The demonization of Muslims, now in our new, Democratic flavor. [View all]

[MadHound]

Once again(yes, US troops have done this multiple times), US forces have shown supreme cultural insensitivity in the handling of Islam's holy book, the Quran. One would think that after going through this once, perhaps twice, we would have better sense when it comes to these matters. But apparently not, and once again the US comes off looking like boors, at the least, to over a billion people worldwide.

Worse, this religious insult is added on to the stark fact that we are conducting an illegal, immoral war in Afghanistan, while continuing to violate the sovereignty of other nations, including Yemen and Pakistan. Add to this our history of imperial, armed intervention in the Middle East, with actions such as the Iraq war, a decade of deadly Iraqi sanctions, installation of our hand picked puppet rulers, etc.

So really now, is it any wonder that those of the Islamic faith are rather pissed at the US right now? It's apparently not enough for us to be involved in a military action that Bush originally launched as a crusade, but apparently we have to rub salt in the wound periodically by desecrating the Quran.

What's sad is the reaction here in the states. Rabid right wingers are insulted that Muslims are insulted, are actually joyful that Qurans were desecrated, and some take it even further, going ahead and desecrating a Quran themselves(remember Terry Jones anybody). Now, after this latest stupidity, I come onto this board here, and find people who are supposed to culturally sensitive, intelligent, tolerant, at least somewhat liberal, repeating the same sort of garbage that the right spews forth. The same epithets, the same lack of cultural awareness, the same disregard for other cultures(I could give numerous quotes here, but it is against the rules to call out another DUer and I don't want this post locked).

How dare those Muslims be offended, that seems to be the general line of thinking these days. You know what, if I had a foreign country occupying my country, having killed tens of thousands of innocents in my country, wreaked devastation upon my country, and then topped it off by burning my holy book, in my country, yeah, I'd be pretty damn mad as well.

Don't you get it, this isn't just a reaction to the burning of Quran's, this is a reaction to our ongoing illegal, immoral, imperial war that we are carrying out in a Muslim country. Yeah, burning a Quran may not seem like a big thing to you, but it is but the latest insult that we, the United States, have given to a country where we have killed innocents, leveled villages, tortured people, raped women, and killed children. Yeah, burning a Quran may not seem like much, but for many Afghan citizens, it is the latest in a long line of US perpetrated atrocities.

The best thing we can do, the moral thing that we should do is to withdraw from Afghanistan immediately. Pull our troops out, and send in humanitarian aid, reparations, and apologize for the needless death and destruction that we have caused during the past decade. It is the least we can do for a country that we invaded and occupied for no good reason.

So really now, you shouldn't be surprised at these reactions to what US forces do. It is the only way that an occupied and beaten people can express their anger against the US, and US atrocities. Doing anything else more substantial, like justifiably fighting back against such occupation, risks getting a drone fired missile landing in your house.

So yes, we should apologize. Better yet, we should leave. Not in 2014, not next year, but now, immediately. That is the only meaningful gesture of contrition that we could make that would ring true with the Afghan people. Anything else rings hollow.