US Soldier uses Koran for Target Practice in Iraq & international backlash (including against ISAF)

[smithbrian86]

Tasteless? Definitely.

Outraging? Not to anyone inhabiting the plains of mental health or modernity. Those who refuse or are incapable of inhabiting either should not be molly coddled.

Don't give the enemy reasons and excuses  to use IEDs, RPGs, Etc. on our boys

It appears they haven't needed any such excuses in the past to take part in the actions you've listed. Maybe there is some validity to an idea of, "not adding fuel to the fire" though.

 

[Shamrock]

I wonder how often the Quran is crammed into a glovebox or carried in a pocket during a suicide attack.

 

[Celticgirl]

This is the exact attitude that gets us into trouble overseas.  Hearts and minds. If someone shot holes in a Canadian flag I'd be pissed also.  There is a reason we have cultural training.

I have to agree with this poster. Cultural sensitivity is important here. Killing in the name of religion is wrong, but two wrongs don't make a right. Why add more fuel to the fire?

 

[geo]

Tasteless? Definitely.

Outraging? Not to anyone inhabiting the plains of mental health or modernity. Those who refuse or are incapable of inhabiting either should not be molly coddled.

If the act was done in Canada Or the USA, one thing.... done in Iraq or Afghanistan, something altogether different.

If we are trying to win the hearts and minds of the people in who'se land we are fighting .... we should not be making any attempt to apply our moral standards.... it just won't work.

 

[oligarch]

Agree with the last poster... after all, they are not in our homes, we are in their homes and there is no better way to create hostility among the population and be seen as "occupiers" by the locals than to do such disrespectful things. It is a different culture, with different values, and applying our standards of behaviour just doesn't work. Besides, think about what kind of message that sends to the locals..

Such a message will just get more locals to agree with the enemy.

Such a message will cause more casualties for the American side since I'm sure some will retaliate.

duh!

 

[TheHead]

I don't think any Canadians would be blowing themselves up over the flag, after all its spat on and burned by our own citizens, many cases on TV for us all to see.

Recce does have a point.

The enemy also get  'offended' when a cartoon or a book is written against their god, and they go super hostile over it. Anything for a stab at us.

Of course a Canadian wouldn't.  We have a different outlook on morality and religion. Most Canadian Muslims wouldn't blow themselves up either.  If Canada had a force inside it's borders that were supposed to be "helping" us and I started seeing them shooting up symbols of Canada, I would start to have second doubts on why they were here though.

 

[vonGarvin]

The enemy also get  'offended' when a cartoon or a book is written against their god, and they go super hostile over it. Anything for a stab at us.

To be fair, it was not "the enemy" that was offended, it was hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of moslems who got offended, though it wasn't against "their" God (As a Roman Catholic, I believe in the same deity as moslems and jews), it was against the prophet Mohammed.

I too get offended at lots of stuff, but I keep it to myself.  Therein lies the difference.  Still in Islam, forgiveness is big, and so is begging forgiveness.  Just as when Johnny Bloggins messes up, the messing up isn't as important as what happens next.  Does Johnny admit his mistake and improve?  Or does he blame society and keep messing up.  In this case, the chain of command was very savvy and more than likely diffused a potentially lethal situation.

If a mostly moslem nation's military were in Canada, and one of it's soldiers used the chalice from a church to drink his chai, I'd be pretty upset!  Very much so.  To the point of violence?  Perhaps not, perhaps yes....I don't know.

"There but for the grace of God go I..."

 

[Yrys]

NATO soldier, 2 civilians dead in Afghan protest over Iraq Qur'an shooting

A NATO soldier and two civilians were killed by gunfire Thursday in the province of Ghor in western Afghanistan during a protest against the use of a copy of the
Qur'an for target practice by a U.S. sniper in Iraq earlier this week. Another alliance soldier and seven civilians were wounded, officials said.

NATO spokesman Maj. Martin O'Donnell said the dead soldier was hit by gunfire, and it is not clear who had fired the shots. "We don't know if it was one of the
protesters, an insurgent among the protesters or an insurgent sniper outside the protest. We have no indication that it was the Afghan National Police," O'Donnell
told the Associated Press. O'Donnell said the protest Thursday took place near an airfield in Ghor province. It became violent when demonstrators threw rocks and
set nearby tents on fire.

The alliance does not normally disclose the nationality of NATO casualties but Lithuanian forces are in charge of security and provincial reconstruction in Ghor.
The provincial police chief Shah Jahan Noori said about 1,000 demonstrators had gathered to protest the Qur'an shooting.

Earlier this month, Iraqi police found a bullet-riddled Qur'an with graffiti inside the cover on a firing range near a police station in Radwaniyah, a former insurgent
stronghold west of Baghdad.

Sniper removed from Iraq

It later emerged that a U.S. sniper had used the Muslim holy book for target practice, and American officers were quick to remove the soldier from the country and
hold a formal ceremony to apologize for the incident. The soldier is being investigated for possible criminal charges, officers said.

Top American commanders from Baghdad travelled to the area where the incident had taken place and described the sniper's action as "criminal behaviour."
A military statement called the incident "serious and deeply troubling" but said it was the result of one soldier's actions and "not representative of the professionalism
of [U.S.] soldiers or the respect they have for all faiths."

There has been relatively little protest in Muslim countries since the Iraq incident, but similar perceived insults against Islam have sparked violent protests around the
world. At least 11 Afghans were killed in 2006 during protests over the contentious Prophet Muhammad cartoons published in Denmark.

In Afghanistan, blasphemy against the prophet Muhammad and the Qur'an is considered a serious crime that carries the death sentence.

 

[geo]

Thus showing to all the troops from NATO countries that, when in Afghanistan..... "this ain't Kansas Toto!!!"

The sniper should think about eating every single page of the book he chose for his target practice.
For troops from the "west", shooting at a book doesn't appear to be a big deal but...... Umm.... does THREE DEAD add up to a big enough deal ???

 

[GAP]

  3 dead in Afghan 'Quran shooting' protest
Thu May 22, 2008
Article Link

Two civilians and a Lithuanian soldier were killed when a protest outside a NATO base in western Afghanistan against the Quran desecration incident in Iraq turned violent on Thursday, a spokesman for the alliance's military in Kabul said.

Maj. Martin O'Donnell, a spokesman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), told CNN the incident occurred at the Chaghcharan Airfield in Ghor province.

One ISAF soldier, 10 Afghan National Police and seven civilians were also wounded, the ISAF said.

The civilians were killed or wounded when Afghan National Police fired on them after the protesters began throwing rocks and tents were set on fire, the ISAF said. O'Donnell said the tents were inside the airfield, but protesters did not enter the compound.

There has been anger in Iraq and other places in the Muslim world after the desecration of the Quran by a United States soldier, who used the Muslim holy book for target practice. President Bush and the U.S. military have issued apologies for the act.
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