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AMP comment - May 21, 2008 updated May 27, 2008
Why US soldier shot at Quran for practice?
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
After US army’s prompt apologies for shooting of the Quran by a US soldier stationed in Iraq failed to calm down this potentially explosive situation, President George Bush stepped in and offered apology to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
The soldier, whose name was not released, shot at a copy of the Quran on May 9. The bullet-riddled book was discovered two days later at the firing practice range by an Iraqi policeman, but the U.S. military did not make the incident public until May 17.
President Bush’s apology came after US army commanders’ apologies failed to defuse the situation. Maj. Gen. Jeffery Hammond, the commander of U.S. forces in Baghdad, met with tribal leaders in Radwaniyah, where this incident happened, to apologize while another American officer kissed a copy of the Quran before presenting it to the chiefs. General Hammond read a carefully worded apology from the shooter.
On May 19, the No. 2 U.S. commander in Iraq, Lt. Gen. Lloyd J. Austin III, paid visits to Prime Minister al-Maliki as well as Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi, the leader of the most powerful Sunni group in Iraq, and parliament speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, to express regret over the incident.
Tellingly, Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi, told CNN that he was demanding a guarantee from the U.S. military to inflict the maximum possible punishment on the soldier so it would be a deterrent for the rest of the soldiers in the future. "It is a dangerous case. We had been silent and accepted the killing of our sons, the destruction of our homes and the theft of our money, but we do not accept insults to the holy Quran," he stressed.
The desecration of the Qur'an was also strongly condemned by the Association of Muslim Scholars, which represents more than 3,000 Iraqi mosques. It said the "heinous crime shows the hatred" that the US military and American leaders had for the Quran and the Muslim people.
Omar Abdul Sattar, a prominent Iraqi political leader, compared this latest incident to the cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad which were published in a Danish newspaper in 2005. The images provoked global protests from the Muslims. Sattar said it is not a matter of disciplining just the soldier, but taking a larger look at the issue.
Similarly, a speech on behalf of Radhwaniya tribal leaders, Sheikh Hamadi al-Qirtani called the incident "aggression against the entire Islamic world."
The U.S. military said on May 18 that it had disciplined the sniper and removed him from Iraq after he was found to have used the Quran for target practice in a firing range in Radwaniyah, near Baghdad. The Quran was found two days later by Iraqis on a firing range in Radwaniyah with 14 bullet holes in it and graffiti written on its pages.
The American military has described the incident as both serious and deeply troubling, but stressed it was an isolated incident and a result of one soldier's actions.
The Quran shooting was the latest and the most serious known incident of desecrating Muslim holy symbols in Iraq by American troops. Since the 2003 US invasion, there had been several accusations against the US soldiers of attacking and defiling mosques.
In November 2004, the killing of nearly 40 unarmed Iraqis inside a mosque in the northern city of Fallujah by a US marine battalion prompted widespread international condemnation.
There was uproar when US soldiers attacked Ibn Taimiyah Mosque in Baghdad in January 2004. In this incident American troops smashed down the front gate and ripped up the carpets. They had also thrown several Qurans on the floor and allegedly punched the man giving the call to prayer in the face. Al-Jazeera TV showed images of the damaged Qurans.
In March 2006, US raid on Mustafa mosque in north-east Baghdad's Sadr City killed about 20 people and drew sharp criticism.
What message this gives to the US soldiers serving in Iraq and elsewhere? Consequently, they have no sense of sanctity for the symbols of Islam.
According to McClatchy-Tribune, how American forces treat the Quran has been a recurring source of complaint dating back to the earliest days after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and reports about them have triggered angry outpourings throughout the Muslim world, including riots in Afghanistan in 2005 that left at least 17 dead.
In this charged back drop, the use of the Quran for shooting practice cannot be hushed as an individual or isolated incident but it may be explained as an accumulated effect of the anti-Islam and anti-Muslim policies of the Bush administration in the post-911 America. The state-sponsored smirking has trickled down to spawn a climate of recreational cruelty in the US military.
Recall Lt. Gen. William Jerry Boykin who, while in uniform, propagated hate at the grassroots level in dozens of speeches to church groups, saying that the war on terror was actually spiritual warfare, with the enemy 'Satan' being embodied by Islam. Speaking of God versus Allah he said: "Well, you know what I knew, that my God was bigger than his. I knew that my God was a real God, and his was an idol."
Dropping down the chain of command, Marine Corp Lt. Gen. James Mattis said it was "fun to shoot some people." His comment came in reference to fighting insurgents in Iraq where he commanded Marines during the battle for Fallujah in spring 2004. "Actually it's quite fun to fight them, you know. It's a hell of a hoot," Mattis said, prompting laughter from some military members in the audience.
Don’t forget the desecration of the Quran in Guantanamo Bay where the holy book of Islam was flushed into toilets by US interrogators. Copies of the Koran were trampled on by soldiers. Prisoners were forced to watch copies of the Koran being flushed down toilets.
Not in distant past, US Air Force Academy invites Islamophobes to indoctrinate young cadets against Islam. Three Isalmaophobes – Walid Shoebat, Kamal Saleem and Zachariah Anani -were star speakers on February 5, 2008 at the 50th annual United States Air Force Academy political forum in Colorado Springs, Colorado. They spewed venom against Islam and Muslims to poison the mind of young cadets.
And in the latest episode of anti-Islam propaganda this month, a mock attack is launched against a fake mosque in Irving, Illinois in a security drill.
On May 1, over 120 officials from almost 30 government agencies participated in the drill in Irving, Illinois, targeting a community facility that had been re-named the "Irving Mosque" for the purposes of the exercise. In the exercise, officers from the Illinois Law Enforcement Alarm System (ILEAS) stormed the "mosque" using an armored car. One "hostage" was hooked up to an explosive device and the "suspects" in the "mosque" released nerve gas.
Not surprisingly, a preview of the May 1st training was highlighted by the media with such sensational headlines: "Pennsylvania's police prepare for radical Islam," and “Radical Islam: A Law Enforcement Primer.”
No doubt, the unnamed sergeant’s action emanates from such unabated and persistent anti-Islam and anti-Muslim propaganda, desecration of the Quran and attacks on mosques. His apology does not mean much because he is not alone responsible for the desecration of the Quran but it is the army as an institution that is responsible for such acts.
Samina Faheem Sundas, founding Executive Director of American Muslim Voice, was not surprised to hear about the Quarn being used as target practice because “since 9/11 our administration has created a culture of fear, hate, anger and division among all Americans which has resulted in Islamophobia. Many fellow Americans feel justified and honored to insult Islam and Muslims because of that.”
Unless the official US policy to demean Islam and Muslims is not changed and attacks on Islamic faith in the name of freedom of expression are not abandoned we will see more such incidents in which the Quran and Mosques will be used as targets.
Regretfully, the 2008 presidential race has also seen deep signs of Islamophobia as many Republican presidential candidates, before Senator John McCain’s victory in primaries, resorted to Islamophobic fear mongering by demonizing Muslims and Islam. Alarmingly McCain has refused to drop “Islamic terror” label.
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