Afghans angry at Quran burning kill 7 at UN office

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

I did not excuse the actions of the killers. I quite clearly stated with no ambiguity whatsoever that their actions should be soundly and roundly condemned and they be brought to justice. How did you miss that?

My apologies. I reread that post again and just caught that.

In reference to the pastor...he's in the bounds of the law to burn that book. No matter how wrong it may seem to some. What he has done imo is shown just how screwed up some people in other parts of the world really are. He's proven his point.

[Peikko 1,575]

My apologies. I reread that post again and just caught that.

In reference to the pastor...he's in the bounds of the law to burn that book. No matter how wrong it may seem to some. What he has done imo is shown just how screwed up some people in other parts of the world really are. He's proven his point.

I did not say it wasn't lawful to burn the book. Obviously it is and quite as obviously he can and did do it and will not face any form of prosecution legally. Quite right, I have no problem with that at all.

However, my speculation was based on the fact that WE ALREADY KNEW THAT THE PARTS OF THE WORLD WHERE THESE TERRORISTS OPERATE ARE SCREWED UP so I ask myself this what kind of christian knowingly puts the lives of others in danger to make a point that is already will known? That's either spectacularly naive or malicious.

Edited April 2, 2011 by Madame Cleo

[Sergi9 110]

Nice way to excuse those animals actions. I would think the #1 question would be how could those animals butcher seven human beings for a book being burned...no matter what fking book it was.

That to me would be the BIG QUESTION of the day.

The pastor incited a riot which resulted in the death of 7 people. The Pastor that got this snowball rolling down the hill and his crazy congregation lit the match. They were warned in advance and asked not to incite the riot but instead they proceeded knowing the likely outcome would be extreme.

They are complicit in violent pre-meditated act. Its an equally legitimate question as to why they felt compelled to incite an incident they knew would have a tragic outcome.

Are the book burners any less guilty?

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Afghan orgy at Quran burning kills 7 at UN office

#######?

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110402/ap_on_re_as/as_afghanistan

Anger over Quran burning spreads in Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan – Anger over the burning of the Muslim holy book at a Florida church fueled a second day of deadly violence half a world away in Afghanistan, where demonstrators set cars and shops ablaze Saturday in a riot that killed nine protesters, officials said.

The church's desecration of the Quran nearly two weeks ago has outraged millions of Muslims and others worldwide, fueling anti-American sentiment that is further straining ties between the Afghan government and the West.

The uproar even brought violence to the normally peaceful northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif on Friday, when a crowd of protesters — apparently infiltrated by insurgents — stormed a U.N. compound in an outpouring that left four Afghan protesters and seven foreign U.N. employees dead.

The top U.N. envoy in Afghanistan, Staffan de Mistura, said the organization had no plans to evacuate. It would, however, temporarily redeploy 11 staff members from Maraz-i-Sharif to Kabul.

"This is not an evacuation, it is a temporary redeployment because the office is not functioning. We will be ready to go back as soon as we can establish an office that is secure enough," he told reporters.

In an unrelated attack that nonetheless demonstrated the kind of violence plaguing Afghanistan nearly a decade after the U.S. invaded to oust the Taliban and hunt al-Qaida, two suicide attackers disguised as women in blue burqas blew themselves up and a third was gunned down at a NATO base on the outskirts of Kabul, police said.

The Quran was burned March 20, but many Afghans only found out about it when Afghan President Hamid Karzai condemned the desecration four days later. The burning took place at the Dove Outreach Center in Gainesville, Florida, the same church where the Rev. Terry Jones had threatened to destroy a copy of the holy book last year but initially backed down.

On Saturday, thousands of Afghans carrying long sticks and holding copies of the Quran over their heads marched through Kandahar, the largest city in southern Afghanistan and the cradle of the insurgency. The crackle of gunfire could be heard throughout the city, which was blanketed by thick black smoke.

Security forces shot in the air to disperse the crowd, said Zalmai Ayubi, a spokesman for the provincial governor. It's unclear how the protesters were slain, he said.

The governor's office in Kandahar province issued a statement saying that nine protesters were killed and 81 others were injured in the demonstration that turned into a riot. Seventeen people, including seven armed men, have been arrested, the statement said.

The governor's office claims demonstrators were incited by extremists who joined the group and set property ablaze.

"The enemies of the people and country also burned down the furniture and a bus at a ladies' high school in Kandahar and destroyed some other properties," the governor's office said.

