Email exchange with Missile Defense Agency spokesman Richard Lehner,
2/26/2010 - 3/4/2010
My first email to Mr. Lehner:
From:
Alec Rawls [mailto:alec@rawls.org]
Sent: Friday, February 26, 2010 12:49 PM
To: richard.lehner@mda.mil
Cc: cschilling@wnd.com; 'Alec Rawls'
Subject: Request for correction: the exact circle-in-circle crescent
shape used in the MDA logo is employed by several jihadist groups
Dear Mr.
Lehner:
I saw the
World Net Daily interview where you:
... laughed at the comparisons [between the MDA logo and
an Islamic crescent] and said, "I don't know where they would even begin to
come up with something like that. It's ridiculous."
I believe
you when you say that you don't know where the comparison comes from. That lack
of knowledge shows an astounding failure of due diligence on your part. Here you
were called upon to answer public questions about the likeness between your
agency's logo and a well known Islamic symbol shape, and you revealed that you
had never even bothered to examine the Islamic symbols in question.
For your
information, the exact peculiar geometry of the full circle-in-circle crescent
design used in the MDA logo is used by several jihadist groups. Here is an
excerpt from
my post on the subject:
The classic Islamic crescent (based on
later flags of the Ottoman Empire) is
defined by its circular inner and outer arcs. Contrast this to a crescent
moon, which has an elliptical inner arc (when projected onto two dimensions).
Several jihadist organizations use a full circle-in-circle crescent in their
insignias, just like the one in the MDA logo.
Here is the insignia of
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine:
Similar insignias are used by
Hamas:
by the
Islamic Palestine Block:
and by the
Muslim American Society, which was
created by the Muslim Brotherhood (the parent organization of al Qaeda) in
1928:
The MDA logo for comparison:
As with the Missile Defense Agency logo, the inner circle
in the MAS logo represents the earth. The 360° green crescent formed by the
space between the two circles represents Islamic domination of the planet.
This Islamic triumphalism is also the depicted on the
Hezbollah flag, which uses 2/3rds of of
the outline of a globe to create an Islamic crescent covering the more typical
2/3rds of a circle of arc:
It is unclear what the blue crescent formed by the inner and outer circles of
the MDA logo is supposed to represent. It's not a missile trajectory (that's
in red), and if it were supposed to be atmosphere, the thicker side would be
the near side (as defined by the missile trajectory). All we are left with is
the geometric similarity to the jihadi insignias.
Friend vs. foe identification is as basic as military fundamentals get. Every
soldier is drilled on every available identifier, over and over and over, and
it never stops. It is simply inconceivable that our Defense Department could
employ an Islamic symbol shape--in the midst of a war with Islamic
terrorists--and not be aware of it.
In my
opinion, Mr. Lehner, you need to issue a correction. Not only were you wrong to
suggest that the MDA does not employ an Islamic symbol shape, but you cast ugly
aspersions on those who are conducting the oversight that your agency never did
by pointing out the Islamic symbol shape to you:
"I think it's just people who are just," he hesitated for
a moment, "different."
If you
really didn't know better, okay, people make mistakes, but now that you know you
made a mistake, it needs to be corrected. Your agency IS using a well known
Islamic symbol shape, one embraced in particular by several of the worst
terrorist groups. When people try to expose that fact, it is wrong of you to try
to cover it up with mis-information, and if you don't issue a correction once
you know that you have issued misinformation, it is malfeasance.
Since your
misinformation was passed through World Net Daily reporter
Chelsea Schilling, I am including her as an addressee. Please arrange a
correction as soon as possible.
Sincerely,
Alec Rawls
Palo Alto,
CA
Lehner's first response:
From:
Lehner, Richard CIV MDA/PA [mailto:Richard.Lehner@mda.mil]
Sent: Friday, February 26, 2010 1:04 PM
To: 'alec@rawls.org'
Subject: [SPAM] Re: Request for correction: the exact circle-in-circle
crescent shape used in the MDA logo is employed by several jihadist groups
Thank you for your
email, I apologize, but I am not at all familiar with the various designs you
mentioned. MDA is the Defense Department's agency for developing, testing and
acquiring missile defense technology to protect our homeland and deployed forces
against missile attack. So, it is this type of technology that I know. I am a
retired Air Force officer with 24 years of service, and have been at MDA since
1994. I am just not well-versed on the subject matter in your email as my entire
career has been spent in strategic missiles and missile defense programs. I am
surprised at the reaction to the graphic design at the top of our website pages,
it is supposed to just be a contemporary design that was to be used on
recruiting materials and fact sheets for universities and job fairs, and was
developed in 2007 by TMP Government, a well-known design firm, for our Human
Resources department. It did not replace our official logo. Thanks again for
your email, I really do appreciate hearing your opinion.
