It bears repeating as often as is necessary: so many apologies and promises of trial and punishment are validating a process which, for many of its backers, can only rightly end through retribution in blood, and even that will not be the end.
Nothing will never be enough, because the response, a lethal orgy of destructive rage, has not been rational in the first place, and therefore has no rational end point.
“Afghan clerics demand punishment for Koran burners,” by Hamid Shalizi for Reuters, March 2:
(Reuters) – Senior Afghan clerics said on Friday the burning of Korans at a NATO base last month was an “evil act” that must be punished, a demand that could deepen widespread public anger over the incident.
“The council strongly condemns this crime and inhumane, savage act by American troops by desecrating holy Korans,” members of a council of clerics said after meeting President Hamid Karzai, according to a statement issued by his office.
“The council emphasized that the apology for this evil act can never be accepted. Those who committed this crime must be publicly tried and punished.”
Despite the apology from U.S. President Barack Obama, the desecration of the Korans at Bagram air base ignited a wave of anti-Western fury across the country. Muslims consider the Koran the literal word of God and treat each book with deep reverence.
At least 30 people were killed in the protests.
The Korans had been confiscated from prisoners at the base and mistakenly discarded in an incinerator, U.S. officials said. Afghan laborers found charred remnants.
The Koran burnings have hurt a U.S. campaign to win the hearts and minds of Afghans in order to weaken the Taliban and force the Muslim militant group to negotiate an end to the war now in its eleventh year….