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.
I don't give a rats ass about enraged Muslims.
Should we be worried ? There are no rules in "this kind of war" Does Aljazeera get it yet? Bagdad Bob must be behind this.
"Arabs Enraged at U.S. Soldier Shooting Wounded Iraq"
But nothing but deafening silence over the cold blooded shooting of British Aid worker Margaret Hassan!
Scum.
Exactly!! Would it have been OK if the Marine had produced a honking big knife, sawed the towelie's head off and mailed a videotape of the joyous event around the world? Idiots.
Kevin Sites has some pictures featured on an anti war "art" site..I will not forgive him for this firestorm..carry on.
However, I'm all in favor of the DOD changing the terms under which embeds report. Submission of all videos and reports to DOD examiners sounds okay with me. It's a war, dammit.
Meg, if you thought the "images against war site was bad, you should see his personal blog, where he claims:
"Disclaimer: Kevin Sites is a freelance solo journalist currently on assignment for NBC News in Iraq, but this site is a personal website not affiliated with or funded by NBC News. "
All the Marine had to do is scream "Allah Akbar" and nothing he did would have mattered to al Queda or the democrat party.
Had rival Muslims done the deed they would not have uttered a peep. Maybe we need to field teams of Kurds for doing just this.
..show them the videos of the beheadings....
Hey, my kind of Arab!
Indeed. A lot of our counter-outrage is misdirected, I think. Especially, when you consider that like every other racial/ethnic group from around the world, a fair number are our fellow citizens. There ought to be some code we might use to distinguish one from the other.
The easy, seemingly manic enthusiasm with which the so-called insurgents murder and butcher not only foreigners, but their own, reminds of a scene from Lawrence of Arabia. Ali (Omar Sharif) kills Lawrence's guide for drinking from his tribal well. Lawrence tells him, "So long as the Arabs fight tribe against tribe, so long will they be a little people, a silly people -- greedy, barbarous, and cruel, as you are."
The outrage of the little, silly people is certainly even more misdirected. All they have to do is take charge, hold their damn elections, maintain the peace, and we'll go home--or at least, withdraw to our forward bases elsewhere in the region.
Ask me if I care what some supremely ignorant, terrorist-supporting , third-world numbskulls think. Good grief, why even report their nonsensical ravings?
Wonder what the Arabic word for "OK" is.
"It is for me, a strangely omniscient view of both the occupier and the occupied. In a way it is debilitating. I empathize with each, but sense no convictions for either, nodding with understanding at the explanation from both sides."...A real patriot, Kevin Sites
Boo frickin' hoo. If he wasn't a terrorist insurgent to begin with, his lame a$$ wouldn't have been shot while faking being dead.
He's stopped his blog now, well "paused it" and Sites says he's talking to CNN now. NBC must not have paid him enough money.
>> Arabs Enraged at U.S. Soldier Shooting Wounded Iraq
'Thanks' to Main Stream Media traitors.
Since NBC is his current employer, I wonder if CNN felt that Sites didn't lean far enough to the left.
They act all ouraged over the mosque being used in battle. Like they haven't used mosques for storing weapons, planning attacks and make shift fortresses!
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