I am the great Cornholio. I need a few pages from that Koran book for my butt holio.
Posted on 05/13/2005 7:26:51 PM PDT by CHARLITE
Protests were planned across Pakistan Friday as Muslim anger over the alleged desecration of the Koran by the U.S. military spread outwards from Afghanistan, where at least seven people have been killed in violent clashes with security forces.
The Pentagon said Thursday there is no evidence to support an allegation that a copy of the Islamic text had been flushed down a toilet "in an attempt to rattle suspects" held at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp in Cuba. The brief item, citing an unnamed source, was published in Newsweek magazine.
General Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a briefing that a search of interrogation logs at Guantanamo had turned up no record of interrogators abusing the Koran.
There was one record - still to be confirmed - of a guard reporting that one of the detainees had been "ripping pages out of the Korean and putting them in the toilet to stop it up, as a protest," he said.
The military prison camp at Guantanamo Bay holds hundreds of foreign suspects captured in the war against Islamist terror, most of them from the Middle East and South Asia.
The detainees are permitted to keep copies of the Koran as well as prayer beads, and the get culturally appropriate meals, time to worship and daily calls to prayer, the State Department said Wednesday.
The governments of Pakistan and Saudi Arabia both issued protests this week.
The Saudi foreign ministry said in a statement it was following the reports "with great concern and apprehension." If the allegation proved true, the U.S. should hold those responsible to account and "deter any repetition of such actions which are offensive to the Muslim community worldwide."
In Pakistan, lawmakers have debated the issue, with demands for U.S. apologies and calls for a special meeting of the Organization of the Islamic Conference.
The State Department confirmed that Pakistan had raised "serious concern" with officials at the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad.
Amid the growing rumblings in the Muslim world, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, appearing before a Senate committee Thursday, issued a statement declaring that "disrespect for the holy Koran is not now, nor has it ever been, nor will it ever be, tolerated by the United States."
"We honor the sacred books of all the world's great religions," she said. "Disrespect for the holy Koran is abhorrent to us all."
Rice also said she was asking "our friends around the world reject incitement to violence by those who would mischaracterize our intentions."
Calls for worldwide protests
Dozens of people were hurt in the clashes in the Afghan city of Jalalabad, where protestors damaged vehicles and buildings, including the governor's house, the Pakistani consulate, and offices of humanitarian agencies, prompting an evacuation of aid workers.
Afghan officials were quoted as saying the violence was being instigated by elements opposed to the effort to rebuild the country, most of which was ruled by the Islamist Taliban militia until it was toppled by U.S.-led forces after the 9/11 terror attacks.
Referring to the rioting in Jalalabad, Myers said the U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Army Lt.-Gen. Karl Eikenberry, had called into question a link between the violence and the Koran issue, saying it seemed to be related to that country's political process and "not at all tied to the article in the magazine."
Protests spread to the Afghan capital, Kabul Thursday, but despite calls of "Death to America" ended calmly. In two cities across the border in Pakistan, students at religious seminaries and other Muslims also demonstrated, denouncing America and demanding that U.S. forces withdraw from Iraq and Afghanistan.
A six-party alliance of Islamic groups in the country, Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), called for countrywide anti-U.S. rallies Friday.
Pakistani media quoted MMA leaders as saying the Newsweek report had sent a wave of anger across the Islamic world, and demanding that President Bush apologize to the world's Muslims.
MMA president Qazi Hussain Ahmad said he was sending messages to Islamic movements around the world urging them to organize protests at the end of May.
He also called on Islamic preachers to focus on the issue during their Friday sermons.
In a swipe at Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf - a U.S. ally in the war against Islamist terror - Qazi said governments in the Muslims world should take note of the "heinous" crime and reverse their "pro-U.S. policies."
The torching of the Pakistani consulate in Jalalabad, he said, was a "logical" consequence of Musharraf's pro-American stance.
A Pakistani daily, The Nation, said in an editorial that the government "must seriously review its foreign policy since its blind cooperation in the so-called war on terror has not only caused widespread resentment domestically but also damaged its image internationally, especially in the Ummah [the Islamic world]."
Public opinion in Pakistan has already been stirred up in recent days by the publication in the Washington Times of an editorial cartoon depicting a U.S. soldier patting a dog labeled "Pakistan," and saying: "Good boy ... now let's go find bin Laden."
