Posted on 05/17/2008 5:09:19 PM PDT by Prole
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A soldier used the Quran -- Islam's holy book -- for target practice, forcing the chief U.S. commander in Baghdad to issue a formal apology on Saturday.
Maj. Gen. Jeffery Hammond apologizes after a soldier admitted using the Quran for target practice. Maj. Gen. Jeffery Hammond, commander of U.S. forces in Baghdad, apologized to leaders in Radhwaniya, in the western outskirts of Baghdad, for the staff sergeant who was a sniper section leader assigned to the headquarters of the 64th Armored Regiment.
He also read a letter of apology by the shooter. It was the first time the incident -- which tested the relationship between U.S.-backed Sunni militiamen and the military -- was made public since it was discovered May 11. "I come before you here seeking your forgiveness," Hammond said to tribal leaders and others at the apology ceremony.
"In the most humble manner I look in your eyes today and I say please forgive me and my soldiers." Another military official kissed a Quran and presented is as "a humble gift" to the tribal leaders.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
If BHO has his way, the PLO WILL become part of the US Armed Forces!
Or vice versa. Of course with the new thread about a settlement with the Palestinians in the next 7 months, maybe we won’t have to wait for the new Messiah.
Actually not. He was for rearming the German Army, *after* they were defeated and Hitler had killed himself in his bunker. Mein Kampf would not have entered into it. But Patton might have learned and sung Das Deutschlandlied (Pre Nazi National Anthem and current one as well) and/or "Wacht am Rhein". Even having to sing countertenor. (His voice was high and squeaky).
And just when did you wear the Uniform of the United States? Have you spent your entire adult life in the service of your country, either wearing it's uniform, or designing and building it's weapons, for a few years, both at the time?
I've heard a General explain this to an E-4, who just wanted to run rampant and kill every Iraqi he saw.
I could sum it up by one line that I heard him utter: "We're beyond that son". That was quite recently, unlike my own time in uniform, the uniform of a USAF Captain. It was at the airport serving the largest military base, in population, in the free world.
So bugger off.
Ah, an ideal solution. I agree that kissing the Koran was a bit over the top, but replacing it wasn't. One of our troops damaged private property, and not in the course of his normal duties, the dummy should have had to buy it himself, and may have.
The story did not say where the soldier will be sent after he returns to the US. Maybe Fort Wainwright or Fort Richardson, with 179 days TDY each year to Ft. Irwin in April through October. In both cases as "Range support" out before the units training there and in after them.
I've not seen that, but I've only been to a very few Catholic masses. I'll ask my daughter, who is Lutheran, and my son-in-law, who is Catholic, about that. (His mother takes communion during Lutheran services, as does he, and AFAIK, my daughter does likewise at catholic masses)
But, there is still the fact that the women were not merely women, but members of the US Military, in uniform no less. They were actually out of uniform during the time in the Mosque.
Thanks! We’ll see. I’m not ready to make any formal commitments.
It was wrong to use it for target practice; it works better as toilet paper!
I don't take kindly to kissing evil's face and sniveling/groveling like a baby in front of the Muslims and their press. My ancestors would roll over in their graves if I did that.
You are a State Department wannabe who doesn't know me from Adam. The reality is that I am tired of this limp-wristed PC approach to the war.
Our enemy is fighting the Crusades again, and we are not allowed to see the reality of that. Ever hear of MAJ Stephen Collins Coughlin???? Or did you wish him and his research away like a lot of other people?
Better yet, have you even read the Koran? Because if you had, you sure as heck wouldn't be pushing people to bow down to it or kiss it. Unless of course you have something against Jewish people.
Try reading this sometime if you want to know why I am angry at the opportunists and careerists posing as America's military leaders:
http://www.strategycenter.net/docLib/20080107_Coughlin_ExtremistJihad.pdf
I don't want to be overly old school, but for a non-Catholic to take communion at a Catholic Mass is sacrilege. Has to do with the communion being literally the Body of Christ, which is the Catholic and Orthodox belief, but not that of others. Can't speak to the Lutheran position, although my Dad was a non=observant Lutheran. He rarely came to Mass, and NEVER took communion.
Good dog!
If they were here doing that, we’d all be too busy firing and reloading to care.
Use a bullet in a sabot. A round lead ball will flatten out to a "100 caliber disc" before it's even halfway through. :)
You are so, so, so bleepin' wrong.
Cosmically wrong.
I'll only say this once, and all I ask is that you think it through before jolting back at me.
IF the brass had said, "Yeah, he did it. It's our new standard. You know, sort of like that 'aim between the speakers' business, heh heh heh. Wanna hit a jihadi? Aim for the Koran. You got a problem with that? Tough." -- if they had said something like that, there'd have been some huffing and puffing... and then they'd fall in line in a Baghdad minute.
The ONE thing that culture respects is FORCE. Overwhelming force. If you want respect, begin with your foot on their neck.
Now, you want to play the Nice Guy game? Your choice -- but prepare to lose, bigtime. Just as they will respect those who kick the shit out of them, they will view "politeness" as WEAKNESS.
That STUPID apology is perceived by their side as DEFEAT of our side. In their eyes, we caved. We blinked. We showed them who is boss -- THEM! We showed them that they are strong, and WE are weak.
And they do not respect weakness. Not in the least bit. Never have, never will.
The bottom line is that they are NOT "just like us."
They are NOTHING like us. They have a totally alien culture. They have a mindset that is completely different from ours.
They respect what they fear -- and they do not fear those who kowtow to them. They do not fear "the weak."
You may not like that, but facts are facts, and trying to make them into "like-us" type people -- by "being nice to them" -- is a formula for defeat.
You'd be right -- IF the people in question were "like us" -- but they're not.
Please see my post immediately above this one. We screwed up bigtime, by apologizing.
He met his Catch 22... and won! :)
A military investigation found the shooter guilty and relieved him of duty; he will be redeployed to the United States for reassignment away from the 1st Brigade of the 4th Infantry DivisionWelcome home, soldier.
Apologize?
How far off the bullseye was he?
True. He should have realized that his higher-ups would be so abysmally clueless as to think that "they're just like us" and NOT understand that by engaging in what would be perceived as fearful suck-up weakness they would embolden the enemy.
In a rational world, they'd have understood that by standing their ground, they'd have walked away from the incident with them fearing US -- and what they fear, they respect. What they perceive as being weak they do not fear, they do not respect.
It is an entirely different culture, and our telvisionified happyland BS PC stupidity has got us doing things completely ass-backward.
We go out of our way to convince them that we are weak, and then we wonder why they don't respect us -- so, we try even harder to prove to them that yes, we really, really, really ARE weak.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.