Iran military official: Only burning White House can make up for burning Koran

[tabatha]

The Muslim world should not accept an apology issued by U.S. President Barack Obama over the burning of Korans in an American base in Afghanistan, a top Iranian military commander said on Saturday, adding that nothing short of "burning the White House can relieve the wound of us."

Obama's Thursday apology in a letter to Afghan President Hamid Karzai sought to quell spiraling furor among Afghans, who have been protesting the act for five straight days, after Afghan workers found charred copies of the Muslim holy book on a military base near Kabul.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/middle-east/iran-military-official-only-burning-white-house-can-make-up-for-burning-koran-1.414765

So how do the people who say Obama is a "muslin" deal with this. Is there anything left of their heads to explode?

[Confusious]

1. I wonder how they dispose of old worn out Korans?

Do they just leave them in a garbage pile to rot?

[Angry Dragon]

4. The same way Christians get rid of their Bibles

[Confusious]

5. Sorry, please enlighten me,

I haven't been in a church in 20 years or so, excluding a couple of weddings.

How do the Christians get rid of their old Bibles? Paper into wine? TP?

[Angry Dragon]

10. Some sell them at garage sales, some get buried with them, some are passed down

some are stolen by Satan, some are donated to thrift stores

[jberryhill]

14. I thought that was why they put them in hotel room drawers

Which reminds me that I forgot to take the Book of Mormon from the last Marriott I stayed at.

[Odin2005]

6. Ironically, they burn them.

[David__77]

16. Yes, just as the US flag is disposed of through burning.

However, it is different when such actions are intentional acts of reverence, rather than the thoughtless acts of an army of occupation.

[Odin2005]

20. Civilized people don't riot over a cross-cultural screw-up.

[David__77]

24. I agree completely.

Orderly, disciplined demonstrations would be another matter. The problem is that the political consciousness is low so you get spontaneous outburst when there's a spark instead.

[Fumesucker]

30. That wasn't a screw-up, it was a deliberately insulting act..

There is a difference..

[Odin2005]

32. Prove it.

They were disposing of garbage by burning. Most Americans don't really care how old and damaged bibles are disposed of and it sounds like the same was assumed with Korans. It was a screw up.

[Fumesucker]

33. Right, of course..

No Americans in that area of the world have a clue how Muslims feel about the Koran and how it's treated.



I wonder if they found any Bibles or American flags in that dump?

[Odin2005]

36. Still waiting.

[former9thward]

49. I doubt the prisoners were using Bibles to pass messages.

[uppityperson]

45. "They were disposing of garbage by burning"? Don't you think that Americansoldier in that place and

situation might have a clue that Korans are not considered "garbage"?

[teddy51]

2. I don't know who is responsible the burning of the Korans, but shit that has to be

the last straw for Muslim's. There is no excuse for something like that to happen in a Muslim country, no less.

[Pirate Smile]

28. An Afghan soldier killed two of our troops over it and now two U.S. officers were shot dead inside

the Interior Ministry building over it.

Frankly, I'm done with excuses for them doing that or it being their "last straw". Fuck them. The idiots who accidently burned the Koran are complete and total dumbf#$ks who caused enormous damage but going into an insane rage and killing people over it is disgusting and reprehensible. There is no justification or excuse.

[Fumesucker]

31. If our troops weren't there in a foreign country..

They wouldn't be getting shot there..

[Codeine]

39. Fuck their "last straw".

It's a book, ferfuxsake. They need to get over themselves, just like the ninnies that get worked up over burning flags or crucifixes in urine need to get over themselves here at home.

Imbeciles.

[teddy51]

41. Except for the fact that were in there country and it kind of behooves us

to respect the bible.

[Codeine]

42. Oh bullshit.

They can stand up and say "Hey, don't burn that shit! Disrespectful." and that's fine. But this ridiculous deadly violence and threatening nonsense about burning the White House is just primitive.

[aquart]

3. Iran is butting in to this?

Why are they so freaking nervous?

[Odin2005]

7. I find these anti-American assumptions of bad intent disgusting.

I'm sure most Americans would throw away a damaged bible without a second thought. This was a cross-cultural screw-up being twisted by Islamists in order to stir up mobs.

