Newsweek's "Koran Desecration" Story Creates "Practical" Considerations In Kabul

In its May 6th issue, Newsweek magazine reported on a recent unconfirmed story alleging that a US soldier at Guantanamo reportedly may have possibly have flushed a Koran down a toilet....or maybe not....

In response, Muslims in Afghanistan have been rioting. At least 16 people have died in the violence and more than 100 have been injured. Angry, but peaceful, protests have also taken place in Pakistan, Indonesia and Gaza.
At least one Afghani college student has thoughtfully considered the various alternatives open to him in his quest to find the most satisfying way to express his outrage over this insult to Islam. Finally, after much soul-searching, he has announced what he considers to be the "most practical" response.

“Demonstrations serve no purpose, we should do something practical. I am ready to blow myself up for the sake of my religion to embrace martyrdom,” said Mohammad Ghafoor, 18, a student protesting in Peshawar, Pakistan.

Yep...when you are feeling frustrated, powerless, angry and wanting to do something practical why not just go someplace and blow yourself up? On the practical side, you will not have to deal with your feelings any more.

On the ironic side, General Meyers, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, shed some interesting light on the situation yesterday:

”They have looked through the logs, the interrogation logs, and they cannot confirm yet that there was ever the case of the toilet incident,“ the General said. ”He did note a log entry, which they still have to confirm, where a detainee was reported by a guard to be ripping pages out of a Quran and putting them in a toilet to stop it up as a protest. But not where the US did it."

Let's follow the logic....Newsweek prints an unconfirmed rumor.....teenagers in Afghanistan begin killing each other and blowing themselves up .....and some holy warrior sits in his cell tearing pages out of his Koran and stuffing them down his toilet.

Is it just me, or does this sound like a wonderful plot line for a novel by Camus?

ht:lgf