Protests in Afghanistan over the Qur’an in the toilet rumor. “Afghan students say ‘Death to America,'” from AP, with thanks to all who sent this in:
KABUL, Afghanistan – Afghan students chanted “Death to America” and burned an effigy of President Bush on Tuesday, following a report that copies of the Quran were desecrated at the U.S. detention center for terror suspects Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, officials and witnesses said.
Hundreds of students marched from a university campus into the eastern city of Jalalabad and blocked the main road toward the capital, Kabul, intelligence chief Sardar Shah said. There were no reports of violence.
Television footage showed students chanting and calling for an apology for the alleged abuse of Islam’s holy book. An object which witnesses said was an effigy of Bush could be seen burning.
In a recent edition, Newsweek magazine reported that in order to rattle suspects, U.S. interrogators placed Qurans on toilets and in at least one case “flushed a holy book down the toilet.”
In Washington, the State Department on Tuesday described the reported desecration of copies of the Quran as “reprehensible.”
“Obviously, the destruction of any kind of holy book, whether it’s a Bible or a Koran or any other document like that, is something that’s
reprehensible and not in keeping with U.S. policies and practices,” State Department spokesman Tom Casey said.Casey said the allegations are “certainly serious and it would be important to have them be looked into.”…