Quote of the day
posted at 10:40 pm on May 19, 2008 by Allahpundit
Send to a Friend |
Share on Facebook | printer-friendly
“One of the guarantees I received from General Austin is that they are committed to showing respect to holy sites and traditions of the Iraqi people … But I don’t believe that is enough.”
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Blowback
Note from Hot Air management: This section is for comments from Hot Air's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that Hot Air management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment just because we let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with our terms of use may lose their posting privilege.
Trackbacks/Pings
Trackback URL
Comments
How about the agreement they signed already that brought them to your 5#17jpile country when Uncle Sam called to save your ass from the chipper!
How can we reason with these people?
ronsfi on May 19, 2008 at 10:47 PM
Sure! Make an example of our military men who don’t know who they can trust! All they know is that some of the people reading that book are the ones trying to kill them!!!
Vntnrse on May 19, 2008 at 10:49 PM
You bet, cupcake. We’ll get right on that.
Purple Fury on May 19, 2008 at 10:50 PM
Do you suppose he was just as pissed when his fellow Muslims blew up the Askariya mosque in Samarra?
lowandslow on May 19, 2008 at 10:52 PM
Maybe this could be made a teaching moment about due process.
snaggletoothie on May 19, 2008 at 10:56 PM
Apologizing was a good call, and good enough. I’m sure we’ll take the VP’s suggestions under advisement.
apollyonbob on May 19, 2008 at 10:57 PM
Or…Or, alternatively, you could kiss our American ass.
amerpundit on May 19, 2008 at 10:58 PM
We’ll now put the body parts from suicide bombers and IEDs on Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi’s desk.
mred on May 19, 2008 at 10:58 PM
The have their version of political theater too, and it requires plenty of melodrama.
RBMN on May 19, 2008 at 10:59 PM
You know I am going to the gravel pit this weekend and I usually just spraypaint some spuds. Now I wonder. How many Koran can a .308 round penetrate?
ronsfi on May 19, 2008 at 11:03 PM
“Sign an agreement to protect holy sites.”
Make an example of the soldier!
Well if thats the case,the Taliban Ka-blowed up the
ancient statues! I hope someone sends a stern letter
asking them to stop doing that!
And really,haven’t the United States already signed
enough letters in the form of brave US Soldiers who
have died and sacificed for Irag,and the Iragi people!
And when does CAIR start their letter campaign to ask
Jihadys to stop killing and stop blowing things up!
Good grief,Charlie Brown!
canopfor on May 19, 2008 at 11:03 PM
What exactly, is the “most severe punishment”? Does that mean the offender (or said offender) gets decapitated in a public square? Is this for real? Do they realize we’re trying to help their sorry arses? Holy crap, I think my head’s going to explode now.
4shoes on May 19, 2008 at 11:05 PM
I would not be surprised if this whole thing is a plant, but if it is not my response would be………
Seven Percent Solution on May 19, 2008 at 11:06 PM
Careful Hashemi, you don’t want to piss all of us off.
We might just leave your tired arse to fend for itself.
shooter on May 19, 2008 at 11:07 PM
F#$% you and the horse you rode in on, Hashemi.
cjs1943 on May 19, 2008 at 11:12 PM
Funny how you sometimes find Korans lying in the mud after a suicide bomber does his “holy” thing and no one ever mentions it. No outrage. No condemnation. Nothing.
Guardian on May 19, 2008 at 11:13 PM
I’m glad to see that the “moderate Muslims” are quick to acknowledge the apology and live and let live. Oh wait. Is that rioting I hear?
Mormon Doc on May 19, 2008 at 11:15 PM
I sure am glad we showed deference to their gentle sensitivities because they certainly have responded in kind. Again, there is no such thing as moderate Islam.
