Military

American Muslims as likely as general population to serve in US military, poll finds Institute for Social Policy and Understanding survey found white Muslims more likely than white non-Muslims to serve in the US armed forces

(Middle East Eye) American Muslims are just as likely as any other faith group to serve in the US military, a new poll by the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding (Ispu) has found. More specifically, white Muslims are more likely than […]

Government & Politics

Pentagon IG to review whistleblower claims about alleged Afghan evacuee vetting failures More than 76,000 Afghans were evacuated amid the withdrawal last year

(Fox) The Pentagon Office of Inspector General (OIG) will review a whistleblower’s allegations that hundreds of Afghan evacuees entered the U.S. despite their appearance on a Pentagon watchlist — and claims that officials did not follow correct procedures. In a letter to […]

Government & Politics

Former Guantanamo detainee explains why he’s suing Canada Mohamedou Ould Slahi is suing the Canadian government for $28m over its alleged role in wrongly sending him to Guantanamo Bay

(Middle East Eye) Mohamedou Ould Slahi hoped his release from Guantanamo in 2016 would mark a new stage in his life, one where he could finally live freely after decades of imprisonment and torture. But years later, without a passport and the ability to […]

Government & Politics

Ex-Guantanamo detainee sues Canada over 14-year ordeal of detention and torture Mohamedou Ould Slahi, a Mauritanian who lived briefly in Montreal, was haunted by a phone call asking for 'tea and sugar,' which interrogators claimed was code.

(Toronto Star) A former Guantanamo detainee, whose story of detention and torture was featured in a best-selling memoir and Hollywood film, is going to court to try to force the Canadian government to reveal its role in his ordeal. Mohamedou Ould Slahi, […]

Government & Politics

Pentagon IG report says 50 Afghan evacuees brought to US had ‘potentially significant security concerns’ US agencies 'did not use all available data when vetting Afghan evacuees,' Pentagon watchdog finds

(Fox) A Pentagon inspector general report released this week found that officials identified at least 50 Afghan evacuees who were brought to the United States in the wake of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan whose information indicated “potentially significant security concerns” — […]

Government & Politics

Fears of ‘chain-reaction’ 9/11 attack on Australia Australia was advised that its support of the US-led military response to the 9/11 attacks raised ‘our profile with the terrorists themselves.’

(NCA NewsWire) The Australian government feared terrorists would strike on our shores in the days after September 11 — and that the Defence Force was not equipped to fight back. Two decades since the attack on the United States that changed the […]

Government & Politics

Senators alarmed after Afghan refugees walk off military bases by the hundreds Senators worry 'hastily developed' Afghanistan evacuation created 'gaps' in criminal vetting

(Fox) Senate Republicans are demanding answers from the Biden administration amid reports that hundreds of Afghan evacuees are walking off U.S. military bases without completing the resettlement process. In a letter to Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas and Secretary of Defense […]

Beards

Sailors, Marines seek religious accommodation to wear beards One Orthodox Jewish sailor and three Muslim sailors joined in a lawsuit alleging the Navy’s beard policy amounts to a violation of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

(Religion News) Shave or be shaved. Aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt, sailor Edmund Di Liscia faced a stark choice. According to his lawyers, he was told to either shave his beard voluntarily or be held down by his bunk mate and forcibly […]