Worse than Abu Ghraib
Muqtedar Khan, a Brookings Institution scholar, says that the "Newsweek" Quran report is "worse than Abu Ghraib."
Shades of Carl Perkins. Beat me, slander me, spit on me. Do anything that you wanna do, but uh-uh honey lay off of that blue-suede-bound Quran.
And he's not shy about blaming "Newsweek," a position I think is absurd.
OK, let's connect the dots: He says, the Americans don't understand the Quran or what it means to a Muslim. They did something casually, to a mere piece of property, to $7.98 worth of wood pulp and ink. But because Muslims take that book very seriously, what they did in their ignorance was "torture of all Muslims."
So what is it, in his system, when Muslims, mistaking America's commitment to its own secular nationalist symbols, burn the U.S. Constitution, draw swastikas on American leaders, pulp Christian Bibles, and stomp all over American flags?
This is worse than Abu Ghraib; Abu Ghraib represents the physical and psychological torture of a few Muslims, Quran desecration represents a spiritual, emotional and psychological torture of all Muslims.
Shades of Carl Perkins. Beat me, slander me, spit on me. Do anything that you wanna do, but uh-uh honey lay off of that blue-suede-bound Quran.
And he's not shy about blaming "Newsweek," a position I think is absurd.
Their ignorance about the religiosity of a people they report on frequently is amazing. Don’t they have Muslims on their staff that they could consult? The level of ignorance extent combined with unwillingness to develop deeper understanding of Muslim cultures and Islam by many U.S. officials and those in the media who cover the Muslim World is reaching criminal proportions. The ramifications of mistakes such as this one, even if it is proven that the report was a false one, will take a long time to rectify. Perhaps Newsweek should dedicate a special issue to celebrate the Qur'an and the deep devotion that Muslims hold for it. Their reckless reporting has already caused 16 deaths and may cause more in the future.
OK, let's connect the dots: He says, the Americans don't understand the Quran or what it means to a Muslim. They did something casually, to a mere piece of property, to $7.98 worth of wood pulp and ink. But because Muslims take that book very seriously, what they did in their ignorance was "torture of all Muslims."
So what is it, in his system, when Muslims, mistaking America's commitment to its own secular nationalist symbols, burn the U.S. Constitution, draw swastikas on American leaders, pulp Christian Bibles, and stomp all over American flags?
