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 ...
Bingo!
Those officers should be ashamed of themselves -- THEY should be forced to apologize to that soldier -- and then, they should be forced to attend "cultural sensitivity training" -- until they can get it through their heads that "they're really NOT like us at all!" -- and that the ONLY way to "earn their respect" is to show unrelenting strength -- FORCE -- and never show ANY weakness. And in that regard, to "apologize" for "offending" them is to scream "Yes, we ARE weak!"
The Koran says use the infidel foe target practice
We'd better make up our mind -- are we gonna be an occupying army, or are we gonna be the Welcome Wagon?
We are trying to be both. That's too stupid for words.
If we want to see that "decent government" we will stop screwing around playing Mr. Rogers Neighborhood, and be a serious occupation force. We won't go around with happy smiles. We'll go around and when they see us coming, THEY will put on the happy smiles -- presuming they haven't managed to run inside and hide under the bed before we get there.
If the word "American" makes chills run up their spines, they will respect us. If they do NOT fear us, they will NOT respect us, and we'll have... we'll have what we currently have -- a quagmire that has dragged on for an obscene amount of time and getting nowhere fast, with one Miracle Plan after another at the "Trial Balloons, Line Forms Here" gate.
We USED to know how to fight a war AND end a war.
We ended a war by WINNING the war. We didn't go in there with a rifle in one hand, and a candystriper sleeve on the other. It's PC-iliciously INSANE!
Here's the best part of all: When they DO fear us, we won't HAVE to "go killin' 'em all." They'll be all nice and sweet and happy and yessir yessir Mister American! They'll grovel and kiss-ass and grit their teeth because they'll know that that's the only way to get rid of us.
Good Lord, if we "fought" WWII the way our feminized "leadership" has us going about things today, we'd be ordering sushi in German.
LOL!
Be kind of a trick to manage, though, if they're cringing under their beds sucking their thumbs and crapping their pants every time they hear, "Americans! Coming now!"
Get real. ALL of our lives are on the line!
We already have "the most beautiful sound in the world" -- the wailing muezzins five times a day over blart-o-matic PA systems all hours of the day and night, right here in Michigan USA, by force of law.
Oh? Oops, my mistake [thwacks forehead]. Allies! How could I have been so dense? All this time I thought we were discussing middle eastern Islamic culture!
Well you are 100% correct that apologies to Muslism are useless and counter productive. Muslims have one set of rules for Muslim to Muslism interaction and another set of rules for interacting with the non Muslim. The non Muslism is a held in contempt and his kind gestures are puzzling to the Muslim and considered weakness
Aggressive Muhammad, aggressive Koran, aggressive phony god allah, aggressive Muslims with their eternal Jihad
True, but in the grand scheme of things, it's likely a least-violent/best-compromise, definitely less bloody than "we behead fifty of your men for each American that you wound" -- which would arguably be more effective toward reaching that goal.
But, at the end of the day, we either do NOT want their respect, or, we are so over-our-heads STUPID that we have NO business meddling in that festering stink-hole.
A few years back, the Soviets, in one of those atavistic “cultures” in that region, had a bit of a problem. The KGB had one of their people abducted and killed by the local jihadis.
To make a long story short, after a short flurry of correspondence, the matter was settled once and for all, and the KGB was left alone from that point forth.
Had the local postal service refused to accept body parts for delivery to local jihadi addresses, things might have gotten a bit more complicated, but somehow I suspect the KGB would have managed. They did not have the PC constraints that we have insisted on inflicting upon ourselves, and, they understood that there is only ONE thing that is respected in that culture — and they had no compunctions about serving it up upon request.
Precisely. It is a dark-ages war culture, which sees all of creation falling into two categories -- "the house of peace" (Islam) and "the house of war" (everyone else).
We are by definition "the enemy" -- and they will only "respect" us to whatever degree it is convenient to them, and to whatever degree they fear us. They are NOT going to treat "the house of war" as "allies" or "friends" no matter how cloyingly solicitous we behave. The more we do engage in sucking up like that, the more we will convince them that we are weak, they are strong, and... and the bottom line is that when all is said and done, we will ALWAYS be "the house of war" unless we convert to Islam.
http://www.strategycenter.net/docLib/20080107_Coughlin_ExtremistJihad.pdf
[hotlinked]
Strong is not the same as stupid.
instead of back and forth: Once our soldiers leave, go to Iraq, and start burning Qurans. That will really win the “war of civilizations.” What else do you want me to say?
Shooting up a Koran was a stupid stunt to begin with. He's just doing damage control.
It’s amazing that there are people here who cannot see beyond themselves and who think the best way to win the war is to insult the people who are fighting beside you.
Let the NEA and CAIR duke it out.
An "unamed official" of course, even though they had no problem naming the two star general. Anyone find this information from any source other than CNN? I did a quick search and every story credited CNN, even when they did not report the Koran Kissing. However the Koran Kisser was named in an al Reuters story, but one still sourcing CNN.
And this story out of Pakistan, full of made up crap, is a good example of why shooting the Koran was a stupid move. But y'all might like it, as it has pictures supposedly of the shot up Koran. (Very unlikely to be the Koran involved in the original incident, or even a Koran anywhere in Iraq)
Haha, so true - but we tend to be (a) armed and (b) more driven than the oppressed peoples of an ex-dictatorship who’ve spent their entire existence being lied to.
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