Shops and restaurants throughout the city were shuttered and routes leading into the city were blocked by security forces.

An Associated Press photographer estimated the crowd at a few thousand and said demonstrators had smashed his camera and roughed up other journalists.

Karzai's office said the president spoke on the telephone Saturday morning with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Karzai asked the secretary-general to extend his condolences to the families of the U.N. workers slain Friday.

He also called on the U.N. to help promote religious tolerance throughout the world to ease friction between people of different faiths. Karzai said Afghan officials were investigating the U.N. attack and would bring the perpetrators to justice.

De Mistura said four Nepalese guards were killed protecting the U.N. staff and did not fire their guns.

The other three victims were identified by officials in their home countries as: Joakim Dungel, a 33-year-old Swede; Lt. Col. Siri Skare, a 53-year-old female pilot from Norway; and Filaret Motco, a 43-year-old Romanian who worked in the political section of the U.N.

The U.N. envoy said the Russian mission chief, who spoke Dari, was beaten but let go after he told the attackers he was Muslim.

According to de Mistura, a group of seven to 15 insurgents had infiltrated the protest, which numbered around 3,000 people, and said some have been arrested.

"I am profoundly sad and I am also shocked by what I saw, but we do continue our work, we are not going to be deterred," De Mistura said, describing the Quran burning as "an insane gesture."

In Florida, Wayne Sapp, a pastor at the church, called the events "tragic," but said he did not regret the actions of his church.

"I in no way feel like our church is responsible for what happened," Sapp said in a telephone interview on Friday. Afghan authorities suspect insurgents melded into the mob outside the U.N. compound and they announced the arrest of more than 20 people, including a militant they suspect was the ringleader of the assault. The suspect was an insurgent from Kapisa province, a hotbed of militancy about 250 miles (400 kilometers) southeast of the city, said Rawof Taj, deputy provincial police chief.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid sent a text message to The Associated Press on Saturday denying that the insurgency was responsible for killing the U.N. workers.

Demonstrators have alleged that the four protesters were killed by Afghan security forces.

Interior Ministry spokesman Zemeri Bashary said Saturday that a delegation of high-ranking Afghan officials was being sent to the city to investigate what happened.

Bashary also gave reporters details of Saturday's attack on NATO's Camp Phoenix, a base on the east side of Kabul that's used to train Afghan security forces.

He said three armed insurgents wearing suicide bomb vests arrived at a main gate at the base around 6:45 a.m. Two of the attackers opened fire and then detonated their vests of explosives, Bashary said. The third opened fire and was killed by NATO forces. The body of a fourth person, an Afghan man at the scene, has not been identified. Three NATO service members were injured, the coalition said.

The gate at the base was scorched from the explosions. An AP reporter at the scene saw the remains of at least one of the attackers dangling from the gate.

[Usui Takumi 1,562]

The pastor incited a riot which resulted in the death of 7 people. The Pastor that got this snowball rolling down the hill and his crazy congregation lit the match. They were warned in advance and asked not to incite the riot but instead they proceeded knowing the likely outcome would be extreme.

They are complicit in violent pre-meditated act. Its an equally legitimate question as to why they felt compelled to incite an incident they knew would have a tragic outcome.

Are the book burners any less guilty?

This one here also probably assumes a woman who is raped when wearing a short skirt is equally guilty.

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

The pastor incited a riot which resulted in the death of 7 people. The Pastor that got this snowball rolling down the hill and his crazy congregation lit the match. They were warned in advance and asked not to incite the riot but instead they proceeded knowing the likely outcome would be extreme.

They are complicit in violent pre-meditated act. Its an equally legitimate question as to why they felt compelled to incite an incident they knew would have a tragic outcome.

Are the book burners any less guilty?

Let me know when anyone in Florida was butchering those seven UN members. Links work fine for me.

[faust-yusov 103]

The burning was foolish, but by placing blame for their deaths on the pastor, it actually validates the attacks. In an odd way, this is connected to Paul's ####### story. You shouldn't blame woman for the actions of men.

I think the crux of the discussion with regard to Paul's story is that the "she's begging for it" get-out has its roots in misogyny. The comparison between that and this is a dissatisfying one because the minority group switches sides in each scenario, and because purposeful and public incitement of racial hatred is something quite different to fashion preference.

