Posted on 05/13/2005 5:04:30 AM PDT by Cornpone
Saudi Arabia has voiced "deep indignation" at reports that a copy of the Koran was desecrated at the US prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. Riyadh called for a quick investigation into the alleged incident and for the perpetrators to be punished.
It is the first Arab state to comment officially on the reports. Reaction in the Arab world has been muted. On Thursday the US secretary of state promised prompt action if allegations of desecration prove true.
At least seven people have died in Afghanistan in anti-American protests sparked by the reports. Disrespect for the holy Koran is not now, nor has it ever been, nor will it ever be, tolerated by the United States
Condoleezza Rice
But Condoleezza Rice appealed to Muslims to resist calls for violence. The US authorities say they are investigating the allegations. But head of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Richard Myers, told a Pentagon press conference that investigations so far had not turned up any evidence to back the claims.
Close US ally
"The government of Saudi Arabia is closely following, with indignation, media reports of desecration of the holy Koran at Guantanamo," a statement carried by the official news agency said. Saudi Arabia "appeals to the concerned American authorities to carry out a quick investigation in the matter".
Riyadh "stresses that in case the reports were true, deterrent measures should be taken against those perpetrators to prevent its recurrence and to protect the sentiments of Muslims all over the world". Anti-American protests in Kabul have targeted western agencies
Saudi Arabia is a close US ally. It is also home of Islam's two holiest sites, Mecca and Medina in western Saudi Arabia, and sees itself as a leader of Muslims around the world.
Ms Rice said desecration was abhorrent and disrespect for the Koran would not be tolerated. She urged Muslims in America and throughout the world to stop the violence.
"I am asking that all our friends around the world reject incitement to violence by those who would mischaracterise our intentions," she said.
"Disrespect for the holy Koran is not now, nor has it ever been, nor will it ever be, tolerated by the United States," she said.
Newsweek magazine first reported that interrogators at the US Guantanamo Bay prison had flushed at least one copy of the Koran down a toilet.
The US is holding about 520 inmates at Guantanamo Bay, many of them al-Qaeda and Taleban suspects captured in Pakistan and Afghanistan following the 11 September 2001 attacks in the US and subsequent US-led invasion of Afghanistan.
(Added)
The first mistake anyone can make in dealing with the arrogance of Muslims and Islamist is to take seriously their false sense of superiority and apologize for any supposed indignity to their pseudo-religion. It is the first step towards dhimmitude. It is a distortion of the mind that subconsciously acknowledges the superiority of the 'other.' What we, Rice, and the rest of the world should be telling the Muslim fanatics of the world is to get a life and shut up. The worst thing we can do is take their manufactured indignity serious. Read Bat Ye'or and her studies on the history and psychopathology of dhimmitude. We should never forget that Islamist are masters at creating pretexts for their own atrocities and continuing Jihad against western culture, Jews, Christians and other infidels.
Corpone
Ping
As usual, this Newsweek report was a lie.
Why don't we tell Saudi Arabia to blow us?
From the same people who use their "sacred" mosques as forts.
We aren't going to win this argument because truth is irrelevant to these people.
Well, if we can't win the argument we need to at least have the guts to spit in the face of lies.
Hey, Saudi, you want indignant?
Give me a week to draw a crowd, reserve me a display window on 5th Avenue or Rodeo Drive, get me a real copy of the Koran and I'll show you indignant.
I would just love to "indignant" all over a copy of it.
Hell, I'll even arrange for pictures to be sent to you.
But I'm quite sure that what was desecrated was a copy of the Unholy Koran, You know the one that was used to justify 9/11, and is used to justify the stoning of pregnant women, sexual enslavement of female captives, beheading of civilian captives, the blowing up of school buses, homicide bombings in restaurants, and so on.
You can't desecrate that which is unholy. Besides if the alleged incident were to involve the Bible, how many people would be upset? It's just a book. The word of GOD is not just mere words in a book. Belief is in our hearts, you can't desecrate that.
Good commentary 'Pone.
For a "country" that allows only Islamic beliefs, for a "country" that bans the Bible on its soil to this day, and in offense of which the "country" publicly beheads the perpetrator of the "crime", it is less than human to even open their gabs on this issue, and much worse for the country that submits to their idiotic rantings, and relatively guiltless crime.
Shame on you if you fool me once, shame on me if you fool me twice.
"Well, if we can't win the argument we need to at least have the guts to spit in the face of lies."
Absolutely!
Dear Saudi Arabia - get back to me when a bible is protected in your country.
Just reminds me that I need to get some Koran toilet paper.
I'd like to see the end of wahhabism. I think your dhimmitude comments are wrong.
The fanatics are trying to use this story to inflame others. Having Condi Rice speak about this is a good thing. We don't want to alienate and make enemies of the friends we've made in Afghanistan, Iraq, etc. We're still trying to bring democracy to the middle east.
Holy Koran? I think not. I don't think it's worthy to go to Uranus and wipe out the Klingons.
Although I share a considerable suspicion of the spiritual credibility and legitimacy of Islam, I opine that any public outpouring of contempt upon another person's Faith or symbols thereof, regardless of our differences, to be rather poor form at best.
It certainly is not going to gain us any points in the Muslim World in which we are trying - and our finest are dying - to effect positive development for all people.
We might argue whether these alledged acts of "desicration" (I'm sure that Bibles meet with a similar fate at the hands of Islamic fundamentalists) would, even if substantiated, rise to the level of "attrocity" or "cruel and unusual"...
But they sure strike me as being aggregiously stupid.
And IF, indeed, this sort of thing is going on @ Gitmo as it apparantly was at Abu Grabh, then we have a major leadership / supervision - not to mention troop morale/attitude - issue to be dealt with ASAP.
Once the lamestream press gets ahold of this stuff, which they love to do, it's going to be about all the World hears about for months to the exclusion of any real progress being made.
The Abu-Grabh debacle was a pretty good illustration of that.
We heard yesterday that some College (Columbia, IIRC) is putting on a "play" dramatizing all of the Imperialist American Capitalist "attrocities" at Abu G., as if the WW-II Holucaust pales by comparison.
Figures, don't it?
"Saudi Arabia has voiced "deep indignation" at reports that a copy of the Koran was desecrated at the US prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba"
I'ts high time to ask Saudis WHAT they are doing with the Bibles they confiscate from Christians in the Camel Kingdom, where any Christian text is prohibited.
Internet ridicule is one of the few powerful and effective weapons against these idiots.
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