I think we should all remember that this pussy-footing around Muslim sensibilities is part of a divide and conqueror strategy. We will need Muslim client governments to keep order in the Muslim world while suppressing Islamism. If this is to be done right, they will need to have a popular mandate from the vast majority of Muslims who (according to the dominant Hanbali school of Koranic intepretation, of which Wahabbism is simply an extreme variant) are 'bad Muslims' for not taking jihad as literal warfare seriously.
It does not help our cause in this regard to needlessly inflame Muslim sensibilities by ill-treating or permitting ill-treatment of their holy book. In this regard, it must be remembered that the Koran occupies a place in Muslim piety which combines the places occupied for traditional Christians by the Bible and the Sacraments. I should not be at all suprised if the Chaplains' Corps has regulations requiring proper conduct with regard to the Sacraments of any of the Christian confessions represented in the Corps, and indeed would be surprised to find the contrary.
I realize many on FR advocate a strategy against Islam as a whole which mirror-images the classical Islamic position vis-a-vis kufir: convert or die. Such a strategy is however, immoral, inhumane, and impractical.
So long as all of the Muslim world has not risen against us as al Qaeda hoped would happen in response to a ham-fisted response to 9/11 (which never materialized, as instead George W. Bush became only the third leader in history to conqueror Afghanistan), the divide-and-conqueror strategy requires us to observe formal 'niceness' toward Islam and things Islamic generically, even as we hunt down and kill any Muslim actively pursuing jihad against us or any other civilized power.
Tell me how allowing Wahabists to build Mosques, Islamic Centers and buy up huge tracts of US rural property for their so called summer camps..
Or how the funding of lobbying political buy off machines like CAIR by Wealthy oil Wahabists from Saudi accomplishes this
'Divide and conquer' strategy?
It's right up there with the war on terror stragegy of leaving our borders wide open..
Handing Israel to the Palestinians along with billions of
tax payer dollars
And CAFTA
imo
Following ICRC's reports who have been granted access to the secretive camp since January 2002, the Defense Department command in Guantanamo issued almost three pages of detailed, written guidelines for treatment of Korans. ICRC representatives did not receive any other complaints or document similar incidents following the issuance of the guidelines on Jan. 19, 2003.
Also, the New York Magazine found that Arabic-language editions of Newsweek did not carry the retraction of the alleged Koran-flushing story that ran in the English-language. Who's the Inflammer?
Now here's how each prisoner is treated at Guantánamo:
They get a toothbrush, mint-flavored toothpaste, a bottle of "Lively Salon" antidandruff shampoo, soap, flip flops, a foam sleeping mat, two buckets, a washcloth, a canteen, a prayer cap, two blankets, a sheet, a Koran and two towels, one for praying.
And, strangely, they get to write home. It's not that the U.S. military has a soft spot for the mothers of the Taliban or al-Qaida. Instead, base officials try to glean the prisoners' real names from the letters, as many tend to give multiple aliases during interrogations.
When they're done, they're assigned to the cells in which they will begin their new lives. These are 8-feet-square, with chain-link sides and tin roofs. The Halogen lights stay on all night. (Just like the Red Roof Inns ;) )
The next day starts with prayer call about 5 a.m. A sign on a pole at the edge of the camp points the direction to Mecca. The prisoners come from 31 countries, including Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Pakistan, Algeria, England, Egypt, Australia, France, Russia, Belgium and Sweden. Base officials say there are Christian prisoners as well as Muslims.
After prayer, the detainees' day goes like this: breakfast, a shower (every other day), sick call, noon prayer, lunch, recreation (15 minutes a couple of times a week), mail call, sunset prayer, dinner, evening prayer and bedtime around 9 p.m. For dinner they get white rice, red beans, a banana and water.
On one side of the scales I see Americans beheaded..then on the other side I see "All the Above".