Colonel’s class on radical Islam leaves career in limbo

But that did not end it. Last spring, a student (later lauded by Gen. Dempsey) who listened to a guest lecturer in Col. Dooley’s class was offended by the material and complained to Mr. Panetta’s office. The course was ordered suspended.

On April 24, Gen. Dempsey issued an order to review training, saying teachers and lecturers were presenting material “which goes well beyond presenting alternative intellectual viewpoints.” The next day, a spokesman signaled out Col. Dooley’s course to reporters as being inflammatory.

Mr. Thompson told The Times that the memo and the press briefing, in effect, doomed Col. Dooley by sending a signal from the nation’s top officer that the course crossed this line.

‘Institutional failure’

On May 10, the Internet publication Wired, which had been investigating how Islam is portrayed inside U.S. law enforcement, published some of the course’s training slides and said Col. Dooley was advocating “total war” against Islam.

Gen. Flynn, Gen. Dempsey’s deputy for joint force training, told Wired the course taught that “Islam had already declared war on the West. It was inflammatory.”

A two-star Army general at the time was completing his investigation.

Among the slides published by Wired were from former FBI agent John Guandolo, who lectures frequently across the nation about the dangers to democracy from the Muslim Brotherhood and its desire to impose Shariah, or Islamic law, around the world.

One part reads: “If Islam is so violent, why are there so many peaceful Muslims? This is similar to asking why there are so many Christians who are arrogant, angry and vindictive, if Christian doctrine requires humility, tolerance and forgiveness. However, in any given social context, as Islam takes greater root — increasing numbers of followers, the construction of more mosques and ‘cultural centers,’ etc. — the greater the likelihood that some number of its adherents will act on the requirements of the Shari’ah to use violent jihad as the vehicle to further Islam. This is the problem that the West faces today.”

A briefing by Col. Dooley discussed how “political correctness” prevents the military from talking about radical Islam.

“Political Correctness is killing us: How can we properly identify the enemy, analyze his weaknesses, and defeat him, if we are NEVER permitted to examine him from the most basic doctrinal level?” the briefing read.

The day Wired published the documents, reporters at a news conference asked Gen. Dempsey about the Joint Force’s Staff College course.

The four-star general came down hard on Col. Dooley, without mentioning his name but referring to him as “the individual.”

“It’s totally objectionable,” Gen. Dempsey said. “It was just totally objectionable, against our values, and it wasn’t academically sound. This wasn’t about, we’re pushing back on liberal thought. This was just objectionable, academically irresponsible.”

A week later, Army Maj. Gen. Frederick Rudesheim, who was then Gen. Flynn’s deputy, issued an internal report that blamed an “institutional failure” at the university for Col. Dooley’s class.

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