Mormon Doc on May 19, 2008 at 11:16 PM
Hey Dude! Do I have a deal for you. How about you don’t use your mosques to house military units, store military munitions, or as staging areas for military attacks, and we won’t destroy those mosques? Does that work for you?
rockhauler on May 19, 2008 at 11:19 PM
Will there be any reciprocation from the Iraqis? Will they all sign a statement that they will be tolerant of others and their beliefs? We have soldiers of all faiths. Will the Iraqi soldiers and government officials make nice to Jews, Protestants, Wiccans, Catholics, and other assorted non-Muslims in the service of the United States and her allies? This needs to be a two way street.
DAT60A3 on May 19, 2008 at 11:20 PM
Yep, I hear ya. I keep looking for them and waiting to hear some news of this “moderate muslim”, but alas. Not a thing.
So yeah, can we stop PCing ourselves to death already?
4shoes on May 19, 2008 at 11:22 PM
The war on terror will be over when … look at the church sign
faraway on May 19, 2008 at 11:23 PM
I forgot to add that the Sloppy-Joes were made from pulled pork…..
Seven Percent Solution on May 19, 2008 at 11:34 PM
How about if we just leave you ungrateful $hitheads to your own devices.
MB4 on May 19, 2008 at 11:36 PM
Islam is the enemy.
G on May 19, 2008 at 11:36 PM
That demand came because of the apology! Weakness - the worst sin ever!
OldEnglish on May 19, 2008 at 11:36 PM
Odd as I thought that America won the war with Iraq.
GuessObviously notMB4 on May 19, 2008 at 11:38 PM
Frankly I hope he’s court martialed. It’s crap like this that undermines our moral legitimacy abroad, helps recruit terrorists and detracts from our mission to win hearts and minds in Iraq. I’m sure thats all worth it though for some sort of ambiguous critque of political correctness.
crr6 on May 19, 2008 at 11:47 PM
Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one.
- Charles Mackay
MB4 on May 19, 2008 at 11:48 PM
It’s kissing Muslim a$$ that undermines our moral authority.
MB4 on May 19, 2008 at 11:50 PM
His idiocy may result in the deaths of US soldiers. You’re ok with that?
crr6 on May 19, 2008 at 11:52 PM
What some people don’t seem to understand is that they want to kill all infidels ANYWAY!
Vntnrse on May 19, 2008 at 11:59 PM
Called this one two days ago, when the story first broke…
If some Jihadist is going to use THIS for a reason… that an American soldier did not follow THEIR religous laws as an excuse to fight? They they would have found something else to fight about anyway.
Your acting like these people are rational (in a Western sense)…
A US General, kissing a replacement Koran (which is an HUGE arabic sign of respect) was not enough? They will continue to demand more as long as we continue to give in…
Its just about time to take off the gloves… they want a religous War? They may very well get their wish.
Romeo13 on May 20, 2008 at 12:02 AM
First of all the bonehead with the rifle received his punishment (whatever that was - probably demotion and very probably is no longer a sniper but plumbing specialist at some backwater post). That part is over and done with.
Second is this Iraqi politician getting his sound byte to show how tough he is. Whoopie! He is another bonehead.
Allah found the biggest, rottenest, maggot filed chunk of elephant hide he could find and threw it on the table for the HA midnight snack. Why the hell aren’t you running Johnny Mac’s campaign? The base needs firing up and you are pretty damn good with the flame thrower.
Limerick on May 20, 2008 at 12:03 AM
No I am not OK with that. Why would I be OK with that? And I do note that you said “result” not “cause”.
A woman’s wearing a short shirt may “result” in her rape, but her wearing a short shirt is not the “cause” of her rape.
I am also not OK with that idiot in the White House who thinks that Islam is a Religion of Peace and who has put us in such a position as to be extorted by those ungrateful $hits who lost a war to us.
MB4 on May 20, 2008 at 12:03 AM
Patton would have slapped that General’s head off.
MB4 on May 20, 2008 at 12:05 AM
I’d say that soldier understands how to separate the wheat from the chaff.
Patton would have found a place for him in his army.
