Onward Christianist Soldier

Sydney Morning Hasbara calumnist, Paul Sheehan, attended the Q Society's recent SION shindig in Melbourne*, and met there "a patriotic, articulate Australian intelligence officer, now serving in the Army reserve."

So taken with said PAAIO was Sheehan that he's made him the subject of his latest calumn, Army clueless over religion, claims one of its own (17/3/14):

"Major Bernie Gaynor jnr has served 3 tours of duty to Iraq but he is going to be thrown out of the army this week..."

Not one! Not two! But three! (Any wonder Iraq's still in a heap?)

And just what has Gaynor, who describes himself on his blog as a "conservative Catholic," learned from his time there?

"[The ADF] has spent the last decade at war with people who fight for their religious beliefs... As a Catholic, I understand why people are motivated by religious belief, rather than what would seem to be rational..."

OK...

So let me get this straight: The Bushies invaded Iraq in 2003, guns blazing, and blow me down if the Iraqis didn't start shooting back!

A truly astonishing state of affairs! I mean, if the Bushies had invaded, say, Thailand instead, the locals would've retaliated with flower power, not fire power. Why? Because they're Buddhists, of course! But no, not your Iraqis. They shot back. There could only be one possible explanation for this! Islam! What else?

But there's more to Gaynor than his deathless insight into what makes Iraq tick. There's his mathematics. Move over, Isaac Newton:

"The [Australian Muslim community's] participation rate in the ADF is low. There were 88 Muslims in uniform in mid-2013. That means that, while there is one Australian in uniform in every 400, there is only one Muslim in uniform for about 6000 Muslims in this country."

But there's more. Maths, that is:

"This is not because the Islamic community is peaceful. I think there are now 9 Australian Muslims who have died in Syria. On a per capita basis, that is equivalent to the ADF losing over 400 soldiers in Afghanistan. So while the Islamic community is 15 times less likely to contribute to our nation's defence, it is 10 times more likely to see its sons die on the battlefield... for a cause that hates Western life, history and culture."

WTF!

Seriously now, could you make this bloke up? No way, not in a million.

Now I was going to present my annual Bore of the Year award to Sheehan but, as it happens, the bugger's dug up one even more penetratingly boring than himself!

What to do? Seeing it's just a once-in-a-year award, maybe I should just split it between them.

[*See my 10/3/14 post Then There Were Two.]

FYI: For the bizarre story of another feral soldier who strutted his stuff in Iraq, shot his mouth off big time in 2003, got slapped down for it by Bob Carr, entered federal parliament on a Labor ticket in 2007, embarked upon a glorious parliamentary career as a sidekick of Labor's Zionist enforcer, Michael Danby, and lost his seat at the 2013 election, see my posts Mike Kelly's Mission Impossible (19/1/13) & Nipping at the Heels (11/3/09).