The US commander of International Security Assistance Force in the Andar district of Ghazni Province in Afghanistan has embraced Islam. The website of Afghanistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirms this story.
The commander of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) embraced Islam in the presence of 2,000 people on Thursday. Cap. Cormier Michel - 45 - commands 300 ISAF troops in the Taliban-infested district. The Ghazni governor, district chief, provincial council members, local officials, elders, ISAF soldiers and students attended a ceremony marking the commander's conversion to Islam. The ceremony, which lasted well over three hours, concluded with chants of 'Allah-o-Akbar (Allah is Great).
Cap. Michel, who changed his name to Abdul Wahed, started his brief speech with Bismillah (In the name of Allah, the most Beneficent and the most Merciful). During the last five years, Abdul Wahed pointed out, he had been studying Islamic books and he concluded that Islam is the first religion.
"Abdul" means "slave of" in Arabic. I don't suppose that Michel is a slave to the US Constitution.
“Islam is a religion of peace and brotherhood, but terrorists and extremists are bringing a bad name to it," he noted.
Reality dictates: every advance of islam has come through either use of military force, or the threat of same. During the Cold War, US troops were made to understand the nature of Communism. Theater troops need at least a base understanding of the jihad obligations that fall on Muslims.