A more analagous example would be walking up to a person of a maligned minority group, uttering the ugliest of racial slurs, and then claiming no culpability for being subsequently hospitalized. There are plenty of gestures which, in context, we view as far more violent as they would be in a social vaccuum.

Here the oppressed are Muslims, citizens of a fragile democracy with a widespread suspicion of Western values. Jones knew the political climate in which he acted, and was informed, by a senior government official, of what would happen if he did. He is responsible, and admitting as such need not reduce or absolve the responsibility of the murderers themselves.

Edited April 2, 2011 by faust-yusov

[Sergi9 110]

Let me know when anyone in Florida was butchering those seven UN members. Links work fine for me.

In Florida, Wayne Sapp, a pastor at the church, called the events "tragic," but said he did not regret the actions of his church. "I in no way feel like our church is responsible for what happened," Sapp said in a telephone interview on Friday.

Great humanitarian.. the death count is rising and the other Pastor at the church doesn't regret the actions of his church.

This is a perverse and demented group of people in Florida as well as Afghanistan. I think think the punishment for the crime should be first class airfare to Afghanistan for Wayne, Terri and the congregation to attend the funerals.

[Sergi9 110]

This one here also probably assumes a woman who is raped when wearing a short skirt is equally guilty.

???????????? Totally bizarre comment.

What they did was was a premeditated action with the express intent and full knowledge and warning by Muslim Imams and the US State Department that their planned actions would result in violent retribution in the extreme faction of Muslim society. They did it anyway.

[Peikko 1,575]

Good grief, how on earth did we get to a comparison between women's clothing choices and burning religious iconography?

There is nothing unambiguous about burning a religious icon even in the US.

Clothing choices are however extremely ambiguous, even when women exercise these choices despite Paul's claim to be able to identify a ####### at 30 paces.

Regardless, persons faced with these unrelated 'provocations' are absolutely responsible for their reaction to them.

Edited April 2, 2011 by Madame Cleo

[Glyn and Kathy 288]

When I see things like this, I feel just completely hopeless about us as the human race. Not as a nationality or a religion or a race. ALL of us HUMANS. Its just depressing and sickening on BOTH sides.

[Sergi9 110]

I think the crux of the discussion with regard to Paul's story is that the "she's begging for it" get-out has its roots in misogyny. The comparison between that and this is a dissatisfying one because the minority group switches sides in each scenario, and because purposeful and public incitement of racial hatred is something quite different to fashion preference.

A more analagous example would be walking up to a person of a maligned minority group, uttering the ugliest of racial slurs, and then claiming no culpability for being subsequently hospitalized. There are plenty of gestures which, in context, we view as far more violent as they would be in a social vaccuum.

Here the oppressed are Muslims, citizens of a fragile democracy with a widespread suspicion of Western values. Jones knew the political climate in which he acted, and was informed, by a senior government official, of what would happen if he did. He is responsible, and admitting as such need not reduce or absolve the responsibility of the murderers themselves.

Well spoken

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

Well spoken

Ya well spoken...my #######. Last time I checked it was 2011 and we are in the 21st century. It doesn't matter who or what got burned. These animals took it upon themselves to brutally murder seven human beings over a religious book being burned. Now unless I shoved my head three meters up my ####### today, I still have to say butchering those seven human beings is the big crime here. In no way is that preacher from Florida responsible for grown adults butchering seven human beings.

You can dress a pig up with lipstick and a wig, but in the end it's still a pig. It's called "accountability for ones actions".

Edited April 2, 2011 by Why_Me

[Sergi9 110]

Ya well spoken...my #######. Last time I checked it was 2011 and we are in the 21st century. It doesn't matter who or what got burned. These animals took it upon themselves to brutally murder seven human beings over a religious book being burned. Now unless I shoved my head three meters up my ####### today, I still have to say butchering those seven human beings is the big crime here. In no way is that preacher from Florida responsible for grown adults butchering seven human beings.

You can dress a pig up with lipstick and a wig, but in the end it's still a pig. It's called "accountability for ones actions".

No mention by the book burner supporters of the reckless disregard for the troops and diplomatic personnel we have on the ground in Afghanistan and other countries in the Muslim nations. This Church did this will full knowledge of the potential it would put our soldiers and citizens in harms way. They acted with malice of forethought.

Directly slaying someone is barbaric and evil, but it is a thousand times more evil to formulate a plan with the express intent to incite someone else to carry out the dirty dead and stand by in a safe location and watch the carnage on CNN.

Edited April 2, 2011 by Sergi9