Saltysam on May 20, 2008 at 12:07 AM
MB4 on May 20, 2008 at 12:05 AM
Ooops, you beat me to it…
Saltysam on May 20, 2008 at 12:08 AM
Just for that, I’m going to print out the Koran and wipe my arse with it. Seriously, Islam is a…errr…I better not go there.
Tim Burton on May 20, 2008 at 12:09 AM
Allah hates you this I know
For the Koran tells me so
American Soldiers and Marines we humble
They are weak but we are strong
Yes Allah hates you! Yes, Allah hates you! Yes, Allah hates you,
The Koran tells me so.
Allah hates you, you will die
Blow your ass up to the sky
Say the salat, chop off head,
Make another American General kiss our feet, go to bed.
Yes, Allah hates you! Yes, Allah hates you! Yes, Allah hates you!
The Koran tells me so
Aleph on May 20, 2008 at 12:11 AM
Here….
The Weekly Standard’s take on this Reuters reporter…..
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/004/164jnzjb.asp
Limerick on May 20, 2008 at 12:13 AM
Sometimes it is necessary that the body count go higher, in order to preserve the honour of those who fell earlier in the war.
OldEnglish on May 20, 2008 at 12:19 AM
Limerick on May 20, 2008 at 12:13 AM
Thanks for the link. I think it was CJ that had a post a while back about Reuters and their morphing into a pro-Arab theme for economy’s sake, producing one view instead of pro-Arab and pro-West.
Anyway, interesting and I even got a laugh out of it at this line - said one Majid, who, at age 15, was clearly a good source for sophisticated geopolitical analysis.
Spirit of 1776 on May 20, 2008 at 12:20 AM
I guess we can secretly send the troops some of this , though! It’s covered in chocolate! Shhhhhh! Don’t tell anyone!
SouthernGent on May 20, 2008 at 12:21 AM
Yeah…the press has their own Operation Chaos at work. From the state of public opinion on the war it seems to be very effective.
Limerick on May 20, 2008 at 12:23 AM
True that.
Spirit of 1776 on May 20, 2008 at 12:25 AM
It’s covered in chocolate!
Southerngent on May 20,2008 at 12:21PM.
Southerngent: Did you happen to notice that was tripple A
fine Ontario,Canadian bacon?
canopfor on May 20, 2008 at 12:27 AM
^^^^ Canopfor, I didn’t notice. We always called Canadian Bacon “ham” down where I lived in South Carolina…lol.
SouthernGent on May 20, 2008 at 12:32 AM
Any man who could eat that stuff is entitled to put a bullet in any book he wants.
Limerick on May 20, 2008 at 12:34 AM
Er…the MNF-I ROE and CENTCOM Gneral Order 1 already cover this. So, I don’t think you’ll get any more paperwork from us, Mr. Hashemi. Thanks for asking, tho’.
major john on May 20, 2008 at 12:35 AM
I didn’t notice…
Southerngent on May 20,2008 at 12:32PM,
Southerngent: Its covered in chocolate,me has no idea
whose bacon it is,but I shamelessly had
a golden opportiunity to plug the
“Canadian Bacon”! He HE :) :).
canopfor on May 20, 2008 at 12:36 AM
Jeeze Louise, what more do you want?
A general already kiss your toilet paper hating ass.
Go back to loving your camel and beating your wives.
Kini on May 20, 2008 at 12:36 AM
So, I have a question for those who think the soldier should be punished - if Reuters is manufacturing outrage, and inflaming the populace, and distributing enemy propaganda to give aid and comfort to the enemy, what should their punishment be?
apollyonbob on May 20, 2008 at 12:48 AM
Whatever the violation calls for (see major john’s post).
Not my place to say. The military has a standing order regarding the conduct of the soldier in the theater. The military has determined that the soldier violated that standing order. End of story. This Iraqi’s mouthing off is just red meat. I don’t like it one tiny little bit but it has nothing to do with the punishment of the bonehead.
Limerick on May 20, 2008 at 12:52 AM
GRRRRRRRRRR….read the post before responding Limerick!
