The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) on June 30 welcomed a decision by the U.S. military to stop using a target depicting a Muslim woman wearing a religious head scarf (hijab) and verses from the Qur’ān to train Navy SEALs at the new close quarters combat range at Joint Base Fort Story in Virginia Beach, Va. The Navy made the announcement after the Washington-based Muslim civil rights organisation sent a letter to Secretary of Defence Leon Panetta on June 29 asking that the target and the religious text be removed from the training facility, referred to as a “kill house.”
Lt. David Lloyd, a spokesman for Naval Special Warfare Group 2, told the Virginian-Pilot: “We have removed this particular target and Arabic writing in question from the range in the near term, and will explore other options for future training.”