[Mojorabbit]

29. I deplore the rioting over it

but I can't imagine that this was an accident. It might be so but...I was a military wife years ago and everywhere we went we had thorough briefings on the culture of the country we were going to along with any taboos etc. There have been multiple incidents regarding the koran in the past decade that started problems. I find it really hard to imagine that these soldiers were not aware of how to treat the holy book to avoid problems. I know there are stupid people everywhere but still....it would totally not surprise me if some ahole did it on purpose to insult. I am withholding judgement till more comes out about the incident.

[Odin2005]

37. My sense of reason makes me assume it was a mistake unless PROVEN otherwise.

[Codeine]

40. DU's blind spot.

Americans are always, ALWAYS wrong. And evil too. Greedy. Arrogant. Ignorant sheeple. All that good stuff.

[MrSlayer]

8. Really? All this over a few books.

Talk about unreasonable and unhinged.

[Bonobo]

9. What is the purpose/intent of quoting "one military official" (anonymous)

Besides being unable to confirm the truth of this report, one has to admit that it would be easy to find "one person" in ANY organization who says extreme things.

You could find "an anonymous us military person" who would say that Iran should be nuked.

Does that mean anything other than that it is the one person's opinion?

No.

So ask yourself what the intent of publicizing this one quote is.

Please.

[tiny elvis]

15. +

[tabatha]

18. Report from Fars News, Iran media

Commander Views US Helplessness as Root Cause of Quran Burning by American Soldiers

TEHRAN (FNA)- A top Iranian military commander said the US helplessness in the confrontation against Islam is the real cause underlying the burning of the Muslims' Holy Book by American soldiers in Afghanistan, and stressed that nothing but burning the White House and hanging the US commanders responsible for this cowardly action can relieve the Muslims' pain.

"The US has committed such an ugly action and burnt Quran because of the heavy slap it has been given by Islam," Commander of Iran's Basij (volunteer) force Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Naqdi said on Saturday.

He stressed Muslims' sensitivity to the crimes underway in Afghanistan by the US forces, and said Muslims do not accept the US apology, because it makes numerous military mistakes and then just asks for the Afghans' apology, and this is not acceptable.

"Nothing but burning the White House can relieve the wound of us, the Muslims, caused by the Burning of Quran in the US," he underscored.

"Their apology can be accepted only by hanging their commanders; hanging their commanders means an apology," he reiterated.

http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=9010176092

[Bonobo]

25. Noted. It was not a nobody who said it.

Thank you for the further details.

[JNathanK]

46. Since our officials have been making open threats to them, they're directing threats back at us now.

Its really all fair game. Although, The mainstream media will probably shit a brick over it and use it as an example of why Iran's dangerous and why we have to invade. However, you really can't expect them not to say anything when US presidential candidates keep talking about invading them.

The reason why Iran's media is publishing what some minor figure says on incinerating the white house is to strike fear in the US government since our officials have been doing it to them for over a month.

The Republicans will probably use all this as a campaigning point.

[Turbineguy]

43. Somebody bucking for promotion

or greater influence.

I suppose it's his way of jumping up on the table and ripping off all his clothes.

[JNathanK]

48. What if the Iranian website is intercepted by western governments and edited?

We really wouldn't know any better, and, as a propaganda tool, it could be very effective. I wonder if there's any real examples of any governments doing this. I know China blocks content, so why couldn't content be fabricated as well? Since anything coming in and out of Iran is already heavily monitored. it wouldn't be difficult to do.

I'm not saying a minor, volunteer military official didn't say those words, but I'm suspicious.

You have to look at it all in context to what their state media wants to convey to the rest of the world. It could be they want to threaten the US in a subtle way (more subtle than if the ayatollah or president said it), or it could be that their website is being hacked. If Western intelligence agencies were going to do it, they'd have some minor figure nobody knows about say these things, since it would be harder to prove or disprove. Plus, it would be a way of conditioning the public to get them to support a war.

If that was the case, it would eventually get to Russia Today though. However, I doubt any of American cable news would report on it. Its a possibility that needs to be considered.

