Investigative journalist Seymour Hersh unleashed a far-reaching tirade against U.S. leaders Monday during an address in the Middle East in which he reportedly criticized President Obama for not being an "angry black man;" accused U.S. military leaders of being members of secretive Catholic sects and claimed the military is conducting a religious "crusade" against Muslims.
The well-known New Yorker journalist was in Doha, Qatar, on Monday to talk about U.S. foreign policy and pitch his upcoming book. Foreign Policy magazine apparently attended and posted several of Hersh's statements online.
According to Foreign Policy, Hersh opened his address with the following line: "Just when we needed an angry black man, we didn't get one."
From there, Hersh criticized the policies of the current and last administrations and accused the military leadership of being religious crusaders and members of the controversial Opus Dei and other groups. He specifically singled out those heading Joint Special Operations Command, a military organization ex-Afghanistan commander Gen. Stanley McChrystal once led.
"That's the attitude," Hersh said, according to Foreign Policy. "We're gonna change mosques into cathedrals."
He said the military leaders carry "crusader coins" around with them. "They have insignia that reflect the whole notion that this is a culture war," he said.
Hersh further claimed that "many of them are members of Opus Dei" -- a group within the Catholic Church that author Dan Brown's depicted as a cult in his bestseller "The Da Vinci Code."
Hersh did not provide back up for his assertions, which were made during a Center for International and Regional Studies forum at Georgetown University's Qatar School of Foreign Service.
Hersh is best known for his work exposing the Abu Ghraib scandal during the Iraq war and reporting on U.S. military abuses during the Vietnam War. He is expected to release a new book shortly lambasting the Bush administration.