Sorry apollyonbob….poorly organized grey matter here.
Limerick on May 20, 2008 at 12:54 AM
That’s okay, it happens XD
I think whatever the soldier already got (probably a nasty letter in his file and shipped out of theater) was sufficient, personally - and the general/colonel’s apology was more than sufficient.
I notice they didn’t get the President, or PM al-Maliki, or (even more importantly) any chief Islamic Clerics to come out and say something. I think Reuters is just stirring the pot
apollyonbob on May 20, 2008 at 12:58 AM
Aid and comfort……jail. Inflamming public opinion, not much you could do, other then scorn them. We start getting into the free press issue with that one.
Limerick on May 20, 2008 at 12:58 AM
The soldier who supposedly aroused the irrational natives by blowing holes in their noxious playbook of global domination and absolute intolerance should be reassigned elsewhere, since he doesn’t appreciate how to deal with the mentally unstable.
You must treat them like hair-trigger hysterical imbeciles.
Not rile them up by taking away their teddy bears or security blankets.
Humor them, because they can be dangerous when panicked.
And slowly get the straitjacket of respect for Human Rights around them.
Smile and nod and herd them carefully where you are trying to get them to go.
No sudden moves.
It’s an asylum.
Named Koranium.
profitsbeard on May 20, 2008 at 1:00 AM
It’s a mad house!!!
- Charlton Heston (Planet of the Apes)
MB4 on May 20, 2008 at 1:08 AM
my grandson sent me a video from Afganistan, of a moderate mmuslim. It was of a flying taliban turbine after a U.S. marine sniper shot of about one mile.
Johan Klaus on May 20, 2008 at 1:10 AM
MB4-
LOL!
“Take your stinking paws off me you damned, dirty 52 year old ‘prophet’!”
(Aiyesha, from “Planet of the Jackanapes“)
profitsbeard on May 20, 2008 at 1:16 AM
[Taylor ties up Dr. Zaius]Dr. Zira: Taylor! Don’t treat him that way!
George Taylor: Why not?
Dr. Zira: It’s humiliating!
George Taylor: The way you humiliated me? All of you? YOU led me around on a LEASH!
Cornelius: That was different. We thought you were inferior.
George Taylor: Now you know better.
[Major General Jeffrey Hammond ties up Radhwaniya tribal leaders and pours pig fat over them]
Maliki: Major General Jeffrey Hammond! Don’t treat them that way!
Major General Jeffrey Hammond: Why not?
Maliki: It’s humiliating!
Major General Jeffrey Hammond: The way they humiliated me? All of them? THEY made us kiss their God damned filthy book!
Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi: That was different. We thought you were week.
Major General Jeffrey Hammond: Now you know better.
MB4 on May 20, 2008 at 1:34 AM
Great G*d inna Bottle!
Can we get the flouride out and put some fricking testosterone in the water? HOLY CRAP!
Just suck it up its a fricking BOOK!
Mr. VP Just think back a few years and tell me what you were doing BEFORE we came in and took Sadam out?
Maybe ya oughta go back and do that for a living again.
-Wasteland Man.
WastelandMan on May 20, 2008 at 1:38 AM
“I suspect,if you looked back 60 years ago and tried to guess where Israel would be at that time, it would be hard to be able to project such a prosperous, hopeful land. No question people would have said, well, we’d be surrounded by hostile forces — but I doubt people would have been able to see the modern Israel, which is one reason I bring such optimism to the Middle East, because what happened here is possible everywhere.”
- George w. Bush (Speaking in Israel to mark the 60th anniversary of the nation’s statehood)
Let’s run that last bit by again. The president says the singular experience of “modern Israel” is one reason for optimism in the Middle East “because what happened here (Israel) is possible everywhere.”
What happened in Israel — the modern incarnation of the ancient Jewish nation that today enshrines freedom of conscience, freedom of speech, rule of law, women’s rights, etc. — is also anathema (anti-Islamic) to the Islamic Middle East, which to this day seeks or plots Israel’s annihilation, not in a what has become a sham territorial dispute, but rather to deny infidels (former dhimmis, to boot) a foothold in what Muslims regard as once-Muslim land.
