Posted on 11/17/2004 2:54:24 AM PST by kattracks
DUBAI (Reuters) - Arabs were torn between seething rage at images of a U.S. soldier shooting dead a wounded Iraqi in a mosque and dismay at Iraqi insurgents in Falluja for turning holy mosques into battlegrounds.Viewers said images, which Arab televisions aired repeatedly of a Marine killing a severely injured Iraqi, fueled growing hatred against America and helped create more "terrorists."
"I am not a jihadist, I am just a normal Muslim but such scenes are pushing me to Jihad," said Dubai-based engineer Abdallah. "We don't expect this from the representative of democracy in the world."
"This is one of the things we saw on TV. God knows how many crimes they have committed which we have not seen," he added."
In Saudi Arabia -- the birthplace of Islam and of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, whose group carried out bombings in the country -- residents said insurgents were to blame for taking their battle into mosques.
"If I was in the U.S. soldier's place I would have killed all the insurgents because they are mercenaries," said Saudi Zaher al-Saleh, a 32-year-old teacher. "They have turned the mosques into battlefields and they're killing civilians."
Islamist extremists called for revenge through their Web sites and cursed pro-U.S. Muslim leaders for remaining silent.
"Oh God your enemies have killed your believers in one of your houses. God take revenge for us," one chatter said.
PERSONAL AFFRONT
Some Muslims saw the killing as a personal affront.
"It's as if they had killed every one of us. Today, it's that poor man, tomorrow, it will be me," said Sherine Mohamed, 27, a financial analyst. "Even if militants didn't respect mosque sanctities, U.S. soldiers should have done so because they claim to help Iraqis."
Muslims said pictures showing Marines lounging with their guns in a Falluja mosque were "insulting."
They said soldiers "sullied the ground with their boots" at the mosque where Muslims are obliged to take off their shoes in respect for the house of God.
"They are entering dangerous waters. If they think they are getting rid of terrorists this way, they are mistaken. They are creating more terrorists than killing them," added Abdallah.
International human rights groups said the killing could amount to a war crime and showed the need to better train U.S. forces about the laws of war.
The U.S. military opened an investigation into whether the Marine acted in self-defense, broke U.S. military law or committed a war crime in the fatal shooting of a wounded Iraqi in Falluja, the scene of fierce fighting between U.S. forces and Iraqi and Islamist militants in the past week.
That shooting was caught on videotape by an NBC television crew embedded with the Marines.
The United Arab Emirates' Al-Ittihad newspaper said the killing was "shocking and provocative" and demanded Washington investigate the "horrifying crime."
"If this crime goes unpunished it will set a dangerous precedent in U.S. policies and will destroy everything (good) it has done for Iraq," it added.
Arab animosity toward U.S. presence in Iraq has ratcheted up since the Abu Ghraib prison scandal that resulted in the sentencing of several U.S. soldiers.
Lebanon's Shi'ite Muslim Hizbollah TV al-Manar led its newscasts with the shooting and said it showed "the ugliness of the actions that occupation forces are carrying out in Iraq."
"U.S. forces violating laws and committing atrocities is not new. What has surfaced is only a small part of what Iraqis are facing," said Shehab al-Ahdal, editor-in-chief of Yemen's al-Nahar newspaper.
Treating them as equals, even for diplomatic purposes, is another issue entirely.
I think it's allah aukbar
Great... uhm, you first. :-)
LOL!
Why then, does it have "rules"?
I agree with you it is not a game, there should be no rules and the objective should be to get it over with as quickly as possible by the most efficient tools at our disposal.
Just seething? I'm tired of hearing about "seething rage". Sure it wasn't burning rage? Or maybe boiling rage. Perhaps it was bristling or flaring rage. Maybe it's just fuming rage or bubbling rage. Better yet, I think maybe it's sizzling steaming rage. Of course it may not be seething yet maybe it's just simmering rage waiting to boil over.
Who cares what they think? No matter how "seething" they get they're still getting their butts kicked.
