Soldier's desecration of Koran sparks swift response - The Boston Globe
BAGHDAD - US commanders moved swiftly to avert a crisis after a soldier deployed in Baghdad was found to have used a copy of the Koran for target practice.
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The incident had the potential to inflame Muslim opinion against the US military and compromise the delicate alliance it has been forging with Sunni Arab communities against religious extremists.
My mother asked me the other day why so many of the personnel being deployed overseas to war zones were from the south. It struck me between the eyes because I really hadn't noted any kind of "southern soldier" trend. And being left with no real response (as is so rarely the case), I responded, "I guess the south is the only place with people stupid enough or poor enough to volunteer to commit murder in the name of oil."
Trite, I know. And I suppose you wonder why I mention it here. I'll get to that in a minute.
But I was looking at a story today about upcoming troop rotations. The numbers between north/south troops filling the billets are about even. (If you want to count Hawaii a southern state ;-). So, my mothers' argument was not really valid (she will be... happy? to know).
The reason I bring it up is because when I read this story about the desecration of the Holy Koran by soldiers, in my mind, I immediately thought, "Redneck Bigots". Now, don't get me wrong! I know that they are everywhere. They are just more visible in the south. Maybe it's the weather or something, I don't know.
I was minding my own business in one of our countries fine penal colonies one day when I saw a couple of... 'jail house Christians' tearing a book apart and laughing and having a real good time. I was curious what they were destroying, since I can read, and literature is in short supply in our cross bar hotels. So, I walked up and took a look.
It was a 'New World Translation' of the Holy Bible. This struck me as odd as hell! So, I asked them why they were destroying a bible. They said, with some glee I might add, "It is not an authorized King James Bible and the bible says that no one shall add to or take away from...", yada, yada, yada.
I stood there and listened to their 'sermon on the hill' (the hill the prison was on) and waited patiently for them to finish. I then asked them, "Well, don't you think that someone might think it is a holy book, even if you don't?" "yeah, I guess...". "Well, how would you feel about it if a Wiccan, or a Muslim, or a Native American were tearing up a 'King James Version'?"
"We never thought about it that way." They were later very sorry for their actions and said so.
The point is that stupid people do stupid stuff for stupid reasons.
And the stupidest reason that I ever heard is "that's what we learned in church".
We are suppose to be there, in someone else's country, for their benefit and protection, if we are to believe the main line arguments which then lead to "fighting terrorism and keep US safe".
I wish that the few Uhmericuns that are left that can read would read the Holy Koran. I have. The Saudi Embassy mailed me a VERY nice one for the asking!
They aren't that different from us. And like US, they have a radical fundamentalist sect that hates everyone without discrimination.
Surviving Christianity is something that we will all likely have to face... at some point. I suggest that we eek some of those steel trap minds open (on both sides of the planet) and trickle a little humility and education in there. It's almost too late!
