I liked this photo previouly posted on that thread Reply #12
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”.
Are you suggesting the press not report stories that might offend Muslims? Even stories as benign as a Koran being flushed down a toilet? We've had to tolerate seeing beheadings, Americans being shot on tape after having their helicopter hit with rockets, Americans being immolated and hung from bridges. Do we riot? NO. Because we are civilized.
Yes, but perahps this sort of thing is good in the long run. We are at war, and our people need to know it. If someone flushing *one* *single* *book* will cause hundreds of thousands or even millions of people on the other side to go absolutlely ape, it is good that our people know it.
You won't have to buy very many copies, if you do that, your life won't last much longer.
There's a law against treason? Nah, ask Jane Fonda or Michael Moore. There is no law against treason anymore.
This is the problem. All they want is to prove that Bush is a real failure.
It is very hard for the United States to accomplish anything while half of the country spends its energy on attacking the other half trying to hinder the other's plans and strategy. We have an enemy within. In other words, the United States would be a lot more efficient without any democrats and opposition.
As Jesus said, "If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand."
Note to imam.....We are at war against muslims
I liked this photo previouly posted on that thread Reply #12
Interesting point you make. They are upset because they believe we desecrated (flushed) one of their sacred symbols (the Koran). They respond by desecrating (burning) ours (the American Flag). Seems like a wash.
I've got a problem when a story is twisted and not acurate
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1403496/posts?page=91#91
General Craddock, our commander of Southern Command, has been in Guantanamo for the last couple of days digging into this issue to see if there was a time when the Koran was not respected. I can tell you that the version of the Koran that we provide to detainees is approved by the ICRC. So we're very careful about that. They have looked through the logs, the interrogation logs, and they cannot confirm yet that there were ever the case of the toilet incident, except for one case, a log entry, which they still have to confirm, where a detainee was reported by a guard to be ripping pages out of a Koran and putting in the toilet to stop it up as a protest. But not where the U.S. did it.
Here's what Gen. Myers had to say about it.
91 posted on 05/15/2005 8:30:05 AM CDT by OXENinFLA
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1403496/posts?page=91#91
Exactly!
LOL, yeah that is a good one.
If people act like animals over something as benign as the Koran story, it is they who must change, not the rest of us.
That is why the lefties are so afraid of Bolton - he's going to make a difference. Part of the WOT is obviously stopping muslim slaughters (terrorism via cleansing the infidels) wherever they occur with forces other than just American. He will hold the U.N.'s feet to the fire while all the socialists only want to sit around and talk about it, know it.
and if they didn't they are incredibly stupid and shouldn't be in the journalism business
No arguement there.
I am not making excuses for Newsweek, I am placing the blame where it belongs, on the rioters, who, by the way, will riot at the drop of a hat.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1403526/posts
Afghanistan: Authorities On Alert After Days Of Violent Protests
RFE/RL via GlobalSecurity.org ^ | 2005 May 14 | Golnaz Esfandiari
Posted on 05/15/2005 9:52:20 AM EDT by Wiz
Police and army forces in Afghanistan are on a state of alert after three days of violent anti-American protests that shook several provinces of the country. At least 10 people have died so far in the protests, which were triggered by a U.S. magazine report that said U.S. interrogators at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, had desecrated the Koran.
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