The despicable act of Quràn burning
Posted on 03. Mar, 2012 by S M Hali in Opinion
Afghans, who see the Quràn burnings as an illustration of what they perceive as foreign disrespect for their culture and religion. They are demanding not just apologies, but a local trial and the death penalty for the Koran burners.
By S. M. Hali
Tensions continue to run extremely high in Afghanistan after the deliberate act of desecrating the Holy Quràn by US troops. More than 30 people have been killed in clashes since it emerged that copies of the Muslim holy book and other religious materials had been thrown into a fire pit used to burn garbage at Bagram Air Field, a large US base north of Kabul. The despicable act left the Afghans stunned; in a frenzy of rage, they resorted to rioting and arson. The US quest for winning over the hearts and minds of the Afghan people suffered a major setback due to the unfortunate incident.
Perhaps there is lack of understanding of the deep sentiments of the Afghan Muslims and the reverence they hold the Holy Scriptures in. Ordinary Afghans, even if they are illiterate, keep their personal copies of the Holy Quràn wrapped in covers and pace them at a high and safe place in their houses to preserve the sanctity of the Holy Book. The act of US troops callously disregarding the holiness of the Book and dumping the pages in the incinerator pit broke the hearts of the devout Afghans. The news of the desecration of the Holy Quràn spread like wildfire and the relations between the local Afghans and the US troops became tense and the violence became widespread. The incident swiftly spiraled out of control leaving dozens of people dead, including four US troops killed by their Afghan counterparts.
Meanwhile, Afghan authorities launched a manhunt across the country for a driver they suspect in the killing of two US military advisers who were shot to death at an Afghan ministry. International advisers working at Afghan ministries were recalled out of fears of another attack. In Kunduz province, thousands of demonstrators started out protesting peacefully but then the group turned violent as they tried to enter the district's largest city. People in the crowd fired on police and threw grenades at a US base on the city outskirts, while seven NATO troops were wounded and one protester was killed when troops fired out from the US base. A car bomb claimed nine lives outside Jalalabad airport.
President Obama and other US officials have apologized for the burnings, which they said were a mistake. But their apologies have failed to quell the anger of Afghans, who see the Quràn burnings as an illustration of what they perceive as foreign disrespect for their culture and religion. They are demanding not just apologies, but a local trial and the death penalty for the Koran burners. Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who has condemned the incident, renewed his calls for calm in a televised address to the nation lest the enemy exploits the situation.
To throw salt in the wound, Republican presidential candidate and former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich demanded a formal apology from the Afghans for killing US soldiers. The incident has provided more fodder to the Taliban, who have proved more than a match for the US troops. They are likely to exploit the heinous incident to their advantage and further inflame the Afghan angst. In a year of Presidential election in the USA, Obama is facing a multitude of problems. A major challenge for the Obama administration was recuperation of the economic setbacks inherited from George W. Bush. Obama tried to turn around the economic meltdown by attempting to take people into confidence by bringing a new law on signing economic stimulus plan to expand state health insurance program and enhancing bank systems, but his critics focused on a different issue, taking a narrow view of Obama’s policy announcing plans for the closure of the Guantanamo prison in Cuba, incarcerating the so called Taliban and Al-Qaeda elements. The imprisoned suspects were shifted to Kandahar and Bagram bases Jail which later on proved far worse than the Guantanamo Bay prison. Consequently Washington decided to deploy additional US troops in Afghanistan to meet the growing threat from the Taliban. The US defence planners’ assessment of the threat was inadequate in the face of guerrilla tactics and hit and run strategy of the Taliban, which took a heavy toll of the US and NATO troops. Despite the troops’ surge and much hyped Marjah and Kandahar operations, which failed to achieve the desired results, the Obama administration, which had announced a drawdown of the US troops from Afghanistan by 2014, decided to engage the Taliban in a dialogue for peace.
The peace talks too have undergone numerous ups and down. The instances of Taliban imposters making away with “reconciliation money” and the cold blooded assassination of former Afghan President and head of the peace and reconciliation committee, Burhanuddin Rabbani are still fresh in the minds to make US administration wince with discomfort. Ultimately, the process has gone underway, with the US providing tacit approval to the Taliban setting up an office at Doha, Qatar and meeting with selected representatives.
The more than ten years’ US war campaign in Afghanistan, which has become the longest in American history has taken a major toll of not only US economy but also of the morale and mental health of US soldiers. Frayed nerves and psychologically battered US troops have committed unthinkable crimes in Afghanistan. The transgressions of the US Kill Teams, the urinating over Afghan dead bodies by US Marines, abusing Afghan children, the reprehensible nigh raids and indiscriminate moral turpitude of US soldiers have left a dark smear on the US image. The much publicized case of the US diplomat, who resigned in 2009, condemning the war in Afghanistan, stating that the war in Afghanistan was aimed to occupy its natural resources did not help matters. The US drone attacks continue to take a large toll of civilian life and further alienate the US. In face of domestic protests in USA, Obama is likely to expedite the drawdown of US troops. Eleven years in, if US forces are still burning Quràns in a deeply religious Muslim country, it’s way too late and they should leave posthaste.
