Posted on 04/03/2011 3:20:59 PM PDT by tobyhill
Top U.S. officials in Afghanistan on Sunday condemned the burning of a Quran in the United States that sparked three days of protests in which more than 20 people died.
Burning the Muslim holy book "was hateful, it was intolerant and it was extremely disrespectful and again, we condemn it in the strongest manner possible," said Gen. David Petraeus, who heads the U.S.-led international forces in Afghanistan.
U.S. Ambassador Karl Eikenberry said in a statement that Americans respect the Quran "and all religious texts and deplore any action that shows disrespect to any religious faith."
"At the same time, I want to emphasize, as have many Afghan leaders, that to attack and kill innocent people in response to the deplorable act of one individual is outrageous, and an affront to human decency and dignity," Eikenbery's statement said.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
The general would have been better advised to simply remain silent on the issue. It is not his place to comment on the behavior of an American civilian half a world away from his theater of operations, regardless of what effect it may or may not have. Such comments should be left to civilaian toadies in the State Department.
I served a year in Vietnam, a similar kind of war. You don't destroy a village to save it. Nor do you indescriminately kill men, women, and children in a country you are supposing trying to help. Why do you presume that everyone in the village is your enemy because of the actions of a few. These radicals killed five Afghans as well.
2) In a hot war, if you don't approve of killing people as an appropriate kind of negative feedback for performing forbidden activities then what exactly do you propose that is going to be effective?
This is really a guerrilla war. The tactics you use are different than in a conventional war. Killing innocent people as retribution is counterproductive and morally wrong. Do you want to carpet bomb an entire village as payback for the attack on the UN staff? Or do you want to round up all the adult males and shoot them? This was a mob of 20,000.
"Police tried to stop them, but protesters began stoning the building, and finally the situation got out of control," said Gen. Abdul Rauf Taj, the deputy police commander for Balkh province.
The mob burned down part of the U.N. compound.
The victims were killed by weapons that the demonstrators wrestled away from the U.N. guards, Noor said.
Noor blamed what he said were Taliban infiltrators among the crowd for urging violence and even distributing weapons; he said 27 suspects were arrested on charges of inciting violence.
I agree with you, yet when the media wants to, they will seek one out. No comment would have been good, yet there may be someone ordering the General to speak, maybe.
“At the same time, I want to emphasize, as have many Afghan leaders, that to attack and kill innocent people in response to the deplorable act of one individual is outrageous, and an affront to human decency and dignity,” Eikenbery’s statement said.
Three words: Fire for effect.
See my tagline, and see my previous post referencing Blue Lancer.
You have hit the point, RULES OF ENGAGEMENT. If this war was being fought the way it should be, it would be over by now, and burning a damn quran would be a moot point. IMHO..
I see Islam as ideologically similar to Naziism, Fascism, Japanese militarism, and Communism. It is a totalitarian political ideology that uses religion as a beard and as a means of control of the masses. But at it’s core, it is a totalitarian political ideology that cannot be reconciled with Western ideas of individual freedom and American concepts of Constitutional Republic.
I am all for dealing with Islamics in the same way we dealt with the aforementioned groups.
I have no idea what argument you are attempting with Lidice.
No one ever refers to the Bible as the Holy Bible. but the koran gets this title..
But there is absolutely no point, nor rationale for burning a book, and defending it for any reason is equally lacking logic and clarity of thought.
Petraeus is doing his job in condemning this man's utter and reckless stupidity.
I believe that in the way of diplomacy he had to say what he said....that said, I HATE THE WORD TOLERANCE!!!!
Bizarre! People who burn korans are vilified more than people who wield a knife to behead.
Without us, the “current Afghan government” is the Mayor of Kabul, if that. No one knows this better than Karzai, unless he is completely delusional.
How many months ago was this event in Gainesville? Why are they suddenly protesting now?
This is called feigned outrage. If it wasn’t this, the same people would be doing the exact same things and justifying it by something else. Either our presence in Libya, Iraq or Afghanistan, or that some guy somewhere drew something that offended them, or something comparable.
You overestimate our ability to control events in Afghanistan. We really didn't want Karzai. He doesn't serve with our permission.
With us he is the Mayor of Kabul. The idea that he has control over the entire country ruled by the various tribes is also delusional.
There is nothing new under the sun. Scott was a politician, Macarthur was one, shoot even Ike was chosen for his job based on his political skills (and thus getting the Allies to get along).
I say we start burning more of them. Just keep a big bonfire going and just keep tossing more and more of them on.
Hell start a power plant just run on the heat of burning korans.
Petraus is an asshole. for a guy who had his own army destroy bibles that were shipped over. For countries that burn bibles like firewood if and when they find them.
Makes me friggin sick for two reasons - one for the lack of spines in our own people and for the lack of common sense they have in dealing with muslims in general.
He does not have to say it. Bush did not have to say "Islam is a religion of peace," either.
It's foolish. It only validates the enemy. Petraeus is publicly affirming that Islam is respected, muslims are respected, their quran is sacred and it's wrong to have a different opinion and to demonstrate it openly (in a nation where that is a right we call sacred, where people have nobly fought and died to secure it).
Petraeus validates the enemy, and in their minds he is validating the reprisals.
The Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia had tragic consequences for Lidice. In order to suppress the growing anti-Fascist resistance movement, security police chief SS Obergruppenfuhrer - Reinherd Heydrich was appointed deputy Reichs-protektor in September l941. During his short reign of terror, 5000 anti-Fascist fighters and their helpers were imprisoned. The courts working under martial law were kept busy and the Nazis even had people summarily executed without a trial in order to spread fear throughout the country. Many people from Kladno district died on the scaffold or in concentration camps. The lot of the Czech nation was complicated by the decision of the Czechoslovak government in London to get rid of Heydrich. The operation by Czechoslovak parachutists in which Heydrich was mortally wounded on May 27, 1942 brought reprisals which shocked the whole world.
The tragedy ot this little village and its 503 inhabitants began on June 10, 1942 a few hours after midnight. The events of that summer day are recorded in a documentary, filmed by those who actually carried out that brutal crime against innocent people. Although a silent film, it can be understood by all people, irrespective of their colour or tongue. This film served as document No. 379 at the Nuremberg trials of the Nazi German leaders in 1945. Parts of the film are shown on a video recording at the Lidice museum.
At the orders of K. H. Frank 173 Lidice men were shot on that fateful day in the garden of the Horak farm. The women and children were taken to the gymnasium of Kladno grammar school. Three days later the children were taken from their mothers and, except for those selected for re-education in German families and babies under one year of age, were poisoned by exhaust gas in specially adapted vehicles in the Nazi extermination camp at Chełmno upon Nerr in Poland. The women were sent to Ravensbruck concentration camp which usually meant quick or lingering death for the inmates.
Having rid the village of its inhabitants, the Nazis began to destroy the village itself, first setting the houses on fire and then razing them to the ground with plastic explosives. They did not stop at that but proceeded to destroy the church and even the last place of rest - the cemetery. ln 1943 all that remained was an empty space. Until the end of the war the sight was marked by notices forbidding entry.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.