The Koran in the Toilet Caper

1. The Event (per BBC):

BBC NEWS South Asia Riots over US Koran 'desecration'. At least four people have been killed and many injured after police opened fire to break up an anti-US protest in eastern Afghanistan, officials say. Hundreds of students rioted in the city of Jalalabad over reports interrogators at America's Guantanamo Bay prison had placed copies of the Koran on toilets. The city is now said to be calm after widespread damage to property. All but essential UN staff are being withdrawn.

2. The Chicken-Shit Response (per BBC):

The US authorities have said they are investigating the Koran allegations."Obviously the destruction of any kind of holy book... is something that is reprehensible and not in keeping with US policies and practices," state department spokesman Tom Casey said.

3. The Existential Response and Event in situ (per BBC)

Afghan National Army soldiers were deployed on the streets of Jalalabad, which lies 130km (80 miles) east of Kabul and is close to the Pakistani border, to try to bring order. A US military spokesman said US units were not deployed.

The Afghan interior ministry says four people were killed, and more than 70 injured. "Police opened fire in the air to control the mob, and some people were injured," Jalalabad police chief, Abdul Rehman, told the AFP news agency. Two United Nations guest houses were attacked, as were shops and government buildings, and the offices of two international aid groups were destroyed. Many foreign aid agency personnel are being pulled out too. Pakistani ambassador to Afghanistan, Rustam Shah Mohmand, told the BBC the Pakistani consul's house had also been burned down and two cars torched. The protesters chanted "Death to America" and smashed car windows and damaged shops.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/south_asia/4535491.stm

Published: 2005/05/11 14:16:39 GMT

© BBC MMV

4. CAIR's response as of 11 May 2005 from their mass emailing:

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful


ACTION ALERT #445


CAIR SEEKS PROBE OF GITMO QURAN 'DESECRATION'
Four die in Afghan protests after Quran flushed down toilet


(WASHINGTON, D.C., 5/11/05) - CAIR is urging American Muslims and other people of conscience to contact the White House in support of a public investigation into reports that interrogators at the U.S. detention center in Guantanamo Bay flushed a Quran down a toilet.

At least four people were killed today in Afghanistan during protests over the alleged desecration. SEE: "Afghan Protest Over Quran Turns Deadly," http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=748366

The allegation was first reported in the May 9 issue of Newsweek magazine. The magazine said: "Investigators probing interrogation abuses at the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay have confirmed some infractions alleged in internal FBI e-mails that surfaced late last year. Among the previously unreported cases, sources tell NEWSWEEK: interrogators, in an attempt to rattle suspects, flushed a Qur'an down a toilet and led a detainee around with a collar and dog leash." SEE: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7693014/site/newsweek/

In its statement, CAIR said:

"The allegations, if true, can only serve to fuel anti-American sentiment. Vague assurances of a military investigation are insufficient to keep this incident from being used to further harm relations with the Muslim world. We urge President Bush to initiate an open probe of the incident, make public its findings and punish those responsible."

The twin phenomena of Islamophobia and anti-Americanism will be addressed at a CAIR conference to be held this weekend in Washington, D.C. SEE: http://www.cair-net.org/2005conference/

CAIR recently launched a website designed to help end the use and instigation of torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment (CID) by American personnel worldwide.

To learn more about CAIR's anti-torture campaign, go to: http://www.cair-net.org/antitorture/

ACTION REQUESTED: (As always, be POLITE and RESPECTFUL.)

Contact the White House:

President George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

TEL: 202-456-1111
FAX: 202-456-2461

5. A Response from a SIXTH COLUMN reader (lightly edited):

I was just reading a story of rioting in Afghanistan. Somehow the residents learned that the military questioners at GTMO were taking copies of the Qur'an and placing "the sacred book" on the toilet, to rattle some of the detainees. To me this means using creative techniques to make prisoners comply or to get info. But some asshole at the State Dept., a "spokesman, " Tom Casey stated, "If this is true, it is reprehensible...[T]o do this to any holy book is wrong." Where in the hell did they get this guy? "Reprehensible?" When we have troops dying in Iraq, and Afghanistan? While we have sleeper cells in this country waiting for orders? Or what about the not-so-called sleeper cells like CAIR, drumming up support for the supposed increase in attacks on "innocent" Muslims here in the U.S.? CAIR has actually set up so-called "hate-crimes against Muslims." In one case a store owner, "a Muslim," blamed anti-Muslims for burning down his store; this was reported all over the country by CAIR. But fire investigators learned that the "poor discriminated Muslim" actually set fire to his own building! Did CAIR report their error? Hell no! And no one called them to the mat for this. I'm getting sick and tired of political correctness! Not one person in the State Dept. has any balls! Excuse me but this crap is really getting me pissed! All of those morons walking around willy-nilly, pretending, or worse, not knowing that there is no such thing as Muslim terrorists!--they are just Muslims following the dictates of their leader, the rapist, child-molester, pillager, human excrement. Oh, but the White House keeps up its b.s.: "These are just a few extremists that don't represent the followers of a 'peaceful religion." President Bush has lost his mind! I have always been a life-long conservative, so I couldn't possibly have voted for Kerry. Just think, if Bush doesn't have a f---ing clue, what could Kerry have done? My friends, we are between the proverbial rock and a hard place, and our leaders don't have a clue! Somewhere in time, before it is too late, we will be faced with Islamists as federal judges, senators, city councilmen, getting more and more power, while we just stand by and watch our country turn into an Islamic theocracy. What will it take America? What will it take before you wake-up and realize that our very existence is at stake? Muslims are getting invited to the White House to dine with the President, and some of these people are on the terror list! What will it take?

6. Only our reader's words do not provoke desire for emesis:

So, here it is again, once more: Islam is a fake religion. There is no Allah. The Koran is not divine; it was made up whole cloth by Muhammad from existing Christian and Jewish elements. The Koran is not the "word of Allah." NO Allah MEANS no divinity, means no revealed words (Koran), and means no Allah-declared "prophet" called Muhammad. Islam is invalid at its roots, at its basics. Only in the minds of those foolish enough to believe in Allah, the Koran, and Islam is any of this stuff "real and valid," much like delusions and hallucinations being "real and valid." If you do not believe me, read.