the Muslims in the 13th century. And this is their function. They have little insignias, they have coins they pass among each other, which are crusader coins, and they have insignia that reflect that, the whole notion that this is a war, it's culture war. . . So the trouble with some of these religious groups is they may have good things, but right now there is a tremendous, tremendous amount of anti-Muslim feeling in the military community.
For a Pulitzer winning journalist Hersh fails to provide any coherent evidence to support his claims that the Order of Malta has any link to the U.S. Spec Ops Command. His only evidence of any connection is that in his words, "McRaven attended, so I understand, the recent annual convention of the Knights of Malta in Cyprus in November." For the record Gen. McChrystal denied being a member of the Order. He then goes on to indict Opus Dei suggesting that not only is everyone a Knight of Malta but also a member of Opus Dei. Of course Hersh admits that both organizations do great stuff,
They do a lot of charity work; so does Opus Dei. It's a very extreme, extremely religious s, Roman Catholic sect, if you will.
I'm confused, is he referring to Opus Dei as an extreme sect, the Order or both? Regardless he provides an anecdote involving a Nazi rocket scientist from WWII, who else but Nazi's to involve in your conspiracy, and concludes that,
the trouble with some of these religious groups is they may have good things, but right now there is tremendous, tremendous amount of anti-Muslim feeling in the military community.
Maybe part of the transcript is missing because I don't see how in the same sentence you start out saying that religious groups do good things and in the next breath say there is tremendous anti-Muslim feeling in the military community. A claim furthermore for which he provides no evidence. The rest of the talk faults Obama for essentially abdicating his authority and turning over the conduct of the war to those prosecuting it.

Hersh's passive aggressive style, they do really good work but are leading a covert crusade against Islam, threatens the Order as it provides a pretext for it to be attacked. Similar reckless statements against the Order of Malta spurred jihadists to threaten the Order of Malta's embassy in Cairo in 2007.  It also fuels conspiracy theories against the Order as a quick Google search of Hersh's speech will prove.  See the full text of his talk here.

Seymour Hersh's Fails to Link the S.M.O.M to U.S. Military Conspiracy

Journalist Seymour Hersh who become famous for breaking the story on the Mai Lai Massacre in Vietnam gave a talk recently at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service in Qatar where he attempted to implicate the Order of Malta in a conspiracy of high ranking U.S military officials seeking to "turn Churches into Mosques." In a transcript of the speech published at Foreign Policy, Hersh claims that
"a large percentage of the Special Operations Command, the JSOC, General McChrystal, Vice Admiral Bill McRaven --all are members or at least supporters of Knights of Malta. That's an attitude that pervades, I'm here to say, a large percentage of the Special Operations Command, the Joint Special Operations Command and Stanley McChrystal, the one who got in trouble because of the article in Rolling Stone, and his follow-on, a Navy admiral named McRaven, Bill McRaven -- all are members or at least supporters of Knights of Malta. McRaven attended, so I understand, the recent annual convention of the Knights of Malta they had in Cyprus a few months back in November. They're all believers -- many of them are members of Opus Dei. They do see what they are doing -- and this is not an atypical attitude among some military -- it's a crusade, literally. They see themselves as the protectors of the Christians. They're protecting them from the Muslims in the 13th century. And this is their function. They have little insignias, they have coins they pass among each other, which are crusader coins, and they have insignia that reflect that, the whole notion that this is a war, it's culture war. . . So the trouble with some of these religious groups is they may have good things, but right now there is a tremendous, tremendous amount of anti-Muslim feeling in the military community.
For a Pulitzer winning journalist Hersh fails to provide any coherent evidence to support his claims that the Order of Malta has any link to the U.S. Spec Ops Command. His only evidence of any connection is that in his words, "McRaven attended, so I understand, the recent annual convention of the Knights of Malta in Cyprus in November." For the record Gen. McChrystal denied being a member of the Order. He then goes on to indict Opus Dei suggesting that not only is everyone a Knight of Malta but also a member of Opus Dei. Of course Hersh admits that both organizations do great stuff,
They do a lot of charity work; so does Opus Dei. It's a very extreme, extremely religious s, Roman Catholic sect, if you will.
I'm confused, is he referring to Opus Dei as an extreme sect, the Order or both? Regardless he provides an anecdote involving a Nazi rocket scientist from WWII, who else but Nazi's to involve in your conspiracy, and concludes that,
the trouble with some of these religious groups is they may have good things, but right now there is tremendous, tremendous amount of anti-Muslim feeling in the military community.
Maybe part of the transcript is missing because I don't see how in the same sentence you start out saying that religious groups do good things and in the next breath say there is tremendous anti-Muslim feeling in the military community. A claim furthermore for which he provides no evidence. The rest of the talk faults Obama for essentially abdicating his authority and turning over the conduct of the war to those prosecuting it.

