Who's Really Abusing the Koran? At Gitmo, the prisoners, not the guards, were the worst offenders.

The Los Angeles Times ^ | June 9, 2005 | Max Boot

[quidnunc]

All the headlines about "Abuse of the Koran at Gitmo" are absolutely accurate. Brig. Gen. Jay Hood's internal investigation has uncovered some shocking incidents. On at least six occasions, Korans were ripped up. They were urinated on three times, and attempts were made to flush them down the toilet at least three other times.

Why aren't millions of Muslims rioting in response to these defilements? Because the perpetrators were prisoners, not guards. As John Hinderaker notes on weeklystandard.com, the most serious desecrations of the Koran at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility were committed by the Muslim inmates themselves.

You'd never know this from the news coverage, which pounced on Hood's finding of five confirmed incidents of Koran abuse as proof that Newsweek was on to something with its phony-baloney report about guards flushing a Koran down the toilet.

Far from confirming accusations of American depravity, what the report actually shows is that Guantanamo is the first gulag in history run on the principle that no sensibility of the inmates should be offended, no matter how inadvertently.

-snip-

[LasVegasMac]

Just for giggles, I'm going to buy a Qoran.

And publish the pictures of the "defilements" I have in mind.

Take your Qoran and stuff it.

Sideways.

Good article.

LVM

[EdHallick]

The LA times printed this? I don`t know what`s more suprising, the story or that. I mean how are they going to blame Bush now? My oh my, I guess the pot ran out in the newsroom.

[sharktrager]

Don't get too excited. It's an op-ed, so it will be generally ignored.

Most people don't read editorials by people they don't agree with.

[04BernieUSMC]

It's kinda funny, I don't remeber seeing any type of POW camps in Iraq where they are holding NATO POW's..Ohh yeah, That's right, they tortured, dismembered, eviscerated and destroyed those people..Who cares about Gitmo.I say we destroy the friggin Hadgies

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

Those korans were purchased with US tax dollars are US property! How dare they destroy them! I think I'll riot!

Even in jail they try to show their hatred of all things US by destroying items they don't own!

[TWohlford]

this entire story about Koran (Qu'ran?) desecration is bogus on so many levels. Consider just a few:

- In any number of wars and battles since the founding of Islam, I'm betting that Korans have been desecrated, along with the mosques and the muslims. In fact, it was a goal of West Pakistani troops to defile as many women by rape as was possible.

- Let's consider the average toilet for a second. First of all, such a device is unknown in most of the Middle East. Second, 99% of the toilets in the world won't flush down a single page, let alone an entire book.

- Such an elevation of the Koran is to make it an idol. If you recall history, much of Arabia worshiped "idols" before Islam conquered the place, and all "idols" were smashed. IN a religion where pictures of Mohammed (and Allah) are strictly forbidden in order to avoid idolitry, I find it difficult to believe that such sensitivies to copies of the Koran don't become its own idolitry.

[The Great RJ]

We should take away their Korans, give them a largely pork product diet and all the beer they care to drink and provide non stop viewing of MTV and porn videos.

[LongElegantLegs]

I suppose this is a bad time to confess this but here goes...
When I was 16, I was going through a religion phase;
I checked out a copy of the Koran from the library, read a few pages, then dropped it onto the floor beside my bed and went to sleep.

The next morning, I awoke to find out that my EXCEEDINGLY unclean Chihuahua had torn it to shreds and eaten part of it, as he was wont to do with books left lying around.
I had to pay the library $25 for it. (An astronomical sum to a barely employed teenager.)

If I'd-a known what a big deal it would become, I would have gotten some pictures.

[satchmodog9]

hmm

[auzerais]

Brian Sussman of KSFO had a great idea.
Why don't the US military in Iraq simply plaster the sides of their humvees with Korans?
I'd bet they are alot cheaper than tons of armor plating, and it just might make the "jihadi insurgents" think twice about firing at our troops or boowing up IEDs and thereby "desecrating" their so-called holy Koran.

#

[McGavin999]

What on earth is going on at the LATimes? This is the second fair article I've read today that was published there. You'd almost think they figured out that they were losing business because of their slanted ways.

[claptrap]

Unfortunately we are beset with multitudes of morons, whose
greatest worry is that we may be offending some Arab dirty sheet wearer. I for one propose that real Americans go out of their way to offend every Arab sensibility they might be aware of, I would even go further and suggest every Arab(or muslim) should be dragged kicking and screaming from their car,camel or whatever they may ride in , these days,
and visciously beaten much like the unfortunate truck driver from the L.A.(oh excuse me that should be Mexico) riots. Too bad Americans cant stick together on these issues if we could we would truly be the biggest baddest
butt kicking gang on the planet but nooooooo, we are infested with weak-kneed panty-waisted liberal crap heads
and dumbcluck republicans who just want to "get along"
with Rodney King minorities(who arent minorities anymore)
who turn around and kick the crap out of people who are
polite and nice to them. Rant over Im going to go drink
Black Russians and clean the glock!