Here we go again, showing the world we are the bad guys. Enough already with the apologies. Despite all the rhetoric to the contrary, there truly was legitimacy to entering Afghanistan in the wake of 9/11 because that is where our enemy was based and harbored. Since, there has been endless second-guessing about our long-endured role there. But the bottom line is this:
- We suffered the single worst attack on American soil in this nation’s history on 9/11.
- We retaliated against al Qaeda and their allies, including the Taliban.
- Since, we have helped to create infrastructure for the Afghan people, with water systems, roads, medical facilities and training of their police and military.
- We have, to some degree, helped to liberate the women of Afghanistan so they can live and breathe without wearing full burkas, they can attend schools and they can hold jobs.
Their country is better off because of us. In doing all this, the United States sacrificed greatly.
- * It has cost the American taxpayer over $500 billion
- * American combat deaths have totaled 1904, and counting, plus another one thousand killed among coalition forces.
- * Another 14,342 Americans came home wounded, some with broken minds and bodies that may never be repaired.
So, now, a few copies of already marred copies of the Quran recovered from prison facilities were inadvertently burned in the disposal process. The pages of these books were scribbled with notes from inmate to inmate, which — after some were discovered — native Afghans went about stirring up protests and riots among their own, leaving at least seven innocent Afghans killed in the process.
And we’re whimpering public apologies? The president of the United States and armed forces generals are pleading for forgiveness, as though we participated in some mass execution.
Every time someone publicly mentions Muhammed or the Quran in some critical context, the world is put on notice that mayhem and deaths will follow. Threats abound. There is no free speech, no free expression, just fear and intimidation, and it works. We kneel to barbaric mentalities, which makes us weaker, not stronger, in the minds of others.
I have news for the radical Islamic world: Not everyone on Planet Earth believes as you do. Not everyone believes that Muhammed was really a prophet, or that he was a great person, or that the Quran is perfect. Neither does everyone in the world think those things about Jesus, Buddha, the Torah or the Bible. But Christians and Buddhists don’t go around rioting, killing and scaring the world into submission because they get criticized or defaced now and then.
If you expect to receive tolerance, you have to show tolerance.
So, let’s all get over it.
The incident could be explained innocently and if the Afghans didn’t like that, too bad.
Michelle Obama became famous for her verbal blunder when campaigning for her husband to be the president, “For the First time, I am proud to be an American.”
I’ve watched our president and our generals apologize, much like the president apologized for American arrogance to the French and Egyptians in 2009. And, for the first time in my life, I am tempted to say I am not proud to be an American. Not now, anyway.
Time to bring our men and women home. We shouldn’t spend another nickle, nor lose another soldier where we are subjected to this kind of disrespect for all we have sacrificed.
P.S. If you have sons or daughters serving in Afghanistan, DO NOT send any bibles, Christian material, Jewish material or pictures of scantily clad females in the mail to an APO address there. That mail is being screened by Afghan authorities, and subject to being opened. The aforementioned materials will likely not arrive at the destination. I personally confirmed this with my friends who work at the local post office. You’re welcome to do the same.
Click here: Quran-burning an accident, U.S. tells Afghanistan | Detroit Free Press freep.com
Marshall Frank
Thirty years of law enforcement in Miami, Florida, including sixteen years working homicide, gives Marshall Frank a huge reservoir from which to draw insights into the problems facing America today. After retiring from the Miami-Dade P.D. in 1990, Frank went on to become a writer, now with eight published books, five fiction and three non-fiction. His book “Militant Islam In America” was published after an exhaustive research study about the inroads that radicals are making within the borders of the U.S. He is currently working on a non-fiction book about the abominable criminal justice system. Book listings, prices and availability can be accessed at his web site:http://www.marshallfrank.com.