Hersh's passive aggressive style, they do really good work but are leading a covert crusade against Islam, threatens the Order as it provides a pretext for it to be attacked. Similar reckless statements against the Order of Malta spurred jihadists to threaten the Order of Malta's embassy in Cairo in 2007.  It also fuels conspiracy theories against the Order as a quick Google search of Hersh's speech will prove.  See the full text of his talk here.

12 January 2011

Our Lady of Guadalupe Novena for the People of Haiti

Bishops Invite Catholics to Commemorate Haiti’s Earthquake Anniversary with Prayer, Reflection

Novena, prayer intentions, reflection materials offered

WASHINGTON (January 6, 2011)—As the first anniversary of the earthquake that devastated Haiti last year approaches, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops invites U.S. Catholics to stand in prayerful solidarity with the people of Haiti.

“Haiti and its people still very much need our prayers and solidarity,” said Archbishop Wenski, chairman of the Special Advisory Group for Haiti at the USCCB. “As we approach the anniversary of the earthquake in Haiti, we join together with parishes, Catholic schools, youth groups, colleges and universities from across the country to remember the tragic events of that fateful afternoon and to respond in a faith-filled way.”

Catholics are invited to pray and reflect for nine days using the Novena to Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mother of the Americas. The novena starts on the evening of the anniversary, January 12, and culminates with the celebration of Mass the weekend of January 22-23, official date for the National Collection for Latin America, including Haiti and all of the Caribbean.

In addition to the novena, other catechetical and reflection resources, including didactical materials from Catholic Relief Services, have been collected at a special website, http://www.usccb.org/haiti/one-year-later.shtml, under the title One Year Later: Pray and Walk With our Sisters and Brothers in Haiti.

Our Lady of Guadalupe Novena for the People of Haiti

Bishops Invite Catholics to Commemorate Haiti’s Earthquake Anniversary with Prayer, Reflection

Novena, prayer intentions, reflection materials offered

WASHINGTON (January 6, 2011)—As the first anniversary of the earthquake that devastated Haiti last year approaches, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops invites U.S. Catholics to stand in prayerful solidarity with the people of Haiti.

“Haiti and its people still very much need our prayers and solidarity,” said Archbishop Wenski, chairman of the Special Advisory Group for Haiti at the USCCB. “As we approach the anniversary of the earthquake in Haiti, we join together with parishes, Catholic schools, youth groups, colleges and universities from across the country to remember the tragic events of that fateful afternoon and to respond in a faith-filled way.”

Catholics are invited to pray and reflect for nine days using the Novena to Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mother of the Americas. The novena starts on the evening of the anniversary, January 12, and culminates with the celebration of Mass the weekend of January 22-23, official date for the National Collection for Latin America, including Haiti and all of the Caribbean.

In addition to the novena, other catechetical and reflection resources, including didactical materials from Catholic Relief Services, have been collected at a special website, http://www.usccb.org/haiti/one-year-later.shtml, under the title One Year Later: Pray and Walk With our Sisters and Brothers in Haiti.

