Friday, October 19, 2012

Weighty memento: war veteran's secret revealed after his death

Via Daily Timewaster 

War hero's cremation leaves huge pile of shrapnel

Ronald Brown stepped on a land mine while on a mission in France in August 1944.
The blast peppered his left leg with red-hot fragments and he was forced to crawl two miles to safety.
But because of medical conditions of the day it was thought safer to leave shrapnel in his body.
He survived the war but only ever told his family the basic story and said the accident had left him with a 'bad knee'.

Mr Brown told loved ones he still had a 'bullet' in his leg and asked his grandchildren not to sit on his knee because of the pain it caused.
But when he died last week aged 94 his family had him cremated and were stunned when staff handed them back a big bag of shrapnel.

The bag contained a whopping 6oz of bomb shrapnel that he had been carrying around for 60 years.

..........Americans will follow the Soviets and British into the same trap the Afghans have so ably set for every invader.

Via WRSA


“One day you will take a fork in the road, and you’re going to have to make a decision about which direction you want to go. If you go one way, you can be somebody. You will have to make your compromises and … turn your back on your friends, but you will be a member of the club, and you will get promoted and get good assignments. Or you can go the other way, and you can do something, something for your country and for your Air Force and for yourself. … You may not get promoted, and you may not get good assignments, and you certainly will not be a favorite of your superiors, but you won’t have to compromise yourself. … In life there is often a roll call. That’s when you have to make a decision: to be or to do.”                                                                                                                 -COL John Boyd

John Boyd did the intellectual heavy lifting after WWII to offer a new strategic paradigm to orchestrate warfare and deeply analyze why the larger nation-states would have increasing challenges that neither technologies nor big budgets would solve.  The purpose of this research paper is to configure a Boydian lens over the current American conflict in Afghanistan in general and examine the green-on-blue violence phenomenon in detail to illustrate how the insurgent forces have commandeered the operational level.  Green-on-blue violence is the instantiation of hostile action against allied forces by indigenous coalition forces.

John Boyd was a visionary and much maligned defense intellectual who pioneered a number of theories and grand strategic suggestions which were almost counterintuitive to the accepted precepts and nostrums of the classical and neo-classical military philosophers and thinkers who had influenced the post-WWII Western vision of how military organizations train and fight.  He was the polar opposite of celebrated but fatally flawed modern strategic thinkers like Herman Kahn and John Von Neumann.  He realized that the future fight and the evolution of warfare would still be ultimately reliant on people and not technology.
 
Boyd discovered and pioneered the modern Air Force combat fighter pilot methodology and contributed in deeper philosophical waters with an examination of how to build cost effective fighting organizations, prescient predictions of new (due to historical amnesia by the West) modes of conflict such as Fourth Generation Warfare and was one of the key innovators in designing the F-15 and F-16 fighter aircraft.  One of the peculiarities of Boyd the man was that he did not write books and most of his intellectual legacy has been written by others. What makes Boyd even more interesting, if not enigmatic, is he is rather hard to pin down for a legacy in the pantheon of modern strategic thought except through his followers and acolytes.

Boyd always emphasized dynamism in thinking and the willingness of large and small organizations to adapt to emerging changes and threats.  Purpose and not merely process were driving attitudes that imbued his work and thinking; a purpose to react in conflict in a fashion that would gain advantage by striking weakness or leveraging surprise.  Nothing Sun Tzu would find scintillating or irregular.
Boyd then extrapolates these seemingly ordinary nostrums into human decision cycles.  His prognostication on the Observe, Orient, Decide and Act (OODA) Loop provides an elegant explanation on the way humans do their everyday business and wage war.  His influence has spread far beyond the war-room to the corporate boardroom. As with all intellectual contests, he has his share of detractors who find him shallow, derivative or unoriginal.

Colin S. Gray describes as eight attributes of the American approach to strategy. [1]  While Gray hails from an ultra-Clausewitzian school of strategic thought and has on occasion taken a dim view of Boyd, they happen to agree on these approaches and why most are pathologically wrong-headed.

More @ ZeroGov

Goodies from the Moneychanger


On 19 October 202 BC the invading Romans under Scipio Africanus at the battle of Zama in North Africa beat Hannibal Barca, Carthaginian general who had invaded Italy and wreaked havoc on Rome for decades. Zama ended the Second Punic War, and Carthage had to accept terms that forever removed it as a challenge to Roman control of the Mediterranean. Fifty years later in the Third Punic War the Romans captured Carthage, razed it, and *sowed the ground with salt. 