I'd like to know which routes on the global internetwork Fars news takes to get to western countries. Its not so much of a problem now, but when SOPA or ACTA get passed, we need to watch out even more for this sort of thing.

[socialindependocrat]

11. Like when aliens think of visiting the Earth

They decide that the people are too primitive and are not worth trying to contact until they evolve more.

Let's just get the hell out and let them kill themselves.
Those people are just plain nuts!

I think it is an example to show religious conservatives how stupid it is to argue about religion.

[malaise]

12. I do not believe this

This is rubbish!

[tabatha]

19. Iran newspaper - Fars News

http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=9010176092

[Shankapotomus]

13. What if we burn all the korans?

How big does his scale of revenge have to get before he decides, aww, fuck it, it's too big to pull off? I mean, does he draw the line at burning the entire North American continent? Where exactly is the cut off point?

[JNathanK]

17. I don't trust press releases to tell me what Iranian officials say.

The media, years ago, asserted to the public that the Iranian president said that Israel should be wiped off the face of the earth. However, what he really said turned out to be more along the lines of " the current regime in Israel should be forgotten in the pages of history". I agree. I think the apartheid style government that kicks Palestinians off their land and walls them off in Ghettos in the west banks is a regime that needs to go, just as the USSR or apartheid South Africa were regimes that needed to go. There's a big difference between wanting regime change and wanting to wipe a country out of existence with nuclear bombs, and I think its sick the press translated the quote so loosely.

I even had a history professor, who was fluent in Farsi, confirm that the latter translation was the more accurate one.

I'm hesitant to take anything the media says concerning the translation of what Iranian officials say with a grain of salt now because of all that. If he did indeed mean that about the White House being burned, you can't blame me for the lack of trust anymore than the villagers who ignored the cries for help from the boy that cried wolf too much.

[tabatha]

21. Do you trust the Iranian newspaper itself?

http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=9010176092

[JNathanK]

23. It was stupid of them to burn the Quran, and it was stupid of the commander to say that.

This is all just going to escalate tensions and be used as a pretense for invading their country. I suppose if our officials are making threats of bombing their country openly, its all fair game for their officials to do the same, but its all really fucking stupid.

[Mnemosyne]

22. Thank you, I also remember this. n/t

[socialindependocrat]

34. Thanks - excellent example of misinformation

I will use this in many future discussions.

I am so disapointed in how many people lie.

The politicians just say it's politics. I say it's propaganda amd it's dishonest.
We should at least, expect that our government leaders will give us the truth
so we can elect our leaders and make decisions about the future. there seem to be
very few honorable people anymore.

Our society really disapoints me.

Hey, keep up the fight!

[davidthegnome]

26. The Brits did that during the war of 1812

They burned the white house. Didn't really make much difference in the scheme of things, but they torched it.

The Iranian military lacks the power to do so. I wish idiots wouldn't burn the koran period, especially in Nations where it is more revered. There is value (historical, reference, etc.) to such a book, even if you are not one of their faithful. This though - from some military official, is sabre rattling nonsense. It's intent is to anger us and stir up some more fanatics.

I think Obama has shown decency and humility in his apology. He could have told Karzai to go to hell, he could have completely ignored the incident. Instead, he had the decency to try to show that we are not all book burning nitwits.

[JNathanK]

27. I applaud Obama for how he's handled it too.

I'm just glad none of those psychos, like Mitt or Newt, are in his position, and I hope it remains the same. They're irresponsible for what they've said so far, just as candidates running for office. They talk out of their asses in the most irresponsible of ways and don't care about how what they say can affect public safety, just like this loud mouth volunteer commander in Iran.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

35. The pissing contest continues.

[snagglepuss]

38. I wish Muslims had this response when women are stoned to death.

[Rex]

44. Yes, yes...we are still the Great Satan...

Nothing more insane then going to war over paper, but hey GWB went to war because he wanted to. What is more fucking low then that? He owes all our troops an apology. Still...we will always be the Great Satan, so what at least people can enter America...unlike some nations that keep their borders locked down.

[morningfog]

47. Hollow threats.

I'm sure Iran loves the opportunity to rile up its neighbors against the US. Empty and transparent.