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.
Actually a "normal muslim" has reached for his gun. Anyone who hasn't is what we call "slow".
The marine should have plugged the cameraman right after he shot the Iraqi Terrorist.
Re: pushing me to Jihad
A death wish.
No they were giddy with joy (someone needs to post the obligatory picture of the ululating ladies next to the picture of the people jumping or falling from the WTC)
Enraged Arabs? Wait until they see what an enraged America does. They ain't seen nothing yet.
This is silly. It's a common wartime situation. Everyone who went to Fallujah should get a medal, if this is the criterion.
The point is, the situation is not wholly his fault–which is not to condone the frenzy that the Arab media and the rest are trying to whip up. From what I've read and heard reported, the Marine who fired the shot had every reason to be suspicious of guys pretending to be hurt or dead. I probably would have shot the guy, too. We've already got more prisoners than we need in this terror war.
An anti war activist, embedded with US troops?
How on earth did he get into that position?
This is starting to look like a set-up to me.
Heaven forbid we get the Arab street mad at us, they might bomb an American Embassy, or fly a plane into a building.
The same guys that have no problem with the terrorist turning the Mosque into a fighting position and weapons warehouse, are offended because the Marines didn't take their boots off, yeah right.
Of course not. They are very selective in the "rage".
No sarcasm tag needed.
Had I a dime for every time a similar sentiment has appeared on FR, I think I could soon retire. (To you guys' shame, war is NOT a game)
These people have been reading too much American MSM crap.
I don't think the insurgents there, went shoeless.
Screw them.
HEY ARABS, LEARN TO BEHAVE, OR EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU CAN BE "NEXT!"
Yeah yeah yeah, blah blah blah...........anyone who gives a flying fiddler's damn what the Muslim world thinks any more, raise your hand.
Didn't think so.
It's time to make them concerned about what pisses US off.
August 7, 1998: The U. S. Embassies in Tanzania and Kenya were attacked in nearly simultaneous can bombings, killing 231 people (only 12 of which were Americans) and injuring over 5,000 others.
October 12, 2000: The USS Cole is attacked while refueling off the coast of Yemen, killing 17 sailors.
September 11, 2001: The World Trade Center in New York, and The Pentagon in Washington DC were crashed into by airliners full of people and fuel. A fourth airplane was unable to reach its target and crashed into a field in Pennsylvania. Nearly 3,000 people were killed.
April 11, 2002: El Ghriba synagogue on Djerba Island off Tunisia was rammed into by a truck, killing 21 people, mostly Germans.
June 14, 2002: The American Consulate in Karachi, Pakistan was rammed by a truck, killing 14 Pakistanis and injuring another 45.
October 12, 2002: A Nightclub in Bali, Indonesia was destroyed by a car bomb, killing 202 people, mostly Australians, and injuring hundreds.
November 28, 2002: A Resort Hotel in Mombasa, Kenya is hit by suicide attackers, 2 missiles miss jetliners as 14 people are killed, and 80 are injured.
May 12, 2003: A workers complex in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia is attacked by 4 car bombs, killing 26 while injuring 190.
May 16, 2003: Five sites in Casablanca, Morocco are attacked in multiple attacks, killing 28 people and injuring over 100.
August 5, 2003: JW Marriott in Jakarta, Indonesia is attacked by a suicide terrorist, killing 12 people and injuring another 150.
November 8, 2003: A workers complex in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia is attacked by a car terrorist, killing 17 and injuring 122.
November 15, 2003: 2 synagogues in Istanbul are hit by car terrorists, killing 23 and injuring over 300.
November 20, 2003: The British Consulate and a London-based bank, both in Istanbul are attacked with trucks full of explosives, killing at least 27 and injuring another 450.
SHOOT THEM ALL IN THE HEAD you play dead youll be dead
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