A career Soldier and general officer who helped build up Iraqi forces after the U.S. invaded that country says critics of the proposed Islamic community center in New York City are only hurting American military and national interests.

“It’s counterproductive to paint all Muslims as part of the problem out there and to contribute to [terrorist] recruiting efforts,” retired Army Maj. Gen. Paul D. Eaton told Military.com in an Aug. 18 interview. “You don’t want to turn [Muslims] into the enemy because we generalize on everything that happened on 9/11.”

Eaton today is senior advisor to the Washington-based National Security Network, which develops policy papers and recommendations intended to improve American foreign policy.

Eaton said he understands the importance of winning over people as opposed to alienating them. In Iraq he served as the commander of the Coalition Military Assistance Training Team which was responsible for overseeing the training of the Iraqi military from 2003 to 2004.

 ”Part of my task was to paint the security forces as allies and not as … an enemy,” he said. “So getting that turned around was a significant part of my duties. To get coalition forces to see Iraqi soldiers I was graduating as a part of the coalition, part of the alliance.”

It’s every bit as important in the United States to make sure Muslim citizens are not viewed as the enemy, he said, but that’s what some in the media and politics are doing. He pointed to former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich on Aug. 16 likening the center’s backers to Nazis’ wanting to put up a sign next to the Holocaust museum in Washington.

“The last thing we want to do is set a cultural depiction of all Muslims as ‘fill-in-the-blank,’ ” Eaton said.

The center’s planners have all the permits in place to proceed, but are fighting an uphill public relations battle to renovate a building two city blocks from New York City’s Ground Zero into an Islamic community center that would also include rooms for prayer.

The “Cordoba House” has been dubbed the “Ground Zero Mosque” by critics, though founder Feisal Abdul Rauf said it is not a mosque but a community center that will include a prayer room.

There has been widespread public condemnation of city officials for letting the project move forward. While many vocal critics do not dispute the legal right of backers to build Cordoba House, they argue it is insensitive given its proximity to the World Trade Center site.

A statewide poll conducted by Sienna College and released Aug. 18 found 63 percent of voters surveyed oppose the project and 27 supporting it, The Associated Press reported.

The American Legion, in an online poll of its members, is finding opposition to the project is even more widespread. As of Aug. 18, nearly 2,500 people had voted, with 68 percent opposing the center as “a slap in the face” to the victims of the 9/11 attacks, and another 23 percent saying it shouldn’t be built because “the entire site should be classified a historic landmark.”

Only 9 percent said the center should be built.

Joe March, a spokesman for the American Legion, noted that the poll is informal and that the Legion has not taken a stand one way or the other on the center.

The center has become a political issue for office holders and those seeking office in November, with President Obama one day underscoring the project planners have every legal right to build the center, then backing off a bit by saying he was not actually endorsing the project.

New York’s senior senator, Chuck Schumer, has largely remained quiet on the subject, reportedly only issuing a statement that he is “not opposed” to it.

But a Republican seeking to take Schumer’s senate seat in November has made it one of his issues. Gary Berntsen, the former CIA operative who led the hunt for Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan following the 9/11 attacks, says the proposed center will be taken over by radicals “intent on imposing their murderous and hateful ideology mere footsteps away from sacred ground in Manhattan.”

Berntsen’s comments were from a letter Berntsen sent to New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo urging an investigation into the mosque and its funding. Military.com was unable to reach Berntsen by post time.

 According to Eaton, the highly-charged accusations will only make it harder for the U.S. to win over allies in the Muslim world.

“From a military perspective we’re trying to build coalitions,” he said, and noted a lesson from World War II.

“When we sent American men and women to Great Britain to stage for D-Day we gave them a pamphlet,” he said. “On it, it said: ‘It’s always impolite to criticize your host. It’s militarily stupid to criticize your allies.’ ”

SALEM, Mass.  – Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick signed legislation designating the city of Salem as the birthplace of the National Guard during a ceremony held in city hall here, Aug. 19, 2010.

The governor was joined at the ceremony by Salem Mayor Kimberley Driscoll, numerous state and local officials, veterans groups and members of the Massachusetts National Guard.

“For a community that has so much history, we didn’t think it was possible to add to it,” said Driscoll. “But certainly it was, by having Salem recognized as the birthplace of the National Guard.”

Driscoll said having the city officially acknowledged as the birthplace of the National Guard is very special, particularly now when the Guard is playing such a large role in defending the nation.

 The origins of the National Guard, and the United States Army in its earliest form, are traced back to the creation of the North, South and East Regiments which were formed by legislative act of the Massachusetts Bay General Court on December 13, 1636. This date is recognized as the birthday of the National Guard.

 Members of the East Regiment held their first muster on Salem Common in April 1637, which began the foundation for what would become the Army National Guard. The four oldest units in the Army serve in the Massachusetts National Guard today and trace their regimental lineage to the Salem Militia: the 181st Infantry; the 182nd Cavalry Regiment; the
101st Field Artillery Regiment; and the 101st Engineer Battalion.

Congressmen John Tierney was among the officials in attendance and said he was impressed with how well the Guard has dealt with the burden of frequent service, both locally and overseas in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“We are very proud,” said Tierney. “The National Guard does so much for this country.”

Tierney’s sentiments were echoed by Maj. Gen. Joseph C. Carter, the adjutant general for the Massachusetts National Guard.

“We are the nation’s first, the Massachusetts National Guard,” said Carter. “It is an honor as well as one of the mightiest privileges to participate in this momentous occasion recognizing this wonderful city, where it all began.”

Carter said the Massachusetts National Guard’s long and proud history began in Salem and continues as they serve their neighbors here in Massachusetts and their fellow Americans both throughout our great nation and overseas.

