An apology, however groveling it may have been, is not enough. More on this story. "Iraqi Sunni party demands tough action against U.S. soldier shooting Quran," from Xinhua, May 19:
BAGHDAD, May 19 (Xinhua) -- A key Iraqi Sunni party demanded Monday the U.S. military to take a tough action against its soldier who used a copy of holy Quran as a target practice, saying apology is not "enough."The Iraqi Islamic Party, headed by Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi, said in a statement that it "demands the U.S. administration to deal firmly with this desecration to make the soldier an example for others in the future."
The party also demanded the Iraqi government to take an appropriate position toward the "humiliation of Muslims by this heinous crime," said the statement obtained by Xinhua.
"Such offenses have occurred frequently during the past few years and apology is no more enough and the U.S. military has to take stronger measures to honor values of Muslims," stressed the statement....
"honor values of Muslims". I find it very telling that Muslims honor the value of one particular copy of the Koran higher than all the loss of life that is occurring in Iraq. The Iraqis are as bad as the Germans in the 1940's when it comes to the disregard for human life.
It should rationally frighten non-Muslims that Muslims value the desecration of a copy of a holy book over the lives of human beings. This is not the case in Christianity or Judaism. I can say with confidence that the loss of Muslim life in Iraq is a worse affront to God than the 10+ Bibles I have on my bookshelves. But then, valuing of human dignity is central to the Jewish and Christian understanding of God. To love God you must love other human beings. Not so, it seems with Islam.
"humiliation of Muslims by this heinous crime"
"an apology is not enough"
I dunno, but I would have thought the beheading and desecration of American contractors by Muslims was pretty heinous, but maybe not...
Or the torture and desecration of the bodies of several US Soldiers by Muslims was pretty heinous, but maybe not...
Oh that's right - it's all about their feelings and their precious (cue Golum) Quran...
"the U.S. military has to take stronger measures to honor values of Muslims"
We have read your statement and agree totally. The values of Muslims are primary here. It is clear that US values are not in synch with Muslim values. Thus, the US military will now take the strongest action it can take. It will leave Iraq, so as not to cause further harm to Muslim values or the Muslim peoples of the world. Never let it be said that we don't respect the values of those with whom we disagree. Bye- bye!!!
Maybe a public beheading of the soldier would be "enough"?
Why do we have to apologise for the destruction of a BOOK? Is it not enough Americans are sacrificing their lives to bring some form of human decency to an otherwise savage, intolerant region? Is it not enough we are risking all to defend human rights in a nation in which women and non-muslims once were slaughtered for offenses as absurd as "insulting" someone?
I say we shouldn't have apologised at all. At least not until these islamofascists apologise for 9/11, 11,000+ islamic terrorist attacks against innocent civilians, and all the other atrocities committed in the name if allah.
The Iraqi Islamic Party has a satanicly warped sense of priority when the lives of innocent civilians and children have less meaning than a book.
Why does not the US military just drag this soldier naked and humiliated before the muslim elders, so they and slap, hit, and spit on him for this insult.
Even this would not be enough, they will insist that he now be killed. Only then will Allah he avenged...
The military should inform these people that they already got all they are going to get...and that was way too much...
Wait for Friday, after the kuthba the believers will do their usual thing...
Wanna bet?
Take a Bible into those countries and you will be killed, no doubt. Just keepin' things in perspective.
Instead of frothing at the mouth, these characters oughta be thankful to that soldier for giving them something to get aggrieved about. Large numbers of these useless mullahs have nothing better to do than to scour the press etc for something to "hurt their religious feelings". This soldier shot up a wad of paper and now they got something at last to scream about. They could at least give him the Order of Allah First Class or some such medal. Instead they want his head. That's gratefulness for you.
Well how long will it be before they court Marshall him?
How about a death sentence? Or, chop off his trigger finger! Yeah! That's it! In the village square where the locals can spit on him and then cheer as his severed finger rolls off the chopping block and he's placed in cuffs and taken off to the stockade?
Gee, I think I want to be a soldier too!
Muslims know that holding their "religion" and "holy book" up as beyond criticism, and demanding our respect under threat of violence by the ever growing 1.2 billion plus Ummah, is like holding a gun to the collective head of Western civilisation. The bully boys of Islam have us over a barrel with this "violence" trump card they are waving in our faces. Apologies, kid gloves, kissing Qur'an's or paying jizya is just not going to work. If the infidel world does not get together and find a solution to this, we are going to lose.
Give 'em an inch and they want a mile. I say enough with inches to Islam!
I've read the Qur'an. Really not worth getting all riled up about.
This apology was a gross miscalculation. The motive behind the apology is repulsive and mocks our freedoms, freedoms gifted to a thankless Iraq through our blood and treasure. At no time, and under no circumstance should any statesman, soldier or citizen valuing our freedoms and equality voluntarily or under coersion defend or revere this antithetical text.