04 January 2011

A Bookish Cardinal Speaks to Other "Bookish Catholics"

Yesterday a number of us "bookish Catholics" were able to hear a short talk from a fellow bookish Catholic, none other than Cardinal Burke who was in town to visit his favorite Catholic bookstore, Loome Books, and afterwards to say Mass and speak at a benefit dinner for the St. Croix Valley Catholic Schools and Faith Formation Programs. It was a real pleasure to meet him and what a humble and evidently holy man. Cardinal Burke spoke of his great love for books and learning and the importance of reading goods books in the ongoing spiritual formation of priests.

No visit to Loome's is possible without finding at least a couple new books to add to the library and yesterday was no exception. I found a couple works from the great German philosopher Josef Pieper, author of the classic "Leisure: The Basis of Culture". In one of the books, What Catholics Believe, Pieper gives what would seem to be a clear response to the argument of today's atheists and others who reject the idea of God as necessary to our personal lives and the proper moral order of society.

The two distinguishing marks of a Christian are his faith or belief and his life, and these two things belong together. Just as knowledge and competent action go hand in hand, so do faith and life. Christian life requires Christian faith as its foundation; and Christian faith bears its full fruit in Christian life. Christian life without Christian belief is impossible; Christian belief without Christian life is unfruitful.

We must admit that something resembling a Christian life seems to be possible today without Christian belief. Some people appear to be able to order their lives in a Christian way whether they have any living faith in Christ or not.  Actually, however, this phenomenon--a merely exterior Christian order--is nothing but the use of an inheritance by people who no longer truly possess it. Our forebears truly possessed it.  With it they gave form to their life, order to their public weal, and character to their customs.  The danger now is that we shall use up this inheritance altogether, unless in us belief once more comes to life.
We find many evident examples of this in our world today and can see the original source of this deception, the 'non serviam' of Lucifer.

A Bookish Cardinal Speaks to Other "Bookish Catholics"

Yesterday a number of us "bookish Catholics" were able to hear a short talk from a fellow bookish Catholic, none other than Cardinal Burke who was in town to visit his favorite Catholic bookstore, Loome Books, and afterwards to say Mass and speak at a benefit dinner for the St. Croix Valley Catholic Schools and Faith Formation Programs. It was a real pleasure to meet him and what a humble and evidently holy man. Cardinal Burke spoke of his great love for books and learning and the importance of reading goods books in the ongoing spiritual formation of priests.

No visit to Loome's is possible without finding at least a couple new books to add to the library and yesterday was no exception. I found a couple works from the great German philosopher Josef Pieper, author of the classic "Leisure: The Basis of Culture". In one of the books, What Catholics Believe, Pieper gives what would seem to be a clear response to the argument of today's atheists and others who reject the idea of God as necessary to our personal lives and the proper moral order of society.

The two distinguishing marks of a Christian are his faith or belief and his life, and these two things belong together. Just as knowledge and competent action go hand in hand, so do faith and life. Christian life requires Christian faith as its foundation; and Christian faith bears its full fruit in Christian life. Christian life without Christian belief is impossible; Christian belief without Christian life is unfruitful.

We must admit that something resembling a Christian life seems to be possible today without Christian belief. Some people appear to be able to order their lives in a Christian way whether they have any living faith in Christ or not.  Actually, however, this phenomenon--a merely exterior Christian order--is nothing but the use of an inheritance by people who no longer truly possess it. Our forebears truly possessed it.  With it they gave form to their life, order to their public weal, and character to their customs.  The danger now is that we shall use up this inheritance altogether, unless in us belief once more comes to life.
We find many evident examples of this in our world today and can see the original source of this deception, the 'non serviam' of Lucifer.

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This blog and the opinions are all my own and in no way imply the endorsement from any organization. Nor does a recommendation of another blog or web site imply my agreement or endorsement of everything found on their site.