Oddly enough, on 19 October 439 a.d., over 600 years later, the Germanic Vandals led by King Gaiseric took a re-built Carthage from the Roman empire.

On 19 October 1781 Cornwallis, trapped at Yorktown, Virginia by a French fleet & combined French & American army, surrendered to George Washington & Count de Rochambeau. His surrender effectively ended the War for Independence in an American victory.

*Man, if I heard that one time, I've heard it a hundred from my mother.

For UN Day: Work to Get US out!


Here it is again, UN Day on October 24. This year the United Nations Association of the USA, along with others, is celebrating the 67th anniversary of when the United Nations Charter went into effect. Once again, the United Nations Association is asking its chapters and members to: (1) write to their governors to ask them to proclaim October 24 as UN Day; and (2) write letters to their congressmen asking them to support full funding for the UN.

On the other hand, The John Birch Society has been warning about the threat to our national sovereignty posed by the UN ever since our founding meeting in December 1958. There's a good chance you've seen one of our signs with our Get US out! slogan.

We've just produced a new educational tool for this long-standing action campaign, "United Nations: On the Brink of Becoming a World Government." You can read this article online or buy reprints of it for distribution to others.

The subtitle of the article says it all. The UN is really on the brink of becoming a world government. And that means we're on the brink of losing our national independence and our personal freedoms. Be sure to read this new article. It is complete with maps and photos of UN installations around the world.

Another new educational tool is the recently released, entertaining, but very eye-opening film exposé, U.N. Me, on DVD. Click here to see the official theatrical trailer. Click here to buy U.N. Me on DVD. Show it to friends and opinion-molders in your sphere of influence. It will even create doubts about the UN in the minds of your liberal friends.

Here's Your Action Plan for UN Day
Further Resources
Thanks.

Your Friends at The John Birch Society

Into the Cannibal's Pot: Preparation for Genocide

Via Matthew

 

When most Americans think of South Africa, the first thing that comes to mind is the campaign led by Nelson Mandela to end the apartheid . Nelson Mandela who was considered herioc was championed by Hollywood Celebrities and the American media for fighting to end the evil white supremacist system. However as soon as Mandela's African National Congress took power the rest of the world stoped paying attention to what is going on it that nation.

Genocide Watch which is a well respected mainstream organization recently upgraded South Africa to a stage 6 which is preperation for genocide from stage 5 which is polarization. They point out that "Julius Malema, then the Marxist racist President of the African National Congress Youth League," openly would sign the anti-whote song "“Shoot the Boer," and that he has "called for expropriation of white owned land when he was in Zimbabwe visiting Robert Mugabe." Genocide watch has concluded "that violence against whites is now being planned and incited by one of the most important leaders of the New South Africa," and that "it will keep at stage 6 prepreation until Julius Malema is removedd from his position of growing power."

Despite the double standards that the politically correct establishment always tends to view whites as the oppresors its hard not to see parrales between the pressent situation in South Africa and the events that led up to the Genoicde against the Jews in Nazi Germany. While are leaders are always talking about promoting democracy abroad the situation in South Africa proves that majority rule democracy does not protect the rights of unpopular minorities.

Illana Mercer who was born in South Africa and who's father Rabbi Ben Isaacson, who was active in the anti-Apartheid movement has a book out "Into the Cannibal's Pot: Lessons for America from Post Apartheid South Africa." Mercer makes comparisons between the United States and South Africa where the founding European stock yields power and dominace in the interested of justice and liberty. However the Black population in South Africa chose to seek vengence rather than persue those enlightenment qualities. Mercer expresses great concern that if the United States does not change course it will follow doen the same path of South Africa.

In the firs chapter "Crime, the Beloved Country" she deals with the horific autrocities being commited in South Africa. Mercer points out that during Apartheid the nation, which was based on Roman and Dutch Law, was relatively safe. The South African Police had zero tollerance for barbaric traditions such Ritual Killings, Human Sacrifices, "Necklacing(placing a diesel doused tire around ones neck and igniting it), and the practise of raping infants to cure AIDS.

On Colonels, Sergeants, and Privates

Via Terry

Encouraging.