Our soldiers are in Iraq despite the contents of this reprehensible tome . . . not to defend it.
Was it his qur'an? Is there anything in the UCMJ about cranking off rounds at your own property? For us kufrs, the qur'an is no mor "holy" than the Basra phonebook or a roll of Charmin.
Listen here you ignorant ungrateful pieces of human waste, the soldier who mistakenly shot up your holy book was not a muslim. Let me get this straight, it is only a book and a damn poor one at that. Now sod off!!!
Absolutely. The admission followed by the apology have CAUSED the current uulating calls for blood. They would have done much better with the usual "we are investigating", "found no evidence to support", etc. As long as the groveling continues, the fever pitch will intensify. They merely need an excuse.
It is good they got the soldier out of Iraq, however. Otherwise, they would have demanded to try him by the Iraqi shariah-compliant constitution and exposed that glaring U.S. diplomatic error.
Perhaps it was in English, in which csse it wasn't a "real" Koran at all, only an inadequate paraphrase. Or maybe the soldier is a practicing Christian, or Jew, or Mormon, or Wiccan, etc; and he was reading it, but when he got to the part about killing all the un-believers, HIS religious sensibilities were so offended that he had to destroy the book. Moslems aren't the only sensitive ones.
"humiliation of Muslims by this heinous crime,"
No you demonic morons, heinous crimes are things like beheading people, stoning women for adultery, executing people who choose to leave the evil cult of islam. Things like that. And who gives a sh*t whether it was a "real" koran or not. Screw islam. And shame on us for the fools we've chosen to lead us.
Getting pissy about a stack of paper are ya? Boohoo...
"Shintoism, insofar as it is a religion of individual Japanese, is not to be interfered with. Shintoism, however, insofar as it is directed by the Japanese government, and as a measure enforced from above by the government, is to be done away with. People would not be taxed to support National Shinto and there will be no place for Shintoism in the schools. Shintoism as a state religion—National Shinto, that is—will go . . . Our policy on this goes beyond Shinto . . . The dissemination of Japanese militaristic and ultra-nationalistic ideology in any form will be completely suppressed. And the Japanese Government will be required to cease financial and other support of Shinto establishments."
Whinny little Mullahs and their herd animals. Where's General Douglas MacArthur when you need him?
honor values of Muslims,
HA WHEN THEY HONER THE VALUES OF JEWS AND CHRISTIAN
THEN THEY HAVE A RIGHT TO BITCH BUT ONLY THEN
EXPRESS YOUR OPPION HERE ARE THE EMAILS ADRESS OF THE COMPLAINING PARTY'S
iraqiparty@iraqiparty.com
NOT surprising the pentagon does not have a public comments email
I wonder how many Bibles and churches they have desocrated themselves????
If the US military caves in and this soldier is punished to set an example then I wonder how we should respond in America- shoot Qu'rans??? as a show of support for our troops.
This should be a valuable lesson to the US military. Don't apologize for anything. They don't care if you apologize, it just feeds the fire. Bowing and scraping to them justifies their whining about so called affronts.
Their whole mandate is victimization and whining.
Let's see. The offending soldier reports, ultimately, to President Bush. Therefore, the entire episode is President Bush's fault. Consequently, President Bush should make the apology in person. (If there's anything he can do without stuttering or mumbling - it's groveling.)
Who is surprised? Did anyone really think an apology, and smooching the Quran would stop Muslims from working themselves into a frenzy? This comes from the same folks who worked themselves up over a teddy bear, some cartoons, various films quoting the Quran, and yes my favorite….soccer balls.
This is our Iraq strategy! Either we get out now or live with more groveling like this. I can guarantee one thing however….we are not ready to fight this war as a people. Not enough of our leaders understand Islam yet, and won’t for a long time. There is no point staying in Iraq, and fighting there, until our leaders are up to speed on how to fight this war. We can’t afford 5 more years of this nonsense. Hell, I am afraid we can’t handle 2 more years of this strategy.
That does not mean the liberals are right. They are dead wrong, but at least their idiotic plan won’t use up the military as fast (because they won’t use it all!!!). When the GOP at last figures things out (or we get a third party who gets it) then we can fight using our military and use it the way it was meant to be used.
My hope is Obama will be so bad that people will forget this whole “Age of Bush”, and the GOP can get themselves healthy. Iraq is just killing the party (and America for that matter) mentally, politically and economically. This is what you get when you put your faith in Muslims to do the right thing….hopefully they have learned their lesson.
"...holy book..."
Sounds like bullshinto to me.
If this poor trooper goes to trial, he has a great defense already set-up...the commander is contaminating the jury pool with the statement of it being a, "...heinous crime..." The only article they could legally get him on is 134..the general catch-all.
