
In FrontPage this morning I discuss the double standard in Afghanistan regarding the American soldier who murdered civilians and the Afghan Qur’an-burning rage rioters who also murdered civilians:
An American soldier has committed a heinous crime
in Afghanistan, entering the homes of Afghan civilians, murdering at
least 16 people, and wounding five. Barack Obama immediately called
Afghan President Hamid Karzai to offer his condolences, said that he was
“deeply saddened,” and announced that he was launching an investigation “to get the facts as quickly as possible and to hold accountable anyone responsible.”Obama also said in a statement: “I offer my condolences to the
families and loved ones of those who lost their lives and to the people
of Afghanistan, who have endured too much violence and suffering. This
incident is tragic and shocking and does not represent the exceptional
character of our military.”Indeed it does not, and the soldier, reportedly a staff sergeant,
should be prosecuted and punished as severely as military justice
allows: he has brought shame and discredit upon the U.S. military at a
particularly delicate time in Afghanistan, when tempers are running high
after the Qur’an-burning incident. And Karzai was in no mood to accept
American assurances that the crime would be investigated and the
perpetrator punished, saying in a statement of his own: “This is an assassination, an intentional killing of innocent civilians and cannot be forgiven.”It is noteworthy, however, that in the riots and rage that followed
the discovery of the burned Qur’ans at Bagram Airfield, Afghan Muslims
have murdered numerous civilians. Just last Monday,
a jihad-martyrdom suicide bomber murdered at least two civilians at the
gates of the airfield. Thirty people have now been killed in protests
over the burning of the Qur’ans, despite (or perhaps because of) the
fact that Obama and other American officials have apologized repeatedly,
profusely, and abjectly for the burning of the Muslim holy book.Yet no apology has been forthcoming from Karzai or any other Afghan
official. Instead, Qazi Nazir Ahmad Hanafi, the Afghan government
official heading up a panel investigating the Qur’an-burning incident, has demanded
that those responsible for the Qur’an burning face Afghan justice: “The
military leaders who ordered the burning and the offenders should both
be tried and punished”¦This evil crime has been done inside Afghanistan
so the punishment must be according to the country”s law.” He didn’t say
anything about the civilians killed in the riots over the Qur’an
burning, or take any notice of the fact that none of the people killed
in those riots had actually burned any Qur’ans at Bagram Airfield or
anywhere else.Karzai’s office, meanwhile, issued a statement
from a council of Muslim clerics who met with the Afghan president:
“The council strongly condemns this crime and inhumane, savage act by
American troops by desecrating holy Korans. 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.”This council of clerics issued no statement calling for the arrest
and prosecution of those who murdered Americans, including civilians, in
rage over the Qur’an burning. Barack Obama did not demand an apology or
call these killings “unforgivable,” and Hamid Karzai did not call him
either to apologize or offer condolences.