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S M Hali
Second hand smoke
05. Mar, 2012
Don't be implying that whats holy to some is holy for all. Its a book,made in a printshop then bought and sold for money.It can be replaced,its an object. They who for whatevr reason will kill you for not calling it holy? Are in your face with their religion and telling you whats holy. Don't buy that or the fool UN will make a law and make it holy.Its a book,buy one and do whatever you want with it. Or take whats holy off the market.Lets be real.Now go buy and burn a bible if you want.Its the same thing..
Akhnoukh
05. Mar, 2012
The Pentagonade of the New Devils :
a US military soldier is ONLY flesh, bones, veins intestines and shit. It was made in a Porn Workshop by a female object and à male object. Its remains can be DUMPED in a garbage incinerator.
Don't buy the UN' sanctity of human being bullshit and all the laws about respect and dignity. Such things do not exist. Buy a soldier and do whatever you want with it or take what's holy off the Market! Let us be False! Now go and buy a Nigger or a Raghead if you want, it's the same thing!
Bruce M
05. Mar, 2012
What's the big deal? I always use torn pages to be used in my outhouse, starting the wood stove, and linng the bird's cage. A while back I found some of these old quaran books at a second hand book shop real cheap. Heck, I must have got at least 30 of them nobody wanted real cheap. Hell, it's just a book and not a very good one at that. I tried to read it, but it makes no sense. The pastor at the local country church didn't want anything to do with them. Something about going to hell or some where. Told me to get rid of them. I put them to good use no matter what anyone says. What's all the fuss over? Don't mean to be disrespectable, but I do what I want with my property and they can go to hell if they don't like it.
Steve
05. Mar, 2012
We know you've never even seen a Q'ran but little man, we all know what you are and if you ever venture out into the big world my yankee doodle dandee comrade, don't forget there is a price on your head in many circles since you come from the land of the coward and the home of the cretin.
Even visiting Australia you lowlifes are advised to pretend you're from Canada for your own safety. It is namely your unjustified disrespect for others' beliefs which makes you unwanted on this planet anymore.
USA, land of the cretin, home of the knave.
will
05. Mar, 2012
Human life for books, what a show of ignorance for the muslim religion.
How will we move ahead as a species with fanatics like this existing everywhere in the world.
Seth
05. Mar, 2012
Never expect something that does not respect something higher than itself to show respect something like itself or even itself.
Number of dead U.S. soldiers' remains dumped in landfill sites is revealed by Army… and it's much higher than expected
274 soldiers' remains were thrown in Virginia dump site
Total comprised 976 'body fragments', says mortuary records
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2071629/Number-dead-U-S-soldiers-remains-dumped-landfill-sites-revealed-Army-274.html
Steve
05. Mar, 2012
See right there is your problem. Your country/military doesn't respect human life either. If you can't respect others' beliefs you also lack respect for their lives and if you lack that then your own lives soon become no better regarded than they deserve to be. This is why your troops are returning home from their foreign aggression adventures, sick and dying from your own use of Depleted Uranium and why you bury your own dead in landfills.
Enoch
05. Mar, 2012
The Pentagonade of the New Devils :
a US military soldier is ONLY flesh, bones, veins intestines and shit. It was made in a Porn Workshop by a female object and à male object. Its remains can be DUMPED in a garbage incinerator.
Don't buy the UN' sanctity of human being bullshit and all the laws about respect and dignity. Such things do not exist. Buy a soldier and do whatever you want with it or take what's holy off the Market! Let us be False! Now go and buy a Nigger or a Raghead if you want, it's the same thing!
Bill
05. Mar, 2012
Should be at least an ounce of gold reward for each Quran burned, WORLDWIDE!
Steve
05. Mar, 2012
Why not an ounce of gold for every dead US marine or 'soldier'? I highlight the word 'soldier' as many would argue the USA has no real soldiers. I think that the death of a thug from the land of thugs and crettins, that bankrupt bitch for Israel, must be worth more than an act of blasphemy. Surely the killing of a mindless thug terrorist trooper is wworth more than the burning of someone's Holy book.
Heath
05. Mar, 2012
Nothing wrong with burning books promorion evil!!!!!
Toxick1
05. Mar, 2012
Burn all korans, and their owners with them. End of problem.
Walrus
06. Mar, 2012
By all definitions, Islam qualifies more as an idealogical persecution and destruction of non-believers than it does as a religion, and should thusly be PROHIBITED in the United Nations world wide as a form of crime against humanity and Genocide immediately!
The despicable act of Quràn burning by US Soldiers in Afghanistan « Anti Islam: FAQ – 99
06. Mar, 2012
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