Want to know how bad things are in Iraq, and how desperate we are? Read this from this morning's NY Times:
"BAGHDAD — A day after the American military confirmed a soldier had used a Koran for target practice at a shooting range, the commander of United States troops in Baghdad apologized to local leaders and tribal sheiks, saying he was asking for their forgiveness.
Responding quickly to an incident ripe with the potential to stoke unrest, Maj. Gen. Jeffery Hammond also read a letter of apology from the soldier, who was not identified.
“I come before you here seeking your forgiveness,” General Hammond said at the meeting, in remarks carried by CNN. “In the most humble manner, I look in your eyes today and I say please forgive me and my soldiers.”
General Hammond quoted a letter from the soldier, saying, “I sincerely hope that my actions have not diminished the partnership that our two nations have developed together.” Another American . officer kissed a Koran and gave it to the tribal leaders, according to news agency reports."
The good general then then leaned over and kissed their asses.
The fact that a soldier was using a Koran for target practice is a reminder of just what the military is dealing with: an all-volunteer force that is disproportionately of poor, rural, biblethumping origin. I am trying to imagine an American general kissing the Koran. Remember when Republican Representative Virgil Goode of Virginia made a huge hullabaloo last January over the first Muslim member of Congress taking his oath over the Koran? Around the country, Republicans are bitching and moaning about the possibility of anyone showing respect to the Koran in this fashion. The same people murmur that the man they call B. Hussein Obama is a closet muslim. Asalaamu aleikum, assholes. We'll be kissing a lot more Republican Congressmen goodbye in the Fall, when even right-wing generals realize that America's foreign policy is so screwed up they have to start kissing the Koran and begging Iraqis for forgiveness (the same Sunnis who were killing US soldiers just months before).
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Kiss This
Posted by The Law Talking Guy at 12:41 PM
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11 comments:
The next president is going to have a hell of a time. I really feel for whomever it turns out to be.
That general probably took a good look at what happened when cartoons got published and knew he better do something serious quick!
What gets me is that even an idiot bible thumper should stop to think about the danger he puts his fellow soldiers in when he does something stupid like that. Even a bible thumper should stop and think about what his reaction would be if an Iraqi shot at a Bible.
What was he playing at?
In the interests of not offending anyone, I'll refrain from blaspheming loudly.
A summary of my thoughts though:
(a) what the frick was that soldier thinking?! Using a *Koran*, the holy book of most Iraqis?! [more censored blasphemy]
(b) whereas I thought the reaction to the cartoons was a bit much, I would totally understand violent outrage in response to this - a US soldier, part of a force seen by many in the country as conquerors not liberators, showing a complete lack of respect for their entire religion.
(c) even if he was too much of an idiot to think about the danger he was putting his comrades in - what happened to good ole Christian tolerance? This goes for all the bible-thumping Republican nutjobs too: wasn't one of Jesus' main lessons one of love thy neighbour, treat people as you would want to be treated, show *everyone* some flipping respect?!!!
I hate this kind of complete hypocrisy, from *any* religion - 'you must respect my religion, treat it as the most sacred thing in the world, but all other religions are fair game to be ridiculed, disrespected etc, because they don't count'.
Maybe someone should point out to all these 'christians' that Jesus was an Arab?
Most Christians of the sort that fill our military have far more in common with the so called "Islamo-fascists" than with anything resembling a tolerant path to spiritual fulfillment.
My experience with Christians is that for most of them it's all about intolerance and letting others do your thinking for you. Christians like LTG are, sadly, a distinct minority.
This was probably some 18 or 19 year old kid who will more than likely not go to college and had never been anywhere in his life. In other words, a dumbass. What I wonder is, if CNN hadn't reported it would anyone, including the Iraqis even have known about it??
I worry about the "Christo-fascists" like Bush as much as the "Islamo-fascists."
Dr S - to be honest, I worry about them more, because they're not being loudly condemned by sane people and the media (implication intentional) as incredibly dangerous, and thus are getting away with it more.
As far as the dumbass in question goes, his training should've battered that kind of dumbassery out of his thick skull - that's the point of basic training, break 'em down, rebuild 'em better. Maybe his skull was just too thick :-(
I agree with Pombat. The "Christo-Fascists" (those I've called, Theo-nationalists, Bigots for Jesus etc) are far more dangerous to me in the long run.
They, not the Islmaic fundamentalists, are running the executive branch of the US government for the moment (7 more months!). They are the ones who run the Justice Department that spies on me, that runs blanket sweeps of library and book store records, that scans masses of emails and (probably) blog comments and reserves the right to invalidate even my citizenship and incarcerate me without access to a lawyer.
The only threat posed by the Islamic fundamentalists to me is that they want to conduct terrorist attacks here. The worst of which killed 3000 people. Frankly, I'm more worried about crossing the street downtown after the bars have closed.
I agree that there are some very scary conservative Christians out there (see the documentary Jesus Camp for a real scare). Luckily they are the minority--however a quite loud one. Hopefully this next election will eradicate many from government.
Most of the crazy Christians do things like bomb abortion clinics and kill doctors who perform abortions. I don't think most Americans condone this behavior. That's why it's so important for moderates to vote. This election seems to be inspiring a lot of people who haven't voted in the past, let's hope that the next adminstration doesn't disappoint them back into being passive non-voters.
My unsubstantiated guess is that the soldier in question bragged to his friends about it, possibly even putting it up on youtube.
I don't want to get into a debate here as to which kind of religious nuts are worse, or what percentage of religious people are nuts. But I do want to suggest that religion has been a major positive influence for good things in American history too, such as abolitionism and the civil rights movement.
I am glad we are talking about fascists, but calling them "Christo-fascists" unfortunately excludes people like Cheney, Rumsfeld and (Jewish) Wolfowitz who aren't inspired by religion, but by a simple lust for power. It also is incomplete. The fact that American fascists are characterized by fundamentalist Christianity rather than German neo-paganism or Italian Romanism is simply a matter of local adaptation.
The bottom line is that you have these people out there who believe things like "hard times demand hard men who can make hard choices." They believe that rights, democracy, and all that stuff is just the decadence of effete naifs who don't understand what the world is really about. That they think this is somehow a Christian attitude is blasphemous.
I was really just joking about the "Christo-fascists" name--trying to show how silly and ugly the
"Islamo-fascist" label is. It amazes me how far the religious right will go to avoid using the actual word: fundamentalism. Because that word, of course, speaks too honestly about what the real problem is here: religious fundamentalism of all kinds.
And yes, hard times certainly call for people who can make hard choices.
The hard choice is peace.
The "conservative" Christians who think of themselves as normal, reasonable and mainstream are the problem. They are not a tiny fringe minority among church goers.
They have long dominated the religious discourse in the USA - LTG has lamented this repeated on this blog.
I would suggest that this idiot kid who was shooting at the Quaran (Koran?), considers himself perfectly normal. I would also bet that his friends think of him as a "good kid", "stand up guy" or "good ole boy" (depending on region).
The problem (in my opinion) is not that a vocal but tiny group of wierdos is making noise. The problem is that a large and vocal group of wierdos has become so powerful that they got a coked up drunk who talks about Jesus a lot elected President.
I agree with Dr. S. that "Christo-fascist" excludes Cheney et al. But they are just riding the Christo-fascist tiger to power. Cheney and Rumsfeld and their neo-con clique would not have gotten where they are without that group.
I'd put Bush himself in this group along with Ashcroft and most of the lawyers he appointed to the Justice department.
These people cannot be allowed to continue to argue that they are in the mainstream and are just misunderstood. They are a HUGE problem and embarassment for this country.
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