From his response, it seemed Mr. Lehner might be open to
new information, so I sent a second email, discussin the possibility that the
Islamic shape of the MDA logo was no accident, citing a couple known examples of
free-lance jihadists inserting hidden Islamic symbolism in inappropriate
places, and suggesting that an investigation of the specifics was warranted.
From:
Alec Rawls [mailto:alec@rawls.org]
Sent: Friday, February 26, 2010 2:02 PM
To: 'Lehner, Richard CIV MDA/PA'
Cc: 'Alec Rawls'
Subject: Re: Request for correction: the exact circle-in-circle crescent
shape used in the MDA logo is employed by several jihadist groups
Rick:
Thanks for
responding. Now that you know that you were wrong, I believe you need to issue a
correction. MDA also needs to launch an investigation into how
this happened. You have been assuming a) that any likeness between the MDA
logo and Islamic symbol shapes is an innocent coincidence, and b) that if it is
innocent, that makes it okay. But it very likely is NOT innocent, and using the
symbol shapes of our terror war enemies is not okay in any case.
This is a very
serious matter. To see an example of how free-lance Islamists will take any
opportunity to advance Islam by stealth, look at the case of the sound engineer
at the Mattel toy company who snuck "Islam is the light" onto the sound track of
a toy doll intended for 2-5 year old girls, tens of thousands of whom have been
getting indoctrinated by this message every 30 seconds without the knowledge of
their parents.
http://errortheory.blogspot.com/2008/12/another-stealth-jihadist-plants-another.html
Our jihadist enemies
are waging war on every possible front. Of all people, DOD personnel need to
understand how this enemy operates, but MDA may well have let a free-lance
Islamist waltz in the back door and onto the front page.
This is a learning
process for all of us. For several years now I have been working with the father
of one of our Flight 93 heroes to try to stop the Park Service from planting a
giant Mecca-oriented crescent atop his son's grave:
Left: publicity
mock-up of Crescent of Embrace memorial to Flight 93. Right: Wikipedia's
"typical" Islamic crescent and star, colored red and viewed from a similar
angle. The copse of trees that sits roughly in the position of the star on the
Islamic flag is the Sacred Ground Plaza. It sits just above the impact point of
Flight 93.
This giant crescent
points to Mecca. That makes it a mihrab, the Mecca-direction indicator
around which every mosque is built. The planned memorial, now being built in
Shanksville PA, will be the world's largest mosque.
What is the Park
Service's reaction to the revelation that its giant Islamic-shaped crescent
points within 2 degrees of Mecca? They managed to find a fraudulent academic
from the University of Texas to
deny that there is any such thing as the direction to Mecca:
Daniel Griffith, a geospatial information sciences
professor at the University of Texas at Dallas, said anything can point toward
Mecca, because the earth is round.
As someone who is in
the business of shooting down missiles, you will know how ludicrous it is
to claim that, because the planet is round, there is no such thing as a
direction on planet earth. (Muslims calculate the direction to Mecca by the
great circle method, which the Park Service and Dr. Griffith all know, since
they were responding to my explanations.)
This is what we are
up against: government functionaries who, when faced with the most alarming
evidence of a hidden Islamic plot, think it is okay to flat out lie to the
public about the facts. I trust you are not one of those people, so please step
up and do the right thing here.
Thanks for
listening.
Alec
My outreach elicited an angry response:
From:
Lehner, Richard CIV MDA/PA [mailto:Richard.Lehner@mda.mil]
Sent: Friday, February 26, 2010 2:27 PM
To: 'alec@rawls.org'
Subject: [SPAM] Re: Request for correction: the exact circle-in-circle
crescent shape used in the MDA logo is employed by several jihadist groups
No, I didn't say I
was wrong, I said I wasn't familiar with Islamic symbols. I do know that TMP
used a standard design team in the development of the graphic along with several
other recruiting materials. The graphic symbolizes the worldwide protection of
our homeland and deployed forces by showing an interceptor missile striking its
target missile, thus the flash--not a star. To provide context, please look at
the Careers section of our website to see how it is used for recruiting
materials. Thanks again
I in turn ripped Mr. Lehner to shreds:
From:
Alec Rawls [mailto:alec@rawls.org]
Sent: Monday, March 01, 2010 1:25 PM
To: 'Lehner, Richard CIV MDA/PA'
Cc: 'Alec Rawls'
Subject: Re: Request for correction: the exact circle-in-circle crescent
shape used in the MDA logo is employed by several jihadist groups
Rick:
The issue is very
simple. You provided mis-information to the American people. Now that you know
you provided wrong information, any moral person would want to correct that
mistake. But it seems that you have some different idea.
