Monday, May 16, 2005

Koran Toilet Incident

By now we have all heard about the Newsweek report that claimed that a US soldier flushed a copy of the Koran down a toilet in an effort to anger some Guantanamo detainees in to talking. Later, Newsweek backed down from the story after it found out that it was probably not true.

But before the retraction, 15 people were killed in angry anti-US rallies in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Way to go Newsweek! You don't just report the news, you just orchestrated a massacre.

I find it odd that suddenly Pakistanis are taking the US media as true, and assuming that we are being true and unbiased. The countess reports of the way that the US initially handled the prisoners were apparently ignored. They were all provided with Korans, and food that would not offend any of them. They were given guard who were sensitive, etc. All that is discarded because we have one reporter who knows he can manipulate lots Islamic fundamentalists to demonstrate more hatred of America than they already do.

I wonder how the rioters feel now. They were duped by the American media and they killed 15 people, and injured dozens of others over a mistake. I couldn't live with myself if I was part of that.

Also, I find it hard to take seriously a people who routinely publicly burn American Flags, a rather sacred symbol to millions of us here in the US, and then whine and cry when they believe that the same thing is happening to them. (Something about going around and coming around comes to mind here.)

incidentally, I happen to own a copy of the Koran. I am very tempted to flush it down a toilet after seeing what I just saw. One of the great things about American capitalism is that you can buy any book you want and flush it down your toilet. I highly recommend it. It is probably a very liberating experience.

2 comments:

Chaim said...

Hi, thought you or any readers who liked this topic would enjoy my post on the same subject.

http://life-of-rubin.blogspot.com/2005/05/newsweeks-blunder-it-cant-be-talked.html

Anonymous said...

"a US soldier flushed a copy of the Koran down a toilet". i heard the funniest thing today, and on NPR of all places (the Brian Lehrer show). The prisoners in Gmo Bay dont have flushing toilets.

On an entirely different topic… Am I the only one who thinks that Brian Lehrer and Leonard Lopate are in reality the same person? I mean, these guys sound exactly the same. Their voices are the same. They have the same intonations. Their conversational style is same. They talk about similar topics and their shows are back to back. I think that Brian Lehrer (whatever his real name is) takes a break for a few minutes at the end of his show, and then comes back to do the Leonard Lopate show.
I know, I know—there are pictures of the two of them on the NPR website. But, of course, that’s just part of the cover-up.
Maybe its just me.