Posted on 04/03/2011 3:20:59 PM PDT by tobyhill
Top U.S. officials in Afghanistan on Sunday condemned the burning of a Quran in the United States that sparked three days of protests in which more than 20 people died.
Burning the Muslim holy book "was hateful, it was intolerant and it was extremely disrespectful and again, we condemn it in the strongest manner possible," said Gen. David Petraeus, who heads the U.S.-led international forces in Afghanistan.
U.S. Ambassador Karl Eikenberry said in a statement that Americans respect the Quran "and all religious texts and deplore any action that shows disrespect to any religious faith."
"At the same time, I want to emphasize, as have many Afghan leaders, that to attack and kill innocent people in response to the deplorable act of one individual is outrageous, and an affront to human decency and dignity," Eikenbery's statement said.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
I don't see Muslims as monolithic (and I know I will be skewered for that statement). While there are many who are monsters, and their religion is violent if followed as many follow it, I do not believe that all Muslims are evil and not worth the bother.
At the heart of my view is my faith in God, and who He is as loving Creator, and that people in the ME were created by Him with a need for Jesus as Savior, just as we were.
Without giving details, my veteran son was part of the 'hearts and minds' campaign and his experience, even in the belly of the beast in East Baghdad does not support that Muslims are monolithic and evil (and he was being mortared and shot at by the worst of them).
What our military has done under Petraeus, while being far from universally successful has made an enormous difference in Iraq. It has worked.
There are a number of Muslims who are monstrous, and it is they whom we must destroy. There is another group who have been manipulated, wittingly or unwittingly, by evil people, and they must be stopped. But there are also a number of Muslims who need to be rescued from the oppression of evil leaders and a screwed up religion.
It is a messy, complicated situation, and people like this ninny Jones has at best done nothing worthwhile, and at worst has willingly aggravated the situation and put our troops at further risk as a result.
Petraeus was RIGHT to chastise him for his reckless, thoughtless, self-absorbed behavior.
btw, what do you think about Beck's thoughts on the subject and the Soros/Obama/Jones inflammation of the ME?
That's not what Petraeus is doing here.
The problem is that our approach is to try and being nice to Muslims and respecting their religion. What we SHOULD be doing is trying to create an environment where those people who only go through the motions of believing in the Moon God, can feel safe to live their lives without being in fear of their neighbors who would stone them for apostasy, should they not be a believer in the Moon God.
No disagreement with that statement at all.
Appeasement didn't work in preventing WWII, Girlene, and it won't work with the jihadists.
Let’s try this analogy.
YOUR posts have “made me” see red until I’m furious at you.
Tonight I go out and run over some little kids at the park because of that.
Tomorrow YOU should be arrested for what YOU caused me to do.
Now, tell me, does this type of scenario REALLY make sense to you?? Without all the emotionalism, and name calling, does this type of scenario really sound logical??
I just don’t get that you don’t get it. < shaking my head sadly >
I'm trying to have a rationale discussion based on logic and not emotion, about this issue.
What are YOU trying to do? I'm serious. I have no idea what you're trying to accomplish here. Are you OK?
You make some good points here, most of which I don't disagree with. Karzai is, at best, a conflicted, questionable ally, so I'm not in support of his riling up the Afghan people. Afghanistan is so messed up and historically bizarre that I'm not sure there is even a glimmer of hope for its future. It is definitely far more backwards than Iraq, so your points about the difference between the two countries are accurate.
My reason for coming on this thread was to draw attention to Jones' lack of character, and to perhaps make people think that, just because we don't support Islam, we shouldn't necessarily support what this guy did. IS the enemy of my enemy my friend? Do we support a jerk just because he hates Islam? Do we castigate Petraeus for calling him on the boneheadedness of his behavior? Is it his place to attack Karzai in his position? All questions that might be answered differently by each person here.
No person, no matter how noble, says every word we want nor do we agree with everything he does. That obviously is true of Petraeus. But go back and look at the hostility, anger, and idiocy aimed in his direction because of this incident. It's outrageous and extreme and has no place in rational discourse.
I personally find Beck's observation a very valid one. There is clearly a Soros/Obama effort to agitate and foment problems in the ME. I'm not saying that this Jones jerk is in cahoots with them in a serious way, but asking if perhaps, he is anti-American enough (being a Phelps follower), and anti-military enough to have done this at this time deliberately to cause further problems in Afghanistan is, IMO a valid question.
We will likely never know the answer, but it's a question worth asking.
(Sorry for rambling!)
I asked for your response without all the emotionalism and name calling, *SIGH*.
Did you actually read my post, my analogy of YOUR viewpoint here. I asked if that really made sense to you. A simple YES or NO would suffice.
I need to add to my analogy:
After killing several children at the park because of YOUR actions, I am not held accountable by officials in the town.
The Mayor tells the media:
“What the person writing on that forum did was REPREHENSIBLE, even though they had every right to EXPRESS THEIR OPINIONS.”
The Police Chief comes out and says:
“What the person writing on that forum wrote was hateful and bigoted and I’m really sorry it forced that other person to drive into the park! It never would have happened if not for that person writing on the forum!”
The County Commisioner comes out and gives his assessment:
“We are going to hold an investigation into that forum and that forum writer, because they need to be held accountable for their actions (writing their opinions) and they need to pay for forcing that person who was minding their own business to drive into that park and run over those children!”
If you want I could further simplify the viewpoints of myself and several others on this forum for you...without calling you names or asking about your mental well-being.
To be honest, Jones is not a “Phelps follower”, his church agrees with Phelps’ condemnation of homosexual behavior, endorsement, etc. but denies everything else about Westboro beliefs and actions. To say Jones is a “Phelps follower” is incorrect.
A simple YES or NO to what? Maybe I'm really dense, but I have NO clue as to what you're trying to do.
Pretend I'm a child and explain what you're doing. It makes no sense to me.
Obama, Reid, Graham - YES. Petraeus - NO.
Oh shut up Pet
Oh shut up Pet
Please tell me (calmly) why you feel that Petraeus’ criticizing a man who has put his troops in further danger is putting his troops in further danger.
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