VERBATIM

A lot of folks think that I had died, fallen off a cliff, or been stampeded.  Thanks for all of your concern and if I didn’t answer your email I’m sorry – the internet connections where I was at sucked big time.  I have actually been overseas for the last few weeks on a short term contract and despite dealing with the typical DoD and DoS bullshit I had a pretty good time and made some shiny change to boot.

The defense piece will pickup again next week but I want to relay something I encountered while abroad and the feeling is still fresh in my gut.  Being an old troop one of the things I revel in is spending time with young troops just shooting the breeze.  During this trip I got to spend some quality time with a lot of troops from various different types of units.  And what I heard was both encouraging and alarming in a positive way at the same time.  Yeah I heard the normal bitching, whining, moaning, and complaining that troops do but there was a deeper theme.  Almost to the man when it came around to politics I hear one common theme: “Fuck the president”.  From a private this wouldn’t be alarming but folks I had a Colonel say that to me.  A full chicken war college grad made that statement in a semi public environment.  That’s serious – a senior leader publicly slamming the commander in chief.  And no I will not identify him so you DoD fucks don’t even bother asking.

The bottom line is almost every Soldier, Sailor, Airman, and god blessed Marine I spoke with pretty much hates Obama.  From the Rules of Engagement (RoE) that ties their hands and causes a helluva lot more casualties nowadays to the lack of real leadership and genuine concern at the cabinet level the theme is the same – they feel shit on.  Guys I talked with a Master Sergeant that has had one extraordinary career and is lined up to go to the Sergeants Major Academy and is being fast tracked to Command Sergeant Major (CSM) flat out state he’s retiring as soon as he gets back because he’s tired and isn’t willing to lead under (and I’m quoting as well as my memory serves) ” this chickenshit spineless policies of this circus clown administration”.

You know what else I saw?  A metric fuckload of Gadsen, OathKeeper, and Molon Labe patches and stickers.   There’s been talk lately stateside about how the growing numbers of folks have turned libertarian and started prepping for when TSHTF.  And the military folks I ran into ain’t no different – they’re turned on to the fact something bad is coming and they ain’t planning on sticking around for it.

Take it for what it is but remember that these kids (and not so young kids) are getting just as much if not more of the shitty end of the stick as the rest of us.   They’re fed up and tired of an administration that has become not only aggravating but lethal to them.

14 yr-old special-needs student with cerebral palsy assaulted by 18 yr-old Football player

Via Nancy

 

Authorities have confirmed a complaint has been lodged alleging a special-needs student was assaulted by another student Thursday at George County High School.

Shonna Pierce of the George County Sheriff's Office said deputies were told an unnamed student allegedly thought the disabled student had thrown a soda can at him so he beat up the student.
A hospital emergency room called the sheriff's office about the incident, but since it happened on a school campus, the school resource office is leading the investigation at the present, Pierce said.
School security chief Al Hillman said any information about the incident would have to come from the district superintendent's office.

Read more here: http://www.sunherald.com/2012/10/19/4253454/special-needs-student-assaulted.html##storylink=cpy

The district office could not be immediately reached for comment Friday morning.

More @ Sun Herald

Read more here: http://www.sunherald.com/2012/10/19/4253454/special-needs-student-assaulted.html#storylink#storylink=cpy

Army Bows to Islamists, Sacks Lt. Colonel

Via Don

 

 Lieutenant Colonel Matthew Dooley’s career has been effectively destroyed by General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, various complicit members of the Pentagon and the military and, most of all, political correctness on the part of the U.S. government.

Col. Dooley, who was awarded the Bronze Star, the fourth-highest combat decoration, is a West Point graduate and highly rated armor officer who served in Iraq, Germany, Bosnia and Kuwait. He was, until recently, the instructor of a course to fellow officers on the dangers of radical Islam at the Joint Forces Staff College (part of the National Defense University).

His downfall came at the hands of 57 Islamic groups who began complaining a year ago that the U.S. military and intelligence counter-terrorism training instructors and materials were anti-Islam.
Included the group of complainers was both CAIR (Council on American Islamic Relations) and ISNA (Islamic Society of North America). Both CAIR and ISNA were named as unindicted co-conspirators in the Holy Land Terror Funding Trial, largest ever terror-funding trial in U.S. history. Both are listed by the Muslim Brotherhood -- whose publicized doctrine is to destroy American from within -- as two of it “working organizations.”

