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President Barack Obama is seen in this file photo.Photo by Associated Press /Chattanooga Times Free Press.
The Obama administration has now apologized repeatedly, both orally and in writing, for the accidental burning of a few Qurans by U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
The Qurans -- Islam's holy book -- and some other religious materials had been removed from a detention facility in Afghanistan because detainees were writing inflammatory messages in them which were then communicated to other detainees. The materials should have simply been kept away from detainees but were mixed in by mistake with materials slated for incineration.
That is unfortunate and it is right to take steps to prevent such incidents from happening again.
But the response among radical Muslims in Afghanistan has been as disgusting and unjustified as it has been predictable. They are unmoved by the president's apologies, and as of this writing, roughly 40 people have been slaughtered in the days since the accidental Quran burnings. That number includes four U.S. soldiers.
The victims of the bloodshed in Afghanistan -- many of them civilians -- had nothing to do with the Quran incident, and it would be wrong to commit violence against them even if they had. Yet while the administration has issued multiple apologies for the Quran burnings, it refuses to take a clear-eyed view of the radical Muslim mindset that considers it acceptable to respond to inadvertent religious insults with deadly violence.
Some of the recent killings have been committed by the Taliban, which sheltered 9/11 terrorist Osama bin Laden. Yet the administration has actually opened the door to negotiations with the Taliban. The administration has also removed references to "Islamic extremism" from documents pertaining to national security. But it is not with radical Buddhism but with radical Islam that our nation is locked in battle.
We will not be able to defeat an enemy that we refuse to name.
It's not about stopping the radicals and zealots.
You can't stop a fanatic, they redoubles their efforts while losing sight of their goal.
It's about showing us to be better, which is very important, and not just to the moderates who might be influenced, but so we respect ourselves.
There's no point to making bold and antagonistic statements with people who won't listen to you, they aren't shamed, they aren't swayed, they're just convinced further, and they can sell it easier to those who might be moderates.
Obamination will generously apologize to the world but he won't even give one to America!
The Afghan War shouldn’t be the world’s most complicated subject to deal with. After all, the message is clear enough. 11 years in, if your forces are still burning Qurans in a deeply religious Muslim country, it’s way too late and you should go. In the headlines in the last year, for instance, were revelations about the 12-soldier “kill team” that “hunted” Afghan civilians “for sport,” murdered them, and posed for demeaning photos with their corpses. There were the four wisecracking U.S. Marines who videotaped themselves urinating on the bodies of dead Afghans — whether civilians or Taliban guerrillas is unknown — with commentary (“Have a good day, buddy… Golden — like a shower”). There was also that sniper unit proudly sporting a Nazi SS banner in another photographed incident and the U.S. combat outpost named “Aryan.” And not to leave out the allies, there were the British soldiers who were filmed “abusing” children.As religious as the country may be and holy as the Quran may be considered, what’s happened cannot be fully explained by the book burning. It is, in truth, an explosion a decade in coming.(tom engelhardt)
It doesn't present us as better, it presents us as weak. That will embolden them to attack us again. Thank you Barry Soetoro.
You think it's weakness, I think it's strength, and your calls otherwise, I see as examples of weakness that try to cover it up by saying "It's the strong and tough way to behave" which just confuses aggression with actual strength and character.
Of course you do. Some people see things the way they want to and others see things the way they are. Who mentioned anything about aggression? You are seeing thing as you want. I see the middle east as it is. The respect won't ever be mutual. EVER. Apologies just set you up for beheading in the middle east.
Some people see things the way they want to? Me thinks you're the one who is guilty of that. But you think I am. Is anybody suprised at that? Not me. We could argue over that till the end of time.
But let's try something more fruitful: Ok, you say don't want some aggressive posturing, so why don't you tell us what you believe Obama should have done instead?
Me, I find that an apology works nicely with everybody reasonable, and those who are aggrieved by it would be outraged regardless. So there's no point in pandering to them, but if you have a specific course of action to suggest, and you claim it's not one of aggression, then what route would you pick?
By the way, such people as are not swayed by an apology are just as prevalent outside the Middle-East as inside it. They are all around.
@Barack Obama's Afghanistan apologies don't stop Islamic radicalism
And what about those Christian radicals tearing both this country and those Islamic countries apart, pretty much a direct cause of that Islamic and other radicalism around the world?
Not to mention the rape, sodomizing of Iraqi children by American and allied forces right before the eyes of their mothers and fathers. And also the brutal rape then murder of an Iraqi teenagers and her entire family. Even the five year old sister. Then they tried to cover it all up and blame it on insurgents. Some Christians nation America and its allies are. {sarcasm}
The world won't and shouldn't soon forget how America and its allies lost its moral compass in both Iraq and Afghanistan.
