US soldier uses Quran for target practice; General apologizes

[nooni]

..............

[shadha]

I really think some of you guys are being totally ridiculous.

The soldier was removed. The soldier was sent home. The soldier is being disciplined. The general apologized for the actions taken by the soldier. What the hell more do you expect that they should do for this case?


shadha-

[Wolfn]

shadha said

I really think some of you guys are being totally ridiculous.

The soldier was removed. The soldier was sent home. The soldier is being disciplined. The general apologized for the actions taken by the soldier. What the hell more do you expect that they should do for this case?


shadha-

Personally, I would like a 20 foot statue made entirely out of chocolate.

[Variable]

jinnzaman said

Caricatures of Muslims often take on racial grounds (dark-skinned, bearded, beady-eyed, Arabic accents (in spite of the fact that most Muslims aren't Arab), etc.

Is that a component of the 'institutional' part of it? Or is it just something that becomes associated with the low-end masses? We had a discussion not long ago where Islamophobes argue the Prophet was white...


Anyway, I do agree that there is an institutional negativity (and sometimes racism) that come from both Islamic and non-Muslims communities against each other.

[ChotooMotoo]

shadha said

I really think some of you guys are being totally ridiculous.

The soldier was removed. The soldier was sent home. The soldier is being disciplined. The general apologized for the actions taken by the soldier. What the hell more do you expect that they should do for this case?


shadha-

That's all well and good, but what is being done on a higher level so that future soldiers don't end up in the same situation? It's not like this is a single isolated incident. Why do we keep making the same mistake over and over again in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere?

[jinnzaman]

Variable said

Is that a component of the 'institutional' part of it? Or is it just something that becomes associated with the low-end masses? We had a discussion not long ago where Islamophobes argue the Prophet was white

I was thinking more along the lines of cartoons I read in the editors section of newspapers.

Anyway, I do agree that there is an institutional negativity (and sometimes racism) that come from both Islamic and non-Muslims communities against each other.

Just out of curiosity, what type of institutional racism do you see in the Muslim community?

[Variable]

jinnzaman said

I was thinking more along the lines of cartoons I read in the editors section of newspapers.



Just out of curiosity, what type of institutional racism do you see in the Muslim community?

Passages describing how to relate to non-Muslims, describing not take them as friends, how Allah doesn not love them, hating them for the sake of Allah etc.

The effects are witnessed here in the posts of several members. I've recieved in my own inbox and comment box some pretty insulting things.

The racist component? Sometimes this manifests itself with 'white' being the anotonym for 'Muslims'

Of course this isn't everyone, not by a long shot, but there are people, those who draw their material from the religious institution, citing those things above....

I'd say it mirrors the 'institutional racism' coming from the West.

[Jaysh]

shadha said

I really think some of you guys are being totally ridiculous.

The soldier was removed. The soldier was sent home. The soldier is being disciplined. The general apologized for the actions taken by the soldier. What the hell more do you expect that they should do for this case?


shadha-

How about leave the country and make billions of dollars worth of reparations to the Muslims?

[Jaysh]

Jinnzaman, your blog post is excellent. Masha-Allah. Gonna post it here:

Jinn Was a Man said

U.S. Soldier Uses Qur’an for Target Practice

CNN has breaking news about a sniper in Iraq that used the Qur’an for target practice. Naturally, this didn’t go so well with the Iraqis.
Undoubtedly, many bigoted pundits will attempt to argue either that the Qur’an deserves to be shot up because its a barbaric text or they will argue that no religion is free from scrutiny under the theory of freedom of speech or under the theory of the establishment clause of the Constitution.
Concerning the first view, even if one were to assume for the sake of argument that the Qur’an IS a violent text, it behooves a so-called “rational” person to realize the sheer hypocrisy of condemning the purported violence of a text through violence itself. Now, one can argue that violence against a text harms no one . . . but it establishes a slippery slope to other forms of violence that may ultimately be directed against humans. Shooting a Qur’an for target practice, to me, is analogous to Nazi book-burnings. If the war is one against terrorism and not Islam, then why fire a weapon at the Qur’an? Why not fire it at a poster of Osama bin Laden or any other multitude of terrorists? The military did the right thing by relieving this imbecile of his duty immediately and apologizing to Iraqi tribal leaders.
Concerning the second view, that somehow this soldier’s actions are protected by the Constitution, this is ludicrous as well. Soldiers have limits on their first amendment freedoms. They cannot always just say whatever they want to, they cannot always have a protest whenever they want to, even their religious rights are limited in ways that ordinary citizens are not. Shooting the Qur’an in a volatile country where the key to political stability and saving soldier’s lives is in alliances between various religious groups and the military smacks of immaturity and bigotry. Such behavior provides fuel to the opponent’s fire, enrages the populace, and weakens moderate voices. Moreover, the underlying argument in claiming that this soldier had a Constitutional right to attack the Qur’an is irrelevant as Iraq isn’t under the Constitution of the United States of America, but rather, it is under the constitution of Iraq (which happens to be the Qur’an). Just like the average American doesn’t appreciate it when other nations or people impose their will upon them, it is not fair for American’s to impose their understanding of law, ethics, and morality upon another sovereign nation. In Iraq, the Qur’an is more than a religious book, it is the governing legal document of a sovereign nation and as such is the supreme law of the land; if the Iraqi constitution-Qur’an compels respect in its country, then an army viewed as a foreign occupying power should respect that document. If the US army doesn’t respect the Iraqi constitution-Qur’an, then the question arises as to whether it is truly trying to establish a stable government for a sovereign nation or if it is an occupying army that declared war on a sovereign people and imposed its will upon them through the force of arms (making them fascists). If US soldiers don’t like the legal system, then they are more then welcome to leave Iraq - or any other Muslim country seeking to implement the Shari’ah - for that matter.

[jinnzaman]

Jazakallah khairun.

[Jamroll]

Jaysh said

How about leave the country and make billions of dollars worth of reparations to the Muslims?

I totally agree with this. This has been my view since they invaded. Exit and reparate. It's as simple as that.

[Variable]

Jaysh said

How about leave the country and make billions of dollars worth of reparations to the Muslims?

To the Muslims? So the non-Muslim Iraqis shouldn't get anything?

[Jaysh]

Variable said

To the Muslims? So the non-Muslim Iraqis shouldn't get anything?

I didn't mean that. Yes, to them as well.

[Timbit]

Variable said

And (again the old argument) is 'racism' really the correct word here?

Yes.

[MossadConspiracy]

I guess Bumfights and Jackass have been a bad influence on the armed forces