California Conservative

How quickly some forget.

AP reports: “President Hamid Karzai on Friday condemned the alleged desecration of the bodies of two dead Taliban fighters by U.S. troops, but he said mistakes happen in war and Afghans shouldn’t let it mar their impression of the United States.”

Alleged is the operative word. Michelle Malkin calls it, “Another troop-smearing attempt.”

[Karzai's] apparent attempt to reduce Afghans’ anger over the incident came amid warnings by Islamic clerics of a possible violent anti-American backlash.

”Sometimes things happen in these sort of operations, during war. Soldiers make mistakes,” he told reporters in Kabul. “We are very grateful for the international community’s assistance. . . Their soldiers have shed their blood in our country.”

But he added, “We in Afghanistan in accordance with our religion . . . are very unhappy and condemn the burning of the two Taliban dead bodies. I hope such incidents will not occur again.”

So do we.

In fact, we remember March 31, 2004, watching the news of 8 Americans workers (not soldiers) killed when their two cars were attacked by small arms fire and RPGs in Fallujah. The bodies of the Americans were then burned, pummeled and hung from bridges.

(Click images to enlarge)

And where was the international outrage?

As WorldNetDaily reported: “In Fallujah, the four bodies were pulled from two burning SUVs by jubilant Iraqis who dragged them through the streets and hung two from a Euphrates River bridge, according to news reports.”

Chanting “Fallujah is the graveyard of Americans,” residents cheered after the assault while others chanted, “We sacrifice our blood and souls for Islam,” reported Fox News.

State Department officials told Fox News it is contacting the families of the victims, who were workers contracted by the U.S.-led coalition.
. . .

In images provide by Associated Press Television News, one man was shown beating a charred corpse with a metal pole.

Others tied a body to a car and dragged it through the town’s main street. Two blackened and mangled corpses were hung from a Euphrates bridge.
. . .

A young boy, 12-year-old Muhammad, beat one of the charred bodies as a crowd cheered, according to Reuters.

“I am happy to see this,” the boy said. “The Americans are occupying us so this is what will happen.”

Reuters said as the victims lay burning, a crowd of about 150 men chanted “Long live Islam” and “Allahu Akbar” – Allah is greatest – while flashing victory signs.

Is this the same religion Karzai is referring to?

And what about the burning of dead Taliban fighters by U.S. military? TIME reports it was the “stench.”

There simply wasn’t enough room on the rocky hilltop above Gonbaz village in southern Afghanistan for the U.S. platoon and the corpses of the two Taliban fighters. The Taliban men had been killed in a firefight 24 hours earlier, and in the 90 degree heat, their bodies had become an unbearable presence, soldiers who were present have told TIME. Nor was the U.S. Army unit about to leave — the hilltop commanded a strategic view of the village below where other Taliban were suspected to be hiding.

Question for Islamic clerics: What’s more respectful — to leave your “brothers” lying in the sand to rot in the sun where they fell, or to return them to dust, ashes to ashes?

Sorry, but this news is just too much. Our soldiers are enduring the worst conditions to create stability in the region, and these hypocritical bastards are using religion as a tool however it suites them best. If burial is so sacred, the Taliban soldiers shouldn’t have been left behind.

But since the dead bodies were being cremated for reasons of hygiene, our troops used the opportunity to “smoke out” more Taliban fighters. Killing two birds with one stone.

CNN reports: “[T]he incendiary messages later broadcast by the U.S. army psychological operations unit indicated they were aware that the cremation would be perceived as a desecration.

“They used that as a psychological warfare, I guess you’d call it. They used the fact that the Taliban were burned facing west (toward Mecca),” Dupont told SBS. “They deliberately wanted to incite that much anger from the Taliban so the Taliban could attack them … . That’s the only way they can find them.”

Howie at The Jawa Report explores “what really happened.”

One of the big stories this week was the supposed desecration of enemy bodies in Afghanistan. See this interesting report on NPR from the photojournalist who filmed the shots. He says the report on Aussie TV was misrepresenting US soldiers. First listen to hear what the man who was there said. Next read the transcript of the Aussie program to see if they jive. Let me see….. Uh nope.

Euphoric Reality has an extensive round-up.

This entry was posted on Saturday, October 22nd, 2005 at 11:33 am and is filed under Iraq, Media, Military, Religion, Washington, DC. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.