No, I
didn't say I was wrong,
I never said you
admitted to being wrong. I said that
you know that you were wrong,
which I know that you know because I pointed out to you exactly what you were
wrong about. You scoffed at any likeness between the MDA logo and an Islamic
crescent, when in fact the circle-in-circle centerpiece of MDA's logo is
virtually identical to the circle-in-circle crescents used by several of our
terror war enemies. Do I need to show you again?
I said
I wasn't familiar with Islamic symbols.
It is quite obvious
that you were not familiar with Islamic symbols when you did your interview with
World Net Daily, but you are
familiar with Islamic symbols now,
at least on the critical point. You now know that the MDA logo uses the same
peculiar geometry as the insignias of several of our terror war enemies (where a
smaller circle is set inside and near the edge of a larger circle).
There are some
insignificant differences. The Islamic-shaped crescent in the MDA logo points to
the northeast, while the crescents in the jihadist insignias point in various
other directions, and if you look closely, the outer circle of the MDA logo
appears to be slightly oblong. Visually, the crescents are all identical.
I do
know that TMP used a standard design team in the development of the graphic
along with several other recruiting materials.
Nobody ever
suggested that anyone in your department intended to commission an Islamic symbol shape. Maybe
the the company MDA went to (TPM government) came up with the Islamic symbol
shape by accident. Maybe it was the work of a freelance jihadist. Either way, it
is a terrible mistake. The Department of Defense cannot use the same highly
specific visual identifier that is embraced by our terror war enemies. In
particular, the normalcy of the process that led to this mistake does not alter
the fact that you mis-informed the American people.
The
graphic symbolizes the worldwide protection of our homeland and deployed
forces ...
I could say that the
Swastika represents a helicopter rotor in motion, making a great logo for our
Apache squadrons, but no such interpretation can obviate the established meaning
of the symbol shape. That circle-in-circle crescent has an established meaning
too. It represents Islamic domination of the planet. For you to protest that
this isn't what it means to you
is as ludicrous and irrelevant as me saying that I see the Swastika as a
spinning propeller.
...by
showing an interceptor missile striking its target missile, thus the
flash--not a star.
As for the flash
looking like a star, I never said a word about the flash part of the logo and
none of the jihadist insignias I showed you has a star in it. This is another
complete irrelevancy, yet you offer it as an excuse to dismiss what I DID show
you: that the MDA logo uses the same central symbol shape as used by several
terror groups. You scoffed at the idea that there was any such similarity. You
were wrong, and at this point, you are fully aware of it, whether you admit it
or not.
You seem to think
that your job is not to tell the truth to the American people but is just to
defend the MDA logo, no matter how evasively or dishonestly. You work for the
American people. You cannot justify providing the public with wrong information
and then refusing to correct it.
This kind of willful
blindness cannot be ignored. The same willful blindness led to the Fort Hood
massacre, when colleagues and superiors of Nidal Hasan pretended then did not
hear his violent jihadist diatribes. It is the same willful blindness that
enabled the underwear bomber when State Department employees were ordered NOT to
scrutinize Muslims seeking to enter the United States. Now you want to do the
same thing with this Islamic shaped logo, doing your utmost to cover it up,
first giving misinformation to the American people then refusing to correct it.
Refusing to "knuckle
under" to a nobody like me is not showing spine. Spine means knuckling under to
the truth, wherever you find it. Everything else is arrogance or cowardice. You
ought to know that by now too, but if you don't, there is nothing wrong with
learning it from a nobody like me.
Alec
That was the end of my exchange with Mr. Spineless.
Presuming that Lehner was keeping his superiors in the dark about the actual
similarity between the MDA logo and several jihadist insignias, I tried to
contact the agency's directorship. Whether the old emails I was able to dig up
for several directors and ex-directors ever got through to somebody I do not
know. I never received any response.