The media is trying to make another Abu Ghuraib embarrassment out of this, even to the point of lying about what happened. Case in point, I was watching the 10:00 o'clock news (Seattle) last night and they were showing the clip of the insurgent that held his hands up with the soldiers pointing their guns at him, then they froze the clip and said seconds later that man was shot dead. BS - the man holding his hands up was not shot. It was the one in the background under the blanket. They also made comment that there have been more prisoners shot in this way by our soldiers, but did not elaborate.
You certainly know your history, past and contemporary! I commend you and your journalistic-historian perspective for this and have looked to freerepublic for your kind of thought, analysis and commentary on the news. (Seems sometimes this sort of discussion doesn't happen as often as could be possible for there are some really intelligent, astute, thought provoking, news-awared history buffs reading and contributing to this site.)
I tend to limit myself to thoughts and analogies of the past, which stunts my perception or understanding of what is occurring in the present. Your third paragraph suddenly reminded me of an (article or posting from last week) that Turkey had suggested that once things settle down a bit between the US and the insurgents, they are thinking of attacking the Kurds ( or claiming territory) along one area of the northern borders. I remember thinking, this is insane, another front and fire to put out!
I'm think from what followed in your reply, the Turks haven't changed in a century either and are just as brutal, as it appears the tribes of Afghanistan. Sometimes trying to think of solutions is too mind boggling because they are a "world apart" from us in logic and education and sense of law and order.
Unfortunately have to get to work, it was good reading you.
Too bad, so sad -- boo-freakin' hoo! This is War! -- things get broken and people die.
Though I believe the Marine acted in self defence, I also see such an act as an example of doing to Muslims [Jihads] what they have done to others for centuries. Muslims describe such atrocities in the Koran for all to read so Jihads will accurately inflict the proper barbarisms. All civilized people should read the Koran and learn Muhammad's strategies so they may render the same to all of Muhammad's terrorist followers. The Koran describes the acts of justice Muslims practice, appreciate and understand.
Surely, Muhammad's Muslims and the infallible Imams of Islam will not interprete such recompenses as inappropriate for that would be too obvious an hypocrisy. Instead they should be clapping their hands with glee because we, as non-Muslims, are religiously following Muhammad's ideas of justice. Furthermore, Muhammad' terrorists will know Allah will pardon us for traveling on Muhammad's road. As Muhammad told us a thousand times, Allah is Forgiving, Forbearing, Just, Wise and all Knowing and nothing happens in this world without His consent.
Excerpt Koran 2:190-191
[2.190] ...fight in the way of Allah with those who fight with you...
[2.191] And kill them wherever you find them, and drive them out from whence they drove you out, and persecution is severer than slaughter, and do not fight with them at the Sacred Mosque until they fight with you in it, but if they do fight you, then slay them; such is the recompense of the unbelievers.
**EDITED** Excerpt Koran
[2.190] ...fight in the way of Allah with those [Jihad Muhammadans] who fight with you...
[2.191] And kill Islam’s Jihads wherever you find them and drive them out from whence they drove you out, and persecution is severer than slaughter, and do not fight with them at the Sacred Mosque until they fight with you in it, but if they do fight you, then slay them; such is the recompense of the **believers.**
The answer to all the above is an unequivocal YES. We are in a war in which millions of lives are involved. The keyword here is SURVIVAL. Wartime rules apply - one of the crucial being discernment in the dissemination of public information.
Hypocrites.
*************
Agreed. It's time for our military to put an end to the embedding of journalists. It's difficult enough for our troops to fight this kind of battle, without the distraction and interference of a noncombatant.
Just call these new terrorist legions the "Sites Brigades"
It's the responsibility of the DOD to set the guidelines under which the embeds perform their work. The f**k-up is in Pentagon policy, I would argue.
All it is to me is one more jerk launched on his personal road to Hell!
Dear Kevin,
You now provide your own security.
Signed,
Done covering your ass
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