Go on CENTCOM readers...tell us what "really" happened.
Hey man, nice shot.
If this soldier gets a dishonorable discharge out of this forgettable incident, it will be the last straw in my tepid support for the effort in Iraq. If something does happen to this young man, it will destroy the "support the mission, support the troops" mantra; it will become a lie, a shield for the false patriot.
The US Army was nearly ground into dust in Vietnam, it's happening all over again. Bush is becoming another LBJ.
Let me try to get my head around this. . . .burning an American Flag, is free speech, but shooting, flushing or otherwise abusing a koran is a heinous crime?
Yeah, that's "winning hearts and minds" over to the side of freedom and democracy GW.
Either fight to win, or come home, but quit pissin around with the lives of our troops trying to bring these animals out of the 7th century.
Yah - tough treatment - strict penalty:
Promote this soldier to general and give him free reign.
"The party also demanded the Iraqi government to take an appropriate position toward the "humiliation of Muslims by this heinous crime," said the statement obtained by Xinhua."
Get over your inferior selves, you Barbarians.
Never invented anything. Using the West's Internet, cell phones, electricity, plumbing, automobiles, helicopters, airplanes, radio, television, etc - just as Oriana Fallaci points out in "The Rage and The Pride."
Parasites. You "humiliate" your own selves by your backwardness and primitiveness. Losers. The "Best of Peoples" -LOL! LOSERS! Go and live in your caves and hunt and gather without the West's technology and science, LOL! Parasites.
Let the ungrateful Muslims fend for themselves.
Darcy,
Islam is the greatest failure of mankind.
it is good to see all that training at the range enabled the soldier to hit his target. I suspect it was a first shot kill. Give him a medal.
The General thinks kissing the Quran is a high level compliment of respect if not adoration, and muslims will see this as sincere. The muslims on the other hand are thinking, 'Get your filthy kufr lips off that Quran'. And don't slobber...Allah hates infidel slobber on his book. First you rotten dogs shoot hole in the Quran, then you slobber on it. Surely Allah will call for your deaths...Allah is very wise and compassionate, but don't slobber on his book. That really sets him off...
Is there any word on which officer kissed the Koran that was given? It may have been a practicing Muslim who was called upon to do the honors; it pretty clearly wasn't the general.
The shooting was stupid, full stop. That soldier is engaged in a counterinsurgency effort in which his every action reflects on America as a whole in Iraq. Mistakes may seem trivial at the time, but give our enemies the building blocks of a narrative with which to build their support with the population. In this way a single junior enlisted may undo the work of thousands. Even worse, an insult of this magnitude could undermine war efforts in Afghanistan, Somalia and the Philippines.
Commenters elsewhere have noted that the speed and enthusiasm of the apologies are a sign that the Army is improving its information campaign. One step forward, two steps back.
One more time-
The soldier should have used an actual muslim for target practice, rather than a book- damaging a book or drawing a cartoon will cause a riot, but killing a person- no one would have made a fuss over that!
We need to QUIT apologizing for things that are NOT wrong. Our culture allows people to destroy any book, draw any picture, and make fun of any religion- ITS CALLED FREEDOM- and its nothing to be sorry for.
And kissing the koran while apologizing? How very Disgusting!!! How weak- it gives them the idea that we think that fanaticism is acceptable and that we as Americans will BOW to the whims and beliefs of muslims. I will NOT change or deny my freedoms to placate some insane religious nuts.
And ANY person that is willing to kill over the destruction of a BOOK IS A FANATIC. We cannot allow religious fundamentalists (of any religion) scare us into submission. Shooting a BOOK is NOT WRONG- its just a book. And this goes for the bible, and ALL other religious tomes.
Is their god is so small and weak that he needs their protection from book burners & cartoonists?
They seem to think so.
Staceyjw
Oh please, and then an officer appologize, I want to puke.
Before, we send these soldiers of to war, send them to college fist and let them study history and religion.
Our troops were ordered not to shoot at Mosques, what are they doing, hiding in the Mosques and shooting from it.
Who found that Koran? Why was it not compleetly destroyed, burned up. Don't leave a thing behind.
Who knows, what kind of ordeals this soldier had to go through and could not take it anymore.
Our government better is behind our soldiers and not again, to save face punish this soldier. And this culture, let young people blow them selves up and anyone else who is close by. They cherish that and get upset like that, for some pieces of paper, that's all it is. You can print thousands again to-morrow.
Look in Cuba, what they do for their Holy Bible hanging it in face masks. Does Osama Bin Laden and his gang also drag their Holy Book around in the proper way.
How nice it would be if we all could leave the Middle East, also the other countries involved.
Lock your borders and check all the Mosques out.
Freedom of religion, too bad for a violent religeon we are unable to do this. Live by the way of the West, other wise, get the heck out.