Soldiers Burn Bill O'Reilly Books in Afghanistan (Video) - The Hollywood Reporter

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/bill-oreilly-book-burned-afghanistan-soldiers-250718
I have a quandry about this. From the posting apparently they were not burned out of spite, but for "military necessity." In the remote regions of Afghanistan, recycling or sending them back was not an option due to the cost and the necessity of moving equipment and supplies considered more vital to mission requirements. However, burning a book, any book, is a crime of oppression, no matter who the author or how repugnant the message. The fact of the matter is, these soldiers need reminders of home. Chocolate bars, toiletries, clothing, novels and the like. They don't need political propaganda.

9-11 'Koran Burning Day'

Look... even the most anti-Muslim members we have, the most devout Evangelicals and Zionist Jews, the most hardened and ardent vets who are fully behind 'the Great War on Terror'... even you must realise that a public Quran burning on the anniversary of the 9-11 attacks, is just chucking petrol on the fires of hatred, division and bigotry? Privately you might think it's hilarious, a sweet victory against your perceived enemy... but even then you can't possibly call this 'constructive', beneficial to a wider peace and understanding? Ok, so it might get some attention for Pastor Terry Jones' Gainesville, Florida church... fast becoming almost as big a name as New York's Park 51 community centre... and someone somewhere will make money from this. But that's all it is, a cynical ploy to use the memory of that tragedy for profit. It's morally sick, and demonstrates just how little 'Holy Spirit' there is in that branch of religion.

I saw a blog by a friend in New Zealand this morning, who suggested it might be an idea if those of us around the world who find this particularly offensive might burn an American flag or similar symbol...? How about a Bible... not a KJV, must be the modern US version, I forget what they call it. Offended? Good. As it turns out, a UK Islamic radical has called for exactly that, on Saturday, outside the US Embassy in London - flags, at least. Unfortunately, I'll be down the coast, otherwise I'd be up there with the camera.

President Obama has, I think sensibly, called it an 'al Qaeda recruitment bonanza'. A man who understands, then, that violence breeds violence. Not much more violent symbolism than setting fire to a Holy book... makes one think of the Dark Ages, or book-burnings in Communist Russia.

Now... what else can I say? I don't want to go that step too far, lest I be as bad as Pastor Jones. I could get right behind the flag-burning... but that's divisive and hateful.

3,000 human beings died in those towers. Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Atheists among them.

Indiscriminate violence against a symbol of Capitalism - 'The Great Satan'.

Three trillion dollars of war followed, and many more than 3,000 dead civilians and troops.

Personally, if some activist burns Terry Jones' church to the ground, I will smile. But I will keep that smile to myself. Violence against the man himself, or his congregation, I do not wish for.


How about we all commemorate September 11th, if at all, the correct way?

Wage Peace.


Today is Jewish New Year I believe? Rosh Hanash :)

US Gets Pakistani Column Pulled Over Blackwater Report

Taken from here.

US Ambassador Pressed Pakistani Paper to Pull Column
by Jason Ditz, September 06, 2009

The United States embassy in Pakistan reportedly managed to get the weekly column of a top critic of US policy pulled from the major English-language newspaper in Pakistan “The News International,” following a secret letter from Ambassador Anne Patterson to the newspaper earlier in the week.

The US embassy confirmed sending the letter but would not discuss its content. The newspaper’s editorial team said they were open to publishing the column at a later date, and indeed the article, entitled “Targeting Pakistan and Silencing the Critics” was made available on their website. Still, Pakistani media are saying that the embassy’s ability to block an article it found objectionable from a long-time critic of US policy is a sign of the enormous power the US wields in the nation.

Dr. Shireen Mazari, the author of the article, was interviewed on Iranian state media regarding what she called US censorship, and appeared to be not particularly surprised by the turn of events, though she insisted all the claims she made in the article also appeared in Western media sources, including Deutsche Presse-Agentur. She also vowed to continue her criticism of US policy, insisting “the Americans can’t gag me in my own country.”

Though Ambassador Patterson’s specific objections have not been made public, and she told The News not to publish her letter of complaint, it is widely assumed that Dr. Mazari’s references to Blackwater contractors being used on Pakistani soil was the source of the most vociferous objections.

A member of the opposition Tehreek-e Insaf party, Mazari was the director of a top foreign policy think-tank funded by the Pakistani government, though she was eventually removed from the position after what many in the Pakistani media believe was growing US pressure and warnings from the embassy that so long as she held the position they would treat her comments as official policy.

Following the furore over Dr. Mazari’s column, the Pakistani government officially denied that any Blackwater personnel were in the country, and insisted rules were in place to prevent such a thing happening. The US embassy declined comment, but last month former CIA officials revealed that the company had in fact been providing security on a Pakistani air base from which CIA drones were flown.


September 7, 2009 -- US Ambassador Accuses Pakistan’s Jang Media Group of Endangering Americans
August 21, 2009 -- CIA’s Ties With Blackwater Run Deep
September 24, 2009 -- US Mulls Increasing Drone Strikes in Pakistan