Daily News Analysis

West Point ‘professor’ calls for bombing ‘Islamic holy sites’

Crescent International

Dhu al-Qa'dah 15, 14362015-08-30

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Spreading poisonous propaganda against Muslims and calling for war on Islam are a growing industry. A notorious American professor who has lied about his academic and military credentials has joined the list. He does so while holding the position of "assistant professor" at the West Point Military Academy where American cadets are trained. He is likely to poison the minds of some American officers.

New York,
Sunday August 30, 2015, 10:43 DST

A person with dubious academic credentials and exaggerated claims about his military record has put forward an outlandish proposal to keep himself in the limelight: target ‘Islamic holy sites’ as well as American academics that oppose US military aggression and the so-called war on terror. William Bradford, who currently serves as assistant professor at the law department of the US Military Academy at West Point in New York wrote in a paper that Islamic holy sites are legitimate targets in the US war on terror.

The paper was published in the National Security Law Journal, a student-run publication at the George Mason School of Law. The Journal has since offered “sincere apologies” for this “mistake” that it described as an “egregious breach of professional decorum,” that can’t be “unpublished.” Bradford’s extremist views if carried out would constitute war crimes were exposed by the Guardian newspaper of London yesterday (August 29). The Guardian reported Bradford as saying that this war must be fought “even if it means great destruction, innumerable enemy casualties, and civilian collateral damage.”

Perhaps aware that his outlandish views might evoke strong condemnation, Bradford went on: “Shocking and extreme as this option might seem, [dissenting] scholars, and the law schools that employ them, are – at least in theory – targetable so long as attacks are proportional, distinguish noncombatants from combatants, employ non-prohibited weapons, and contribute to the defeat of Islamism.”

For this armchair warrior, critics of the so-called war on terror are “treasonous” fifth column, representing “lawful targets” for the US military. And what do these “lawful targets” constitute? Bradford includes “law school facilities, scholars’ home offices and media outlets where they give interviews” in the list that must be attacked. He argues that while these are civilian areas, they provide the grounds for a “causal connection between the content disseminated and Islamist crimes incited” to exist.

This so-called law professor’s lies about his academic credentials claimed in the article have come under fire. Bradford claimed to be an “associate professor of law, national security and strategy” at the National Defense University (NDU). A spokesman for NDU dismissed Bradford’s claims saying he was only a “contractor” and has never been “an NDU employee nor an NDU professor.” Lying comes naturally to Islamophobes. Bradford has a long history of doing so. He was fired from his post in Indiana University’s law school in 2005 when his military record showed that he had exaggerated his service. He claimed to have retired as major from the Infantry and awarded the Silver Star after serving in Desert Storm and Bosnia. His military record showed he was a reservist and had served only as Second Lieutenant. He never saw active combat and was not awarded a silver star!

His exposure of fraudulent claims, however, is unlikely to deter him from making outrageous proposals because these keep him in the limelight. Further, there are some nutcases in the US that hold such views. Bradford is not alone. He joins the company of such other notorious Islamophobes as retired General William Boykin, Senator John McCain, and the entire crew at Fox News including Bill O’Reilly, David Horowitz and his fellow hatemongers. Fox News lionised him as the All American hero!

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