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Why Apologize to Afghanistan?
National Review ^ | 2/25/2012 | Andrew McCarthy

Posted on 02/25/2012 7:52:50 AM PST by Servant of the Cross

The reaction to an accidental Koran-burning was inexcusable.

We have officially lost our minds.

The New York Times reports that President Obama has sent a formal letter of apology to Afghanistan’s ingrate president, Hamid Karzai, for the burning of Korans at a U.S. military base. The only upside of the apology is that it appears (based on the Times account) to be couched as coming personally from our blindly Islamophilic president — “I wish to express my deep regret for the reported incident. . . . I extend to you and the Afghani people my sincere apologies.” It is not couched as an apology from the American people, whose frame of mind will be outrage, not contrition, as the facts become more widely known.

The facts are that the Korans were seized at a jail because jihadists imprisoned there were using them not for prayer but to communicate incendiary messages. The soldiers dispatched to burn refuse from the jail were not the officials who had seized the books, had no idea they were burning Korans, and tried desperately to retrieve the books when the situation was brought to their attention.

Of course, these facts may not become widely known, because no one is supposed to mention the main significance of what has happened here. First, as usual, Muslims — not al-Qaeda terrorists, but ordinary, mainstream Muslims — are rioting and murdering over the burning (indeed, the inadvertent burning) of a book. Yes, it’s the Koran, but it’s a book all the same — and one that, moderate Muslims never tire of telling us, doesn’t really mean everything it says anyhow.

Muslim leaders and their leftist apologists are also forever lecturing the United States about “proportionality” in our war-fighting. Yet when it comes to Muslim proportionality, Americans are supposed to shrug meekly and accept the “you burn books, we kill people” law of the jungle. Disgustingly, the Times would inure us to this moral equivalence by rationalizing that “Afghans are fiercely protective of their Islamic faith.” Well then, I guess that makes it all right, huh?

Then there’s the second not-to-be-uttered truth: Defiling the Koran becomes an issue for Muslims only when it has been done by non-Muslims. Observe that the unintentional burning would not have occurred if these “fiercely protective of their Islamic faith” Afghans had not defiled the Korans in the first place. They were Muslim prisoners who annotated the “holy” pages with what a U.S. military official described as “extremist inscriptions” in covert messages sent back and forth, just as the jihadists held at Gitmo have been known to do (notwithstanding that Muslim prisoners get their Korans courtesy of the American taxpayers they construe the book to justify killing).

Do you know why you are supposed to stay mum about the intentional Muslim sacrilege but plead to be forgiven for the accidental American offense? Because you would otherwise have to observe that the Koran and other Islamic scriptures instruct Muslims that they are in a civilizational jihad against non-Muslims, and that it is therefore permissible for them to do whatever is necessary — including scrawl militant graffiti on their holy book — if it advances the cause. Abdul Sattar Khawasi — not a member of al-Qaeda but a member in good standing of the Afghan government for which our troops are inexplicably fighting and dying — put it this way: “Americans are invaders, and jihad against the Americans is an obligation.”

Because exploiting America’s hyper-sensitivity to things Islamic advances the jihad, the ostensible abuse of the Koran by using it for secret communiqués is to be overlooked. Actionable abuse occurs only when the book is touched by the bare hands of, or otherwise maltreated by, an infidel.

As our great Iraqi ally Ayatollah Ali Sistani teaches, touching a kafir (“one who does not believe in Allah and His Oneness”) is to be avoided, because Islamic scripture categorizes infidels as equivalent to “urine, feces, semen, dead bodies, blood, dogs, pigs, alcoholic liquors,” and “the sweat of an animal who persistently eats filth.” That is what influential clerics — not al-Qaeda but revered scholars of Islamic law — inculcate in rank-and-file Muslims.

And they are not making it up. Sistani came upon this view after decades of dedicated scriptural study. In fact, to take just one telling example (we could list many, many others), the “holy” Koran we non-Muslims are supposed to honor proclaims (in Sura 9:28), “Truly the pagans are unclean . . . so let them not . . . approach the sacred mosque.” It is because of this injunction from Allah that non-Muslims are barred — not by al-Qaeda but by the Saudi Arabian government — from entering Mecca and Medina. Kafirs are deemed unfit to set their infidel feet on the ground of these ancient cities. You don’t like that? Too bad — grin and bear it . . . and, while you’re at it, surge up a few thousand more American troops to improve life in Kandahar.

Understand this: Muslims are killing Muslims all the time. Sunnis attack Shiites, Shiites attack Sunnis. Ahmadi Muslims are attacked in sundry Islamic countries. Often, these Muslim-on-Muslim atrocities involve not only murder but also the torching of the other sect’s homes and mosques — necessarily meaning Muslims are burning Korans, and with far more mens rea than the American personnel had in Afghanistan. None of these atrocities incite global Islamic rioting — it is just Muslim-on-Muslim violence, the numbing familiarity of which calls for no comment, except perhaps to mumble that it must have something to do with how “fiercely protective of their Islamic faith” Muslims are. (Actually, it has to do with Muslims’ deeming the perceived heresies of other Muslims to be apostasy, for which sharia prescribes the death penalty.)