As a direct result of the complaints by the Islamic groups, the U.S. government instituted broad, sweeping reviews and eventual purges of its counter-terrorism training materials. Islamic groups were allowed into the FBI and other institutions to approved or disapprove the materials. The Pentagon complied with the review, as did all of the branches of U.S. armed forces.

At that time, the Pentagon found no fault in any of its courses or instructors. Col. Dooley’s course, which he began teaching in 2010, had been taught the same way since 2004. All the material for the course was approved by the university. In his evaluations from last year, Col. Dooley was referred to as a superb officer.
 

Black People, Black Guns and Black Politics

Via Bill

I got into the pro-rights movement by accident.  I just wanted to take what the government had taught me and help the people in my community live safer with training.  I didn’t know that people of color, specifically Americans of African descent in most cities that I was trying to help were discombobulated about guns.  It was the swimming pool all over again.

When I was in basic training at Parris Island, SC to become a US Marine, all recruits had to get classified to what level they could swim or operate in the water.  It was the largest indoor pool I had ever seen.  It had been a rough week for me and I couldn’t do anything right I thought.  I was so glad when they told us to put on swimming trunks and jump in the water.  I knew it would one of the few places, that the Drill Instructors couldn’t get me for a few minutes.  I love water.  Like going to the chapel, this was going to be a peace break.

Well, over a hundred young men, jumped into the pool.  That was quite a sound.  I swam to the deeper end and floated effortlessly for several minutes as I noticed that the room was growing quieter.  Underneath me, I saw men in scuba gear patrolling like reef sharks.  When I finally looked to the wall, where we had all launched I noticed that there were at least seventy black men, dripping water and shaking from the experience.  I looked around and wondered did I miss the whistle.  Trying to whisper to my bunk mate who was also out of the water; “Why are you out of the water?”  He cautiously whispered back, “The brothers don’t swim.”  I thought to myself, “Damn, what am I a mutant?”

Well, here I was a certified law enforcement firearms trainer, with citations from the Federal Law Enforcement Training center and the NRA for expert shooting.  I was not the only black man with a gun.  My grandmother was a heckuva shot with her no named, rusty, dusty, single barreled shotgun.

CNN and The Obama Administration – Weapons of Misdirection

Via The Feral Irishman

In the history books of wool-over-sheeple-eye-removal this might, just might, go down as one of the most obvious and over-the-top Machiavellian media manuevers ever.


Watching it unfold on live TV it did not seem right. It was awkwardly and comfortably scripted, and too smooth in execution. But watching it on replay the agenda filled manipulation was obvious. It appears Candy Crowley and CNN together with the Obama Administration scripted the Libyan injection into the Presidential Debate.


I’m not just talking about Candy Crowley interjecting on behalf of President Obama, and interrupting Mitt Romney, I mean the whole segment seemed like it was a set up.

So we did a little research:

The Three Man Team

Via WRSA

Combat effectiveness – a view from the outside in

Years ago while still in uniform, I was selected to take part in a large training exercise as part of the OPFOR.   The exercise was to take place in a high desert setting, not unlike the Afghan mountain areas, and involved a battalion plus hunting down our 12 man “insurgent” unit.

We were up against a battalion of infantry, augmented with a cav scout troop and a company of NATO soldiers. Their sole purpose was to find, capture and/or kill us.

We broke our team into four, three-man cells. We also had a HQ element and two sets of 81mm mortars with organic crews attached.  Besides our indirect fire assets, we were armed only with M4 carbines and frag grenades.

Ten days later we were being dressed down for the sin of rendering the battalion "combat ineffective" as well as destroying the TOC and killing most of the staff officers. 

All in all I found it to be a useful learning experience.  Without violating any OPSEC, let me break down some of the lessons learned…..

12-Year-Old Girl Shoots Intruder During Home Invasion In Bryan County

Via Bill

A 12-year-old girl took matters into her own hands during a home invasion in southeast Oklahoma.
It happened on Wednesday when the girl was home alone. She told police a stranger rang the doorbell, then went around to the back door and kicked it in. She called her mom, Debra St. Clair, who told her to get the family gun, hide in a closet and call 911.

That was when St. Clair dropped what she doing and raced home.

