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Related: About this forumThom Hartmann: Afghan protest-more than burning the Koran
Ali Gharib, Think Progress joins Thom Hartmann. Violence in Afghanistan has escalated tremendously over the past two weeks. Is a full military withdrawl from the country still plausible - and is there a way to stop the current violence?
The Big Picture with Thom Hartmann on RT TV & FSTV "live" 9pm and 11pm check www.thomhartmann.com/tv for local listings
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Thom Hartmann: Afghan protest-more than burning the Koran (Original Post)
thomhartmann
Feb 2012
OP
polly7
(20,582 posts)1. Thanks for the excellent video.
I was reading an article earlier that also explains why there is much more to the rage than the torching of Korans.
http://www.zcommunications.org/blown-away-by-tom-engelhardt
.........."However, as religious as the country may be and holy as the Koran may be considered, what's happened cannot be fully explained by the book burning. It is, in truth, an explosion a decade in coming."
" Sensitivity Training
The Afghan War shouldnt be the worlds most complicated subject to deal with. After all, the message is clear enough. Eleven years in, if your forces are still burning Korans in a deeply religious Muslim country, its way too late and you should go.
Instead, the U.S. command in Kabul and the administration back home have proceeded to tie themselves in a series of bizarre knots, issuing apologies, orders, and threats to no particular purpose as events escalated. Soon after the news of the Koran burning broke, for instance, General John R. Allen, the U.S. war commander in Afghanistan, issued orders that couldnt have been grimmer (or more feeble) under the circumstances. Only a decade late, he directed that all U.S. military personnel in the country undergo 10 days of sensitivity training in the proper handling of religious materials.
Sensitivity, in case you hadnt noticed at this late date, has not been an American strong suit there. In the headlines in the last year, for instance, were revelations about the 12-soldier kill team that hunted Afghan civilians for sport, murdered them, and posed for demeaning photos with their corpses. There were the four wisecracking U.S. Marines who videotaped themselves urinating on the bodies of dead Afghans -- whether civilians or Taliban guerrillas is unknown -- with commentary (Have a good day, buddy Golden -- like a shower). There was also that sniper unit proudly sporting a Nazi SS banner in another photographed incident and the U.S. combat outpost named Aryan. And not to leave out the allies, there were the British soldiers who were filmed abusing children.
And thats just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to how Afghans have often experienced the American and NATO occupation of these last years. To take but one example that recently caused outrage, there were the eight shepherd boys, aged six to 18, slaughtered in a NATO air strike in Kapisa Province in northern Afghanistan (with the usual apology and forthcoming investigation, as well as claims, denied by Afghans who also investigated, that the boys were armed)."
The Afghan War shouldnt be the worlds most complicated subject to deal with. After all, the message is clear enough. Eleven years in, if your forces are still burning Korans in a deeply religious Muslim country, its way too late and you should go.
Instead, the U.S. command in Kabul and the administration back home have proceeded to tie themselves in a series of bizarre knots, issuing apologies, orders, and threats to no particular purpose as events escalated. Soon after the news of the Koran burning broke, for instance, General John R. Allen, the U.S. war commander in Afghanistan, issued orders that couldnt have been grimmer (or more feeble) under the circumstances. Only a decade late, he directed that all U.S. military personnel in the country undergo 10 days of sensitivity training in the proper handling of religious materials.
Sensitivity, in case you hadnt noticed at this late date, has not been an American strong suit there. In the headlines in the last year, for instance, were revelations about the 12-soldier kill team that hunted Afghan civilians for sport, murdered them, and posed for demeaning photos with their corpses. There were the four wisecracking U.S. Marines who videotaped themselves urinating on the bodies of dead Afghans -- whether civilians or Taliban guerrillas is unknown -- with commentary (Have a good day, buddy Golden -- like a shower). There was also that sniper unit proudly sporting a Nazi SS banner in another photographed incident and the U.S. combat outpost named Aryan. And not to leave out the allies, there were the British soldiers who were filmed abusing children.
And thats just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to how Afghans have often experienced the American and NATO occupation of these last years. To take but one example that recently caused outrage, there were the eight shepherd boys, aged six to 18, slaughtered in a NATO air strike in Kapisa Province in northern Afghanistan (with the usual apology and forthcoming investigation, as well as claims, denied by Afghans who also investigated, that the boys were armed)."