From:
Alec Rawls [mailto:alec@rawls.org]
Sent: Thursday, March 04, 2010 9:36 AM
To: Randall.Hendrickson@navy.mil; David.Altwegg@mda.mil; oberingh@hanscom.af.mil;
kadishr@hanscom.af.mil
Cc: Alec Rawls
Subject: Request for oversight from MDA directors, Re MDA's crescent
shaped website logo
Dear
directors and ex-directors of the Missile Defense Agency:
There was
an uproar in the news last week about what seems to be an Islamic shaped
crescent in MDA's new website logo. Agency spokesman Rich Lehner was dismissive,
telling reporters:
"I don't
know where they would even begin to come up with something like that. It's
ridiculous."
Mr. Lehner
is misinformed. In fact, the MDA's logo shape, where a smaller circle is placed
inside of and near the edge of a larger circle, is a common and well-known
Islamic symbol shape. The resulting 360°
crescent represents Islamic domination of the planet:
Left:
MDA's new website logo (used on recruiting advertisements in 2008 and added to
the website more recently). Right: the emblem of the
Muslim American Society, which was
created by the Muslim Brotherhood (the parent organization of al Qaeda) in 1928.
The basic
similarity can be seen in the Turkish flag, or Ottoman flag, which most Islamic
flags are based on:
Unlike a
crescent moon, which covers a half a circle of arc and has an elliptical inner
arc, an Islamic crescent has an intentionally unnatural shape (to avoid
idolizing the moon). Thus it uses a circular inner arc and covers more than a
half a circle of arc.
It is
common for Islamic terror groups to extend this circle-in-circle crescent design
to a full circle, as used in MDA logo. The full enclosed crescent is often used
to visually depict Islamic domination. Here is the insignia of
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine:
the
Hamas insignia:
and the
Islamic Palestine Block insignia:
At first sight, the MDA logo is indistinguishable from the Islamic crescents in
these terror group insignias. If you look closely, the MDA logo is actually
slightly different in that its circles appear to be slightly oblong. This small
difference suggests that the likeness was probably unintended (the obvious
likelihood in any case), but if the logo designer is
a free-lance jihadist, this is just the kind of thing he might have done to
cover his tracks. The slightly oblong circle shapes do not matter from an
Islamic point of view, where the idea is simply to create a stylized crescent
shape instead of a natural crescent shape. Some Islamic crescents use
non-circular arcs just for this reason: to look even less like the moon.
The visual
similarity between the MDA logo and the jihadist insignias raises two issues
that call out for oversight. First, Mr. Lehner's scoffing denial that there is
any likeness between the an Islamic crescent and the MDA logo was
misinformation. When I showed him the above circle-in-circle crescents, Mr.
Lehner acknowledged that he "wasn't familiar with Islamic symbols," yet he
presented himself to the press and the American people as competent to speak to
this issue, and since learning that he was wrong, he has refused to issue a
correction. To myself, as an American citizen, this is unacceptable. If a branch
of the military misinforms the American people, then absent some national
security necessity, a correction needs to be forthcoming.
It doesn't
matter whether the likeness to an Islamic crescent is coincidence or if it
is the work of a free-lance jihadist en the employ of the TPMgovernment company
that designed the logo. The likeness itself is important. We are in the midst of
a declared war against those who attacked us on 9/11. Our terror war enemies
have their symbols. We have our symbols, and it is a matter of interest to the
entire nation that their symbols not get planted on our institutions. That's
what happens when a war is lost. In particular, nobody wants to see a symbol
shape that our enemies use to denote Islamic supremacism showing up on our
military.
Second, if
Mr. Lehner is telling the public that the MDA logo is not similar in shape to an Islamic
crescent, it seems likely that he has been communicating the same dismissive
view internally, thereby blocking your agency from receiving important
information that outsiders were trying to apprise you of. It is the Missile
Defense Agency most needs to know it is using what appears to be an Islamic
symbol shape on its website, recruiting materials, etcetera. If your media
liasons are blocking this information from getting in, then the directorship
needs to get involved, which means that someone like me has to apprise you. You
are the one's who are inadvertently walking around with the jihadist stickers on
your backs. Somebody
has to let you know.
Sincerely,
Alec Rawls
Palo Alto,
CA
P.S. I
was able to find email addresses for four of you: Deputy Director Hendrickson,
Executive Director Altwegg, and ex-directors Obering and Kadish. Whether these
are current addresses I do not know, and I was unable to find an address for
current director LTG Patrick O'Reilly. If any recipients of this mail agree that
the other directors should see it, please forward to whoever I missed.
Can you
please let me know if you received this message, and keep me apprised of what
actions are being taken?