"I drove home at a really fast pace to try to get to her, and when I got here the police were already here. And they had the suspect," she said.

The during that time, the intruder made his way through the house. St. Clair's daughter told deputies the man came into the room where she was hiding and began to open up the closet door. That was when the 12-year-old had to make a life-saving decision.

"And what we understand right now, he was turning the doorknob when she fired through the door," said the Bryan County Undersheriff Ken Golden.


More @ Mobile 9

Indonesia Shuts Down Nine Churches And Six Buddhist Temples Under Islamist Pressure In Sharia-Governed Banda Aceh…

Via Don


Remember the days when the media always referred to Indonesia as a “moderate” Muslim country? Those were good times.

 Authorities in Banda Aceh, capital of the Aceh Special Territory, ordered the closure of nine Christian home churches and six Buddhist prayer houses for alleged irregularities in their building permit. According to Deputy Mayor Hajjah Illiza Sa’aduddin Djamal, the buildings were illegal because they lacked the right permit. Under the law, private homes cannot be used “for religious ceremonies or functions.”

“Aceh is a special territory that enforces Sharia,” she said and home churches violate the law because they lack the appropriate building permit (Izin Mendirikan Bangunan in Indonesian).

 More @ Weasel Zippers

Obama: Benghazi Murders 'Not Optimal'

  

Open mouth, insert foot. 

Today, according to the White House pool report, President Obama told Jon Stewart during a Comedy Central Daily Show taping that the deaths of our ambassador to Libya and three other Americans were “not optimal.” This comes just weeks after President Obama told CBS News’ Steve Kroft on 60 Minutes that the murders of four Americans in Benghazi were “bumps in the road.” By way of contrast, President Obama described the YouTube video “The Innocence of Muslims,” which had nothing to do with the Benghazi attacks, as “crude and disgusting,” an “insult,” and said that its message “must be rejected by all who respect our common humanity.”

To reiterate: deaths of Americans are “not optimal,” and “bumps in the road.” A YouTube video is “bigotry,” “blasphemy,” “crude and disgusting,” an “insult,” and inhuman.

The left is already saying that the “not optimal” quote has been taken out of context; they were saying that Stewart used the word “optimal” first. The problem: it’s far worse in context. Stewart said that the White House response was “not the optimal response.” Obama responded not by tackling the White House response, but by calling the murders “not optimal.

 Here’s the transcript from the White House pool report:

More @ Breitbart

The mis-directed fetish of marksmanship

VERBATIM

 

I am a great fan of armed and trained civilians. But I’d like to point out that the “hundreds of thousands of deer hunters” are no military snipers and do not overmatch regular infantry. A very well trained rifleman with a sub-MOA rifle can indeed score a first shot hit on a 500 yard foe. What happens then?

The hit may be stopped by the armor. If effective, the hit may be fatal or not: due to better emergency medicine in the army, they will save most of their non-immediate casualties. Irregulars have historically lost over half of their wounded.

The direction of the sniper would be indicated by the backsplatter from the wound. In case of a miss, the projectile trace in earth or trees would just about pinpoint the location of the shooter. At which point, the infantry would use smoke to obscure themselves from the shooter, make his egress perilous with suppressive fire and get close enough to exact retribution. The civilian shooter would have no land mines to disrupt their progress.


A really good shooter can make 500 yards hits on bullseye targets. Can he do as well on camouflaged foes who move, use cover and can put literally a hundred times his rate of fire with their squad MG or SAW? An individual rifleman might be limited to 300 yards, but a SAW with a scope fired from a bipod can reach out more than twice as far.

Assuming that the sniper can manage to retain his stand-off distance, what can he do about air or artillery response. Insurgents world-wide have to brave close combat to get away from the firepower available to the regulars with one radio call. Against well-designed sniper hides that cannot be reached by artillery or airpower, short-range rockets would be used. The hide would have to escape detection in visible, near and far infrared ranges to remain secure.

Multiple snipers might do better, but the regulars can just continue using smoke to remain safe from long shots while encircling the whole area and plastering it with mortars or just mining the perimeter and leaving it at that.

I am a great fan of rifle marksmanship. But we shouldn’t overestimate its value in warfare. Unsupported by regular troops, most snipers die quickly. Most hunters may be marksmen, but they aren’t even snipers — that skill set goes far beyond the basics of fieldcraft and marksmanship required to bring down deer.

