The already strained US relationship with the people of occupied Afghanistan is likely to get even worse going forward, with the revelation that the official recommendation for the handling of the February burning of Qurans at the Bagram Air Force Base.
The US troops selected a collection of religious texts they believed were being used to “fuel extremism,” including several copies of the Quran itself, and had them thrown into a burn pit for subversive literature. Afghan workers discovered the desecration of the religious texts, sparking mass riots across the nation.
The final decision hasn’t been made on what to do with the soldiers who were involved in the burnings, but the official recommendation is for them to receive a “written reprimand,” but no actual punishment, and that no one face criminal charges over it.
The Afghan investigation concluded that the burnings were intentional, though the US insists that it was a “mistake” to include Qurans in what was an organized religious book burning. Afghan officials have warned that any light sentence would spawn more unrest, and this is liable to be doubly so with no sentence at all.
Yes, let the enlisted guys off the hook, but round up their leaders, their officers, who either orchestrated it all or were out to lunch when they should have been guiding their men. Is it true that there are wall to wall generals in Afghanistan? They are surly collecting plenty of medals, but just look at the result of their leadership! Incompetence is incompetence. Stop the deviations with talk about enlisted guys responsibility, all fault is at the top.
It is an awkward situation, when the US Military deliberately burned Bibles and New Testaments that were provided to US soldiers. Where were the riots? Where were the investigations? Where were the disciplinary actions? Such a double standard. No wonder they hate us – America has no spine. The proper answer to protests is to say, "Stuff happens. Get over it."
Of course, an better answer would be to support the troops by bringing them home, and ending this madness, this perverion, this occupation of a people who want us out far more than they want what we call "democracy" = enforced at the barrel of a gun.