Carter said this day commemorates that spring day in 1637 when citizen soldiers mustered on Salem Common in defense of their community.

“Citizen Soldiers, who some 138 years later, would be among the first to muster on Lexington and Concord to defend the beginning of our republic,” said Carter.

“It is an honor for all of us to have Salem as our official home recognized by the Commonwealth, said Carter.

Among the numerous veterans attending was Command Sgt. Maj. Kim Emerling, Military Intelligence Command, U.S. Army Reserve.

Emerling said he felt this was really the home of the U.S. Army as well.

Patrick spoke briefly about the rich history of the National Guard and acknowledged today’s Massachusetts National Guard for their service, sacrifice and clarity of mission and made special note of the more than 1,000 members currently serving overseas.

“It is a privilege to be here to acknowledge the origins of the National Guard,” said Patrick. It was also a privilege to acknowledge what the first militia mustered for civic ideals that have been defined as opportunity, equality and fair play, said Patrick.

The Governor said that he was humbled to sign a bill that calls attention to the origins of a commitment to those ideals.

“Massachusetts is the birthplace of our nation and it is only fitting that an institution designed to protect our Commonwealth and our country, be rooted here as well,” said Patrick.

With the conclusion of remarks the crowd gathered close around the governor as, at 2:17p.m., he signed bill HB1145 into law and the National Guard received its official birthplace.

Army News Service|by Lt. Col. Richard Goldenberg, Mr. Eric Durr

http://www.military.com/news/article/army-news/guard-brings-wwii-pilots-remains-home.html

LATHAM, NY — When United States Army Air Forces pilot 1st Lt. Ray Fletcher returned home to Essex Center Vermont from World War II , on Wednesday, Aug. 17 the New York National Army National Guard was there to help him along.

Eight members of the New York Military Forces Honor Guard conducted an honorable transfer of remains ceremony at the Albany International Airport, moving what was left of Ray Fletcher from a United Airlines jet to the hearse waiting to carry the casket back to his native state.

“It doesn’t really matter when our service members have fallen. We still recognize the sacrifice they made and it’s nice to be here for this,” said Lt. Col. Richard Sloma, who acted as casualty assistance officer for the event.

“For those of us who are in the service, we understand very quickly that we’re all family, regardless of branch of service, regardless of when it happened we still pay that tribute, ” Sloma said.

Fletcher died on May 10, 1944 when the B-25 bomber he was piloting crashed into a mountain side on the Mediterranean island of Corsica. His plane, which was assigned to the 57th Bombardment Wing was on a routine courier mission when it crashed, killing four people, including a female Red Cross volunteer, due to bad weather. Although human remains had been recovered in 1995 and 2005, they were not positively identified, after DNA comparison with surviving family members until 2009.

Fletcher’s sole surviving relative, Rhette Fletcher, a cousin, opted to have him buried at Mountain View Cemetery in the hometown he left more than 66 years ago. Funeral services were set for August 20 in St. James Episcopal Church, Essex Center, Vt.

Members of the New York Honor Guard, which participated at more than 10,000 funerals in 2009, normally render honors for veterans who die long after their war, or Soldiers who have died in the current wars in Iraq or Afghanistan. But they stand ready to honor the dead of all our conflicts, said Staff Sgt. Wayne Stone.

“It’s a sense of pride,” said Stone, the non-commissioned officer in charge for the New York State Military Forces Honor Guard. “It feels good … that we’re actually giving peace to him today.”

In April 2009, for example, members of the New York Military Forces Honor Guard provided funeral honors for Sgt. Dougal Espey, a native of Elmira, NY who died during the Korean War in 1950 but whose remains were not identified until 2009.

Carolyn Chapin, a Red Cross Volunteer also on board the flight, was laid to rest in Woodbury, Conn. in August of 2009.

Two other casualties from the crash were laid to rest in May to remember the 66th anniversary of the crash, Staff Sgt. Edwin Elliott in Mattoon, Ill and Cpl. Richard Loring in Carver, Mass. Remains of the final casualty, Capt. Lewis Geerlings, were not recovered.

Back in May 1944, the Army Air Force search team that finally reached the wreck 3,500 feet up the side of Mount Cagna, a week after the crash, found the aircraft almost totally destroyed.

In September of 1944, Army Graves Registration personnel reported making the difficult trek to the crash site and that remains there were non-recoverable due to the impact of the crash and fire that followed.

A similar board of review in February 1948 also concluded that the remains of 1st Lt. Fletcher and accompanying personnel on board the aircraft to be officially declared not recoverable.

In the spring of 1989, 45 years after the crash, the Corsican Gendarmerie notified Army Memorial Affairs Activity in Europe that partial remains of crash victims had been recovered in 1988. A military investigation team visited the site in June 1989, concluding that no additional recovery work would be feasible at the site due to the hazardous and particularly difficult area for search and recovery.

The remains found by the Corsican Gendarmerie were turned over to the military’s Central Identification Laboratory, Hawaii (CILHI) for analysis in 1995. At the time, these remains included no information correlating the wreckage or remains with a known incident or individuals. The accession was placed on hold in 1995, pending further evidence.

French nationals again discovered remnants at the site in 2003 and 2004, turning over the additional non-biological items to CILHI in May, 2005. A Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) Team from the Department of Defense investigated the site in September, 2005, recovering additional human remains and personal effects.

Once analysis placed 1st Lt. Fletcher’s remains with the crash site, CILHI and JPAG concluded in late 2009 that the remains recovered to be those of Fletcher and will be returned to his home state of Vermont as his final resting place.