A deployment ceremony will be held Thursday at Fort Wainwright, Alaska, to bid farewell to soldiers of the 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division.
The 4,000-soldier brigade will be leaving Fort Wainwright on a series of flights during September for a 12-month deployment to Iraq, according to a press release from U.S. Army Alaska.
Since December 2006, when the 1st SBCT returned from a 15-month tour in Iraq, the unit has been in a “reset” mode — bringing in new manpower, upgrading equipment and training intensively for its next assignment in Iraq, the release said.
The brigade has been under the command of Col. Burdett Thompson, who took over from Col. Michael Shields on Dec. 14, 2006.
At the 1 p.m. ceremony, 20 soldiers will be sworn in as U.S. citizens and the brigade’s colors will be cased in preparation for the deployment.
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, Lt. Gen. Ben Mixon, commander of U.S. Army Pacific, Maj. Gen. Stephen Layfield, commander of U.S. Army Alaska and Thompson are scheduled to speak at the ceremony.
Spc. Track Palin, the eldest son of Palin, who is also the Republican vice presidential candidate, is a member of the 1st SBCT and will be on the brigade commander’s personal security detachment while on deployment, according to an Associated Press report.
Honestly How many hours did they have to scan the internet and why wait till September 11th to bring this up ? I am honestly pissed off at this cheap stunt
If you change just the frotn text of this game you wouldnt even know iwho was doing the fighting. If muslims just generated 1/10 of this outrage on jihadi sites there would be less violence in the world
BTW I went to the site if you can find that game on there let me know
computer game in which a US soldier can be controlled to “wipe out the Muslim race” has been slammed by a British Muslim group.
Muslim Massacre, which can be downloaded for free on the web, allows the player to “ensure that no Muslim man or woman is left alive”.
“Don’t whinge about how offensive and ‘edgy’ this is” – Sigvatr
It was first released in January by its creator – a 22-year-old US-born freelance programmer known as Sigvatr, who is based in Brisbane, Australia – but has become more popular in recent days after being linked to by several prominent blogs.
On the website, the game declares: “The United States of America has declared war on Islam! Take control of the American Hero and wipe out the Muslim race with an arsenal of the world’s most destructive weapons.”
The gamer can direct the “American Hero”, who is armed with a machine gun and rocket launcher, through various levels after he is parachuted into the Middle East.
Arabs that appear on screen are killed and the player progresses to take on Osama bin Laden, the Prophet Muhammad and finally Allah.
On the SomethingAwful.com website, Sigvatr describes the game as “fun and funny” and writes on the “How you can help” section: “Don’t whinge about how offensive and ‘edgy’ this is.”
The Ramadhan Foundation, a British Muslim youth organisation, said: “This game is glorifying the killing of Muslims in the Middle East and we urge ISP providers to take action to remove this site from their services as it incites violence towards Muslims and is trying to justify the killing of innocent Muslims.
“We have written to the British Government to urge an inquiry into this game and take action to shut down the site. This is not satire but a deliberate attempt to demonise Muslims.”
Mohammed Shafiq, the foundation’s chief executive, added: “Encouraging children and young people in a game to kill Muslims is unacceptable, tasteless and deeply offensive.
“There is an increase in violence in this country and some of it comes from video games. When kids spend six hours a day on violent games they are more likely to go outside and commit violence.
“If it was the other way around, with a game featuring Muslims killing Israelis or Americans, there would be uproar and rightly so.
“I would urge ISPs to take action against sites like this and there can be no justification for this sort of video game. I hope the person who made this game thinks again.”
“What I care about is: What in God’s name is she going to do — along with John McCain — about the thousands of people who don’t have health care?” Biden asked. He’ll ask her about “The superhighway of terror between Pakistan and Afghanistan where my helicopter was forced down…John McCain wants to know where Bin Ladin and the gates of Hell are? I can tell him where. That’s where Al Quaida is. That’s where Bin Ladin is. It’s not in the country of Iraq.”