It's almost like you're saying America did the wrong thing.
Inescapable Conclusion from the Right Wing: You hate America.
Is it at all possible none of this alleged Islamic "radicalism" has anything to do with Islam, and everything to do with how the west, europe and their allies have committed war crimes so horrendous and outrageous in those middle eastern countries and parts of Africa that their acts defy logic, humanity and would shock both civilized, non-civilized/Christian and non-Christian nations alike? dah!
Unfortunately, while the rest of the world knows what has taken place, westerners, europeans and the like are pretty much kept in the dark about has been committed on the pretense of ringing in democracy.
Obummer should have just admitted it was done and explained that it wasn't done on purpose. Simple enough.
You do know the new bulbs contain toxic levels of mercury right? How do you clean that up if one is broken? Call in the EPA? Still happy with those new bulbs?
jjmez and Haiku, Have you read the Koran and edicts from Muslim clerics in the middle east? The radicals are the only true muslims, the muslim-light we see here in the states isn't anything like real islam.
If you're concerned about the 4 miligrams of mercury in the average CFL bulb to the point where you're worried about your safety from breaking one, then you haven't bothered to see how much is released from the extra coal burned by less efficient bulbs.
Your risk is still greater from falling from changing the bulb.
But let's see...here's Obama's words, from what I can find:
"I wish to express my deep regret for the reported incident, I extend to you and the Afghan people my sincere apologies. The error was inadvertent, I assure you that we will take the appropriate steps to avoid any recurrence, to include holding accountable those responsible."
Dear god, it seems like Obama just promised to give them Texas.
And if you want to read some edicts, try those from Christian radicals here in the US.
They're not hard to find.
Do those edicts involve killing or taking "whites from the west" as slaves? No? How radical do they get? Refusing to supply abortions or birth control isn't what I consider radical.
Actually, their edicts do involve killing. For example, abortion doctors.
But they'd also be glad to nuke the Middle-East, slaughter Africa, and expel the dark-skinned among them, including those Papist-worshipping Latinos.
And of course, the Homosexuals:
“Difficulty in implementing Biblical law does not make non-Biblical penology just. But as we have seen, while many homosexuals would be executed, the threat of capital punishment can be restorative. Biblical law would recognize as a matter of justice that even if this law could be enforced today, homosexuals could not be prosecuted for something that was done before.”
Yes, I'm familiar with the Qur'AN. But I don't think you are. I think you're just regurgitating what you've heard and not what you know for fact. Have you read the Christian bible entirely? Especially the more extreme and radical parts of the bible. It's steeped with radical acts and extremism. KKK, militia and other hate groups all consider themselves devout Christians. Yet they are the most intolerant of any people anyone has known. In fact, I've noticed the more devout and steeped in their religios belief, the more intolerant and racist. That's why the likes of Santorum, Gingrich, and even Bush when he visited Chattanooga, came to the area. They still see most white southern Christians as racist bigots, and they play to the very core of that concept. The disturbing part is it looks like they weren't far off in their thinking either.
Isn't that what the west did to Africa? Did you know most all slaves brought to America on slave ships were actually Muslims who spoke Arabic? They were educated and not the "living in trees/swinging from tree limbs" types you were taught to believe for centuries.
But blowing up clinics where abortions might be performed certainly is. Intentionally injuring staff at those clinics and murdering doctors all in the name of God and Christian beliefs are certainly both RADICAL and extreme. ;}
Bottom line is, if someone entered and occupied the west the way the west, europe and their allies went in and committed the horrific acts they committed in the middle east you know you Christian types would be blowing up things, cutting off heads and hanging people from trees too. Oops! You've already been there done that, haven't you?
The President is trying to save some American lives. That's not quite as evil as you might think.
An apology is appropriate when you do the wrong thing or offend someone unintentionally. At least we didn't say "my bad" which in some circles seems to make the screw up OK.
The next apology should be I'm sorry you made me do this....BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, for days then a final BIGGER BOOM. Anyone still upset? We have a new Koran for everyone but you have to come get it BOOM, BOOM BOOM. We want to follow the tradition of the country we are in which appears to be to lie to and kill those that defend you but unintentionally offend you by burning a ratty book. We are damn sure offended and we are following your tradition.
Get the heck out of that god forsaken desert and mountains, get away from those illiterate poppy growing dope heads, bring every soldier home now.
it can't be both ways,,,you can't say these people are deeply religious and then they can murder any one at the drop of a hat. they can't read so what purpose is a book that the majority of the people doesn't have anything to go by but hear say. sadly the book has no merit ,,,,they could have burned it to ,,,,how would they know?? i agree with someone who made the comment to bring our troops home,,,,that way you would have killers killing killers ,,,that wouldn't be wrong
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