The cartoon referred to the capture in Pakistan of Abu Faraj al-Libbi, described as the number three figure in Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda terror network.
Publication of the cartoon caused an uproar in Pakistan, with opposition lawmakers demanding apologies and calling variously for Musharraf to quit and to review relations with the U.S.
In an editorial Tuesday, the Washington Times portrayed the issue as a cultural misunderstanding and said its dog-loving cartoonist "meant no offense or injury" to the people of Pakistan.
"In the West ... we regard the dog as one of God's greatest gifts, one of the noblest expressions of patience, loyalty, kindness and devotion," it said.
Last July, Al-Jazeera said a recently-released Guantanamo Bay detainee claimed to have seen a U.S. soldier at the Kandahar detention facility in Afghanistan - not at Guantanamo Bay - throwing a copy of the Koran into a toilet.
An online search of news reports around the time of the Arabic television network's "exclusive interview" found no reference to protests erupting in response to the ex-detainee's claims.
"There was one record - still to be confirmed - of a guard reporting that one of the detainees had been "ripping pages out of the Korean and putting them in the toilet to stop it up, as a protest," he said."
If these people will kill each other over this; I say keep this rumor going and let them. We could do without them!!!
This story is a Moslem fabrication.
Well, that's unfortunate. Get with the program, guys!
Screw the Moos.
Who would have thoght that people who would love to murder every non-Muslim on earth would stoop to LIE?
As copmpared to our detainees who are regularly beheaded.
This is ludicrous. They are prisoners of war and entilted to humane treatment...meaning enough to eat and drink. We do not have to and, IMHO, should not cater to their particular religious and cultural likings.
Where is the Muslim outrage and work stop protests over their own Jihadists who violate all decency and behead innocent civilians...or violate their own Koran and kill innocent Muslim civilians?
All of this is nothing more than a very thinly veiled and even blatant attempt to undercut our efforts through PR when they cannot make any progress militarily or politically. We are crazy as a people if we fall for it and our politicians are crazy if they fall for it.
...you could almost hear the liberals/MSM cheering! :P
Sounds like a pro-terrorist Newsweek magazine fabrication. Were fighting more than one enemy in the war against terrorism and not all of them are in the Middle East.
I've thought this from the very beginning, when we began to show how wonderfully "kinder and gentler" we were with these rapacious, violent, trained killers!
Thanks so much for your excellent comments!
Char :)
You can just see the pencil-neck scumbag lib pantloads at Time seething because they didn't make this up first....
I am the great Cornholio. I need a few pages from that Koran book for my butt holio.
Meanwhile, Christians sit idly by while communistic atheists stick Crucifixes in urine-soaked jars.
Doesn't it just speak volumes about the so-called civilization these people belong to? They hear a rumor that their holy book was dissed, so they go on a rampage and kill people. Truly a 'Religion of Peace'.
>>If these people will kill each other over this; I say keep this rumor going and let them. We could do without them!!<,
We need cooperation from Pakistan and we still have troops at risk in Afghanistan and Iraq... this is NOT helpful.
On the other hand
>>General Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a briefing that a search of interrogation logs at Guantanamo had turned up no record of interrogators abusing the Koran.<<
Myer's sttement doesn't mean that it isn't/didn't happen only that at this point it's not recorded in the interrogation logs.
What we are doing, the PC manner in which we are treating animals who want nothing more than to kill us all, is crazy. Treat them humanely...that's it. Give them enough to eat and dfrink, work them hard, interrogate them using whatever means necessary short of torture.
If there are any among them that are spies, that are traitors, or that are guilty of crimes requiring it...execute them.
The same PC mentality has infected our elected leaders and appointed administratoirs when it comes to dealing with our southern border. Shut it up tight to illegals. Open it up forthrightly and at appropriate places for legal immigrants or workers. Expel the illegals and prosecute American companies that employ them in violation of law. Just simply uphold and adhere to our laws, particularly in this time of terror.
The Saudi foreign ministry said in a statement it was following the reports "with great concern and apprehension." If the allegation proved true, the U.S. should hold those responsible to account and "deter any repetition of such actions which are offensive to the Muslim community worldwide."
And we are still waiting for you to hold OBL accountable. We also expect for those burning our flags to be held accountable....(I'll hold my breath)
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