Also understand this: In sharia societies, non-Muslim religious articles are confiscated and destroyed every single day as a matter of policy. In Saudi Arabia, where sharia is the law of the land, where Mecca and Medina are closed to non-Muslims, government guidelines prohibit Jews and Christians from bringing Bibles, crucifixes, Stars of David, and similar artifacts emblematic of their faith into the country. When that prohibition is violated, the offending items are seized and burned or otherwise destroyed. Moreover, though Saudis deny having an official policy that bans Jews from entering the country at all, reports are rampant of travelers’ being denied visas either because they are Jewish or because their passports bear stamps indicative of prior travel to Israel.

In spite of this shameful, conscious, systematic abuse of non-Muslims and their religious articles, King Abdullah has yet to send a letter of apology to Obama. All the presidential bowing in the world will not change this, not when Muslim supremacism is the irreducible core of mainstream Islam — not al-Qaeda Islam, mainstream Islam. And where is Mr. Karzai’s apology over the Afghan soldier who just killed two Americans? That is only the latest incident in a largely unreported epidemic: our “allies” turning their weapons on their Western trainers.

On second thought, who cares if Karzai apologizes? Our troops do not belong in Afghanistan. They have given more than enough, way more. So has our country.

If our government believes the Taliban and other factions are our enemies, allied with al-Qaeda to kill Americans, then we should unleash our military to destroy them. This should not be an endless counterinsurgency experiment that prioritizes the protection of Afghan civilians and the construction of Afghan civil society; it should be a war that our vast might enables us to win rapidly and decisively.

But our government has repeatedly professed that the Taliban are not our enemies. If that is true, we lack not only the will but the cause for waging war. We should leave — now. It is immoral to keep our young men and women there as sitting ducks in a place where the people hate Americans but we are not trying to vanquish them. We routed al-Qaeda years ago. We don’t need to defeat the Taliban or waste time negotiating with them, Karzai, the warlords, and the rest. Let them have their Korans and work it out for themselves with the compassion that has been such a Religion of Peace hallmark for the last 14 centuries.

That, however, cannot be the end of it. If, according to the president, we need to apologize to Muslims because we must accept that they have such an innate, extraordinary ardor for their religion that barbaric reactions to trivial slights are inevitable, then they should not be invited to enter a civilized country. At the very least, our immigration laws should exclude entry from Muslim-majority countries unless and until those countries expressly repeal repressive sharia laws (e.g., the death penalty for apostates) and adopt American standards of non-discrimination against, tolerance of, and protection for religious minorities.

If you really want to promote freedom in Islamic countries, an immigration policy based on civil-rights reciprocity would be a lot more effective, and a lot less expensive, than dispatching tens of thousands of troops to build sharia “democracies.” It would also protect Americans from people whose countries and cultures have not prepared them for the obligations of citizenship in a free society.


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: apologize; koran; koranburning; mccarthy
Let them have their Korans and work it out for themselves with the compassion that has been such a 'Religion of Peace' hallmark for the last 14 centuries.
1 posted on 02/25/2012 7:52:52 AM PST by Servant of the Cross
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To: Servant of the Cross

Well Obama framed his aplogy as coming from himself. but then everyuthing he does is about him.

The Pentagon also issued an apology, and that also came from Obama. Only an idiot would believe the Pentagon apologised without being ordered to.


2 posted on 02/25/2012 8:00:33 AM PST by Venturer
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To: Servant of the Cross

They hate the West.
Why are they here ?


3 posted on 02/25/2012 8:04:26 AM PST by Eric in the Ozarks (Beware the Sweater Vest)
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To: Servant of the Cross

Obama was going to apologize for Hiroshima and Nagasaki but the Japanese urged him not to because of the political ramifications...


4 posted on 02/25/2012 8:06:06 AM PST by ColdSteelTalon (Light is fading to shadow, and casting its shroud over all we have known...)
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To: Servant of the Cross

I’m tired how we fight our wars over there. Enough is enough. Pull everything out of those countries and cutoff all aid. Whether we help them or not it’s a losing battle unless we’re willing to fight the war to actually crush our enemies. And we haven’t had a President willing to do that in a long, long time.

The only way to deal with those savages is to pull all media out, and put the full, unmerciful power of our military to work. If we won’t do that, let’s get out and deal with them from afar.


5 posted on 02/25/2012 8:11:40 AM PST by Paco
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To: Servant of the Cross

Islam is a Ponzi scheme.


6 posted on 02/25/2012 8:18:32 AM PST by seton89 (Are the Ten Commandments a living document?)
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To: Servant of the Cross

We have not developed a cost effective response to terrorism. We had better.


7 posted on 02/25/2012 8:32:32 AM PST by SC_Pete
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To: Servant of the Cross

The administration is telling the Catholic church it can go to hell and die.