For that reason, the reliance on armed response indicates a loss for the side forced to fight as insurgents. The kind of expedients required for a successful guerrilla campaign tend to warp all participants out of recognition as the “forces of good”. So our best bet is political proselytizing and raising the next generation to love freedom, and to respect the freedoms of others. The opium pipe dreams of the “restoration of the Republic” through another revolution are best left for those who don’t much value a connection to reality.

Medicaid and Medicare Enrollees Now Outnumber Full-Time Private Sector Workers

Medicaid, Medicare
Dingbat.

  The combined number of people enrolled in Medicaid and Medicare--the government health-care programs for the poor, disabled and elderly--now exceeds the number of full-time private sector workers in the United States.

In 2011, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), there were 70.4 million people who enrolled in Medicaid for at least one month. There were also 48.849 million people enrolled in Medicare. That gave Medicaid and Medicare a gross combined enrollment of 119.249 million in 2011.

At the same time, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 112,556,000 people worked full-time in the United States in 2011. Of these 112,556,000 full-time workers, 17,806,000 worked for government (at the federal, state or local level) and 94,750,000 worked for the private sector.
The gross combined enrollment of 119.249 million in Medicaid and Medicare in 2011 outnumbered the 112.556 million full-time workers employed in both the private sector and in government in 2011.

More @ CNS News

President Obama’s Taxpayer-Backed Green Energy Failures (36)

Via Cousin John




It is no secret that President Obama’s and green-energy supporters’ (from both parties) foray into venture capitalism has not gone well. But the extent of its failure has been largely ignored by the press. Sure, single instances garner attention as they happen, but they ignore past failures in order to make it seem like a rare case.

The truth is that the problem is widespread. The government’s picking winners and losers in the energy market has cost taxpayers billions of dollars, and the rate of failure, cronyism, and corruption at the companies receiving the subsidies is substantial. The fact that some companies are not under financial duress does not make the policy a success. It simply means that our taxpayer dollars subsidized companies that would’ve found the financial support in the private market.

So far, 36 companies that have received federal support from taxpayers have either gone bankrupt or are laying off workers and are heading for bankruptcy. This list includes only those companies that received federal money from the Obama Administration’s Department of Energy. The amount of money indicated does not reflect how much was actually received or spent but how much was offered. The amount also does not include other state, local, and federal tax credits and subsidies, which push the amount of money these companies have received from taxpayers even higher.

The complete list of faltering or bankrupt green-energy companies:

More @ The Foundry

Defaming Islam: Malaysia Lectures America About Freedom

Via Peter

 

 A study in hypocrisy.

The United Nations again lived down to its reputation. The recent ministerial meeting in the General Assembly provided a moment of unintended hilarity. Commenting on the controversy surrounding the recent film critical of the Prophet Mohammed, Malaysian Foreign Minister Anifah Aman asked, "Why is it when Muslims are stigmatized and defamed, it is defended as freedom of expression?"
He apparently imagines a world in which Muslims demonstrate striking forbearance in the face of shocking intolerance. He imagines a world in which Muslim states do not routinely persecute Christians, Jews, Baha'is, and other religious minorities. He imagines a world in which non-Muslims do not face arrest, prison, and death for "blasphemy" toward Islam and Muslims do not face arrest, prison, and death for converting away from Islam.

Minister Aman imagines a world in which Christian girls are not kidnapped and forced into marriage in Muslim nations. He imagines a world in which Muslim mobs do not murder Christians, destroy churches, wreck Bible schools, and wipe out entire Christian villages. He imagines a world in which Muslims treat religious minorities as they demand to be treated in societies in which they are a minority.

It is a wonderful world. But it is not the world in which we live today. To the contrary, most majority Muslim states discriminate and many persecute non-Muslims as well as minority Muslims. There's no need for individuals to defame Christians, Jews, and others when the state imprisons and kills them.
Minister Aman's wonderful vision does not even describe his own country of Malaysia. There are worse countries, to be sure. But Malaysia now is lecturing the rest of the world about religious defamation and freedom of expression.

How does Minister Aman's government treat Christians and others who believe differently than the majority? Consider what the most recent State Department report on religious liberty said of Malaysia: "… the constitution as well as other laws and policies placed some restrictions on religious freedom." Muslims are barred from converting to other faiths, "although members of other religions may convert to Islam."