To President Bush, though, the un-Islamic conditions culminating in an anti-Islamic event — 60 years of infidel liberty — constitute a pre-fab democracy franchise that might just as easily have opened up in Riyadh or Baghdad as in Tel Aviv. I think he sees it this way because, emotionally, he wants to see it this way.
So, why aren’t we now celebrating 60 years of infidel-style liberty in Saudi Arabia or Iraq?
Since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein in 2003, that “advance of freedom” has mainly empowered Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood — not my idea of “secure.” Of course, not my idea of “freedom,” either. But we’re supposed to forget the fact that Western-style freedom is actually antithetical to Islamic law. In fact, we’re supposed to forget about Islamic law. Given the administration’s new lexicon that quashes most official references to Islam, we’re supposed to forget about Islam, too.
- Diana West
MB4 on May 20, 2008 at 2:23 AM
To heck with that!
The last to recognize insanity are the insane. Therefore, reason does not work - discipline does.
OldEnglish on May 20, 2008 at 4:13 AM
Hmmm, I thought CNN only hung out with insurgent snipers.
labrat on May 20, 2008 at 5:18 AM
Don’t know. I’ll bet a .340 Weatherby mag could staple a few together.
labrat on May 20, 2008 at 5:31 AM
The inane stupidity of the sorry assed soldier who brought out all this grief on everyone, particularly his buddies left to deal with the angry locals, and the leaders who look like they can’t control their own! If all he got was a dismissal, that wouldn’t do it considering that his lack of honor cost us a great deal of hard earned good will and will cost lives down the road given loonies as loose in the brains as this soldier. He needs latrine duty for the rest of his enlistment AT LEAST.
maverick muse on May 20, 2008 at 6:15 AM
Maybe the soldier was making the Koran more “holey”…
Sometime I crack me up…
right2bright on May 20, 2008 at 9:42 AM
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/05/20/africa/20iraq.php
Yitzchokm on May 20, 2008 at 9:51 AM
Ok, the Quran lip-lock was one thing. If they lay a finger on that soldier…
spmat on May 20, 2008 at 10:04 AM
Frankly, this soldier using the Quran for target practice was a disgrace. He should be punished as harshly as possible for threatening the mission with his irresponsible behavior. There’s no defense for what he did whatsoever.
Enrique on May 20, 2008 at 11:04 AM
I see the Religion of the Perpetually Outraged is at it again.
Until they start respecting other people’s right to live and quit strapping bombs to their own women and children, they are not even close to “moral high ground” on this.
If they don’t like our soldiers, they can easily get them to leave: just quit trying to kill soldiers and each other. Until they can manage this basic tenet of civilization, the trappings of their beliefs deserve no respect whatsoever.
landlines on May 20, 2008 at 12:35 PM
Let’s remember the One Big Thing: The vast majority of Iraqis are Moslims. We are counting on them to hunt Al Qaeda, the Sadrists, the Qods force, and various other Iranian and Syrian lackeys. They side with us precisely because our deeds have shown them principles they can admire and abide.
Shooting a Koran blows this all to hell.
A soldier’s reward for foolish action in battle is often death or, worse, the death of his fellows or the failure of the mission. War is politics carried out by other means. This soldier’s reward for insubordinate and foolish action in the diplomatic sphere should begin with the end of his military career and should probably include considerable losses of money and freedom, and all of Iraq should know it. Not because it does or does not represent his intentions, but because he must surely have violated standing orders as well as common sense and thereby put the fate of nations in jeopardy.
If the Iraqi government states publicly that it will accept less, then so be it. If they later agree quietly to commutation of the sentence, so be it. But until and unless, punishing this soldier is not kowtowing to Iraq, it is keeping faith with an ally who is with us because of our principles.
njcommuter on May 21, 2008 at 1:52 AM