Posted on 05/15/2005 5:50:12 AM PDT by Commander Salamander
Claim that the Holy book was defiled by US guards at Guantanamo Bay has incensed Muslims AT LEAST nine people were killed yesterday as a wave of anti-American demonstrations swept the Islamic world from the Gaza Strip to the Java Sea, sparked by a single paragraph in a magazine alleging that US military interrogators had desecrated the Koran. As Washington scrambled to calm the outrage, Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State, promised an inquiry and punishment for any proven offenders. But at Friday prayers in the Muslim world many preachers demanded vengeance and afterwards thousands took to the streets, burning American flags.
Although the original report in Newsweek was small, it was re-broadcast by television networks such as al-Jazeera and al-Arabiya and in Pakistan it was quoted by Imran Khan, the cricketer-turned-politician, at a press conference. He said it would strengthen the impression that America’s War on Terror was against Muslims.
The most violent protests were in Afghanistan, where the death toll in clashes between demonstrators and security forces reached fourteen after a third day of rioting. Three people were killed and twenty-two injured near Faizabad, in Badakhshan province, when a thousand rioters burnt down aid agencies’ offices.
Worshippers in Pakistan poured on to the streets after prayers, chanting “Death to America”, and burning American flags. In Jakarta, hundreds gathered noisily at a mosque. Thousands marched through the streets of a Palestinian refugee camp in Gaza.
The unrest began this week after Newsweek published an allegation that American military interrogators had desecrated the Islamic holy book in an effort to rattle detainees at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. The report said that they had placed the Koran on the lavatory inside inmates’ cells and had “in at least one case, flushed a holy book down the toilet” .
The report was condemned by the Pakistani Government, and Khurshid Kasuri, the Foreign Minister, demanded an apology and severe punishment for any soldier found guilty. Hardline Islamic groups said that they would hold protests but before that could happen violent protests erupted in Afghanistan.
Significantly, Saudi Arabia, a key US regional ally which is usually slow in speaking out, became the first Arab state to comment officially yesterday, expressing “deep indignation” and calling for a quick investigation and for the perpetrators to be punished.
The report was denounced initially by the US chargé d’affaires in Kabul and then by the Pentagon and the State Department. As unrest gathered pace, Dr Rice issued an appeal: “I want to speak directly to Muslims in America and throughout the world. Disrespect for the Holy Koran is not now, nor has it ever been, nor will it ever be, tolerated by the United States. Disrespect for the Holy Koran is abhorrent to us all.
“There have been recent allegations about disrespect for the Holy Koran by interrogators at Guantanamo Bay and that has deeply offended many people. Our military authorities are investigating these allegations fully. If they are proven true, we will take appropriate action.
“Guaranteeing religious rights is of great personal importance to the President and to me. During the past few days, we have heard from our Muslim friends around the world about their concerns on this matter. We understand and we share their concerns.
“Sadly, some people have lost their lives in violent demonstrations. I am asking that all our friends around the world reject incitement to violence by those who would mischaracterise our intentions.”
The riots in Afghanistan were the worst displays of anti-US sentiment since the fall of the Taleban in 2002. Four protesters were shot dead on the second day of demonstrations in Jalalabad, a stronghold of the rebel commander Gulbuddin Hekmatyer, and at least three others died in protests the next day. Aid offices were attacked in the capital, Kabul, and more people died yesterday when protests spread to Ghazni and Badakhshan.
Thousands of Muslims gathered in Pakistan’s main cities yesterday after sermons in mosques denouncing the desecration, and effigies of President Bush and of their leader, President Musharraf, were burnt.
Hardliners also led the protest in Gaza, where Hamas organised a march of thousands of Palestinians through the Jabalya refugee camp yesterday. “The Holy Koran was defiled by the dirtiest of hands, by American hands,” a protester shouted as others burnt American and Israeli flags. The Muslim Council of Britain said that the Bush Administration had to “take responsibility for the anti- Muslim climate they have been fostering through their actions; Guantanamo Bay itself is a scandal of the highest order”.
oh crap .. I misread your post
Sorry about that :0(
What's the big deal. I already use the koran for toilet paper.
And of course the Saudis are among the loudest when it comes whining about this. Saudi Arabia, where it is illegal to sell Bibles, and from the whence came most of the 9-11 hijackers, who screamed Mohammed's name as drove planes into buildings.
Hey, what an idea...Print the Koran on rolls of toilet paper...Some enterprising person could get rich selling that stuff...
And how many muzlims in the middle east were outraged but didn't protest...And how many of the millions of muzlims in the U.S. are outraged but have kept quiet, for now???
Who dat?;-)
It's folks like you that wouldn't mind us going to war against the whole Muslim world, as long as it's to Israel's benefit. I, for one, am tired of it.
I seem to recall a leftist writer in America who wrote about "America raping Afghanistan" or some other nation. It was translated literally in Pakistan leading to some violent riots in which people were killed. The author claimed no responsibility (and I think even turned the heat up hotter).
Lost subscriptions should include school libraries. Why permit such trash to be used as "(re-)educational materials"?
Parents should protest. Or seek "equal time" on the "news stand".
Is it quilted? Why would I want toilet paper with holes in it?
And,to make matters worse, Newsweek couldn't document its story.(Subsequent investigation by the Army and by Newsweek shows it "dissolving" like single ply tissue tossed into a toilet.)
They wanted to do an anti-administration hit piece and ignite a new Abu Ghraib scandal;but translating "one of the inmates blocked up his cell toilet by flushing pages from his copy of the Koran down it" into "American captors committed an atrocity by throwing copies of the Koran into the toilets" has cost at least 18 lives so far,and thrown a monkey wrench into our efforts to lead the Muslim world into sanity.
I'm sure Newsweek will try to get the writer and the editors nominated for Pulitzer prizes....
The reaction to the Newsweek reporting by the Islamic world shows what a primative religion and people we are dealing with.
Hey Mike I, as Rush says, words have meaning, and freedomn of speech does not mean freedom to yell fire in a crowded theater. This is not the first time the magazine and the author have pulled such tactics.
It is time to bitch slap them with a law suit for inciting violence.
It's folks like you who blame America, or the American military, or the Jews, or Israel, for all the slights Muslims use to justify their endless rioting, and I, for one, am tired of it.
That's it in a nutshell...fighting Israel's wars for them one body at a time.
How do you think Israel convinced Bush to go along with the sinister plan? I reckon he's pretty stupid if he's so easily coerced....
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