But it bends over for Muslims?

Another day in Obamaland. :(:(:(:(


8 posted on 02/25/2012 8:40:23 AM PST by Tzimisce (Never forget that the American Revolution began when the British tried to disarm the colonists.)
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To: Servant of the Cross
If, according to the president, we need to apologize to Muslims because we must accept that they have such an innate, extraordinary ardor for their religion that barbaric reactions to trivial slights are inevitable, then they should not be invited to enter a civilized country. At the very least, our immigration laws should exclude entry from Muslim-majority countries unless and until those countries expressly repeal repressive sharia laws (e.g., the death penalty for apostates) and adopt American standards of non-discrimination against, tolerance of, and protection for religious minorities. If you really want to promote freedom in Islamic countries, an immigration policy based on civil-rights reciprocity would be a lot more effective, and a lot less expensive, than dispatching tens of thousands of troops to build sharia “democracies.” It would also protect Americans from people whose countries and cultures have not prepared them for the obligations of citizenship in a free society.
9 posted on 02/25/2012 8:51:07 AM PST by marron
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To: Venturer
Photobucket
10 posted on 02/25/2012 9:26:30 AM PST by baddog 219
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To: baddog 219

We need to leave Afghanistan.


11 posted on 02/25/2012 9:31:02 AM PST by JmyBryan
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To: seton89

Why do you defile the good name of Ponzi?


12 posted on 02/25/2012 9:55:39 AM PST by ozdragon
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To: seton89

Why do you defile the good name of Ponzi?


13 posted on 02/25/2012 9:55:57 AM PST by ozdragon
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To: SC_Pete

“We have not developed a cost effective response to terrorism.”

That won’t happen unless our GD political “leaders” are DIRECTLY targeted by terrorists, and a few of the BASTARDS are killed.

Until then, then don’t give a S#!t.


14 posted on 02/25/2012 11:11:16 AM PST by Levante
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To: Servant of the Cross

Worthless Saracens bastards.


15 posted on 02/25/2012 11:24:40 AM PST by jmacusa (Political correctness is cultural Marxism. I'm not a Marxist.)
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To: Servant of the Cross

US Military Burns Bibles but Condemns Burning Korans

Bible BurningIf reports are accurate, it looks like those who burned Korans that had been written in to deliver secret messages to other prisoners may have to stand trial. We’re not hearing anything about whether those who killed US troops over the affair will suffer a similar fate.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai had accused a United States officer of “ignorantly” burning copies of the Koran. As a result, rioters took to the streets. So far, 11 people, in addition to the two U.S. servicemen, have been killed.

Demonstrations have drawn thousands of angry Afghans to the streets, chanting “Death to America!”

“NATO officials, in response to a request for the trial and punishment of the perpetrators … promised this crime will brought to court as soon as possible,” Karzai’s office said in a statement.

President Barack Obama sent a letter to Karzai apologizing for the burning of the Korans, after Afghan laborers found charred copies while collecting rubbish at the Bagram Air Base.

I don’t know if the President has said anything about the deaths of two United States soldiers and he wants an apology from Afghan President Karzai. Apologies these days are mostly a one-way street. We’re doing all the apologizing.

Our government apologizes for burning a few Korans, and yet it burns thousands of Bibles at the same Bagram Air Force Base. Here’s a CNN story from 2009 that is not getting any media attention:

Military personnel threw away, and ultimately burned, confiscated Bibles that were printed in the two most common Afghan languages amid concern they would be used to try to convert Afghans, a Defense Department spokesman said. The unsolicited Bibles sent by a church in the United States were confiscated . . . at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan because military rules forbid troops of any religion from proselytizing while deployed there, Lt. Col. Mark Wright said. . . .

“The decision was made that it was a ‘force protection’ measure to throw them away, because, if they did get out, it could be perceived by Afghans that the U.S. government or the U.S. military was trying to convert Muslims,” Wright told CNN on Tuesday.

Troops at posts in war zones are required to burn their trash, Wright said.

According to the military, the Bibles were “trash.”

The one thing that would help the blood-crazed Middle East, military rules say it must be destroyed. Is it any wonder that we are not making any progress as the body counts continues to mount? God is not mocked. We are trying to win a war with bullets, missiles, and drones instead of God’s Word. What’s worse, shooting bullets or dropping Bibles all over the Middle East?

On May 28th, 1849, Robert C. Winthrop (1809–1894), descendant of Governor John Winthrop, first governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony, addressed the Annual Meeting of the Massachusetts Bible Society in Boston, and said in part, “Men, in a word, must necessarily be controlled, either by a power within them, or by a power without them; either by the word of God, or by the strong arm of man; either by the Bible, or by the bayonet.”

http://godfatherpolitics.com/3872/us-military-burns-bibles-but-condemns-burning-korans/onet.”;


16 posted on 02/26/2012 5:12:45 AM PST by KeyLargo
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