This item is available on the Militant Islam Monitor website, at http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/600
We want Islam-Down with Karzai ! Muslims take up where Taliban left off as myth of ' Islamic democracy' goes down the tubes
May 11, 2005
MIM: Honey they shrunk the Koran:
March 10, 2005
GUINNESS WORLD RECORD
Mini
QUR'AAN
This miniature Qur'aan is now recognized as the world's smallest
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MIM: In Germany, the burning of books by Nazis was seen as a sign of barbarism which was rightly predicted as leading to the burning of people. In the world of Islamofacism, burning people is nothing to be outraged about, but an unsubstantiated report of a Koran being placed on toilet on the other side of the world , caused three deaths and the 'near destruction' of the capital city.
Update: 5/15/05 The rioting has continued into a second day and spread to several other cities resulting in 4 more deaths bring the toll to 7. There have also been reports of rioting in neighboring Pakistan.
MIM: Islam uber alles
You can take the Taliban out of Afghanistan but not out of the Afghanis. For those who believe that Islam is compatible with democracy, the latest riot in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, sparked by reports of a Koran being 'desecrated' by infidels should dispel the notion that Muslims would put humanitarian values above Islam. The fact that the riots were sparked by uncorraborated reports of 'abuse' of Korans at Guantanamo Bay, not of prisoners, and the rioters were students, (who are the ones who benefit most from democracy), leads one to the conclude what is becoming obvious as the West tries to 'bring the Muslim world out of barbarism, "It's the religion, stupid". As long as deadly outrage can be ignited by a report of disrepect being shown to a religious text, and beheadings and suicide bombings are considered normal expressions of religious devoutness, the myth of Islam being compatible with democracy, are as farcical as the claim that it is "a religion of peace" which is " a mercy to all mankind".
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MIM: Conspiracy Theories as the key to understanding the Middle East (and the Arab world).
" InThe Hidden Hand, Daniel Pipes provides the first full-length study of conspiracy theories in the Middle East, revealing the power of such theories in determining the political life of the region. Placing conspiracy theories in their historical context, Pipes shows how they have come to suffuse life in the Middle East - from the most private family conversations to the highest and most public levels of politics. He then proceeds to examine conspiracism as a partial explanation for much of the region's problems, including its record of political extremism, violence, and lack of modernization. Concluding with speculations about the future of conspiracism, Pipes makes a very strong case that conspiracy theories are key to understanding the often complicated political culture of the Middle East. http://www.danielpipes.org/books/hidden.php
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MIM: Since it is now forbidden to go around beating women and kite flyers on the streets,(and poppy's have become scarcer), citizens of post Taliban Afghanistan relieved their boredom with murder and mayhem over unsubstantiated reports of a Koran which is reported to have literally 'gone down the tubes' of a toilet in Gitmo. Which begs the question as to whether it was a mini Koran, (see picture above),or the Yusuf Ali translation (even the abridged version), which would have messed up the plumbing.
(The credence given to conspiracy theories in the Arab world (which Dr. Pipes documented in his book "The Hidden Hand") and suseptiblity to mass hysteria, makes it hard to imagine that any form of democratic rule can thrive in Muslim countries which erupt into chaos on the basis of rumor.-----------------------------
Afghans protest over alleged flushing of Koran in US jail in Cuba
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - Afghan police and US troops opened fire to control hundreds of rioting students yesterday angered at alleged abuse of the Quran at the US jail in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, killing two protesters and injuring 40, officials said.
The shooting occurred in the eastern city of Jalalabad, where demonstrators smashed the windows of cars and shops and threw stones at a passing convoy of American soldiers. Mobs also broke into UN compounds and burned two cars. No UN staff were reported hurt.
"They are very angry and are spread over all over the city," intelligence chief Sardar Shah told the Associated Press. "There are police, army and Americans shooting into the air. ... We've tried to get control but I think it is impossible."
At one point, officials said students chanting "Death to America" and "Death to Bush" threw stones at a group of American military vehicles. US troops had fired into the air before quickly leaving the area, he said.
A US military spokeswoman in Kabul had no information on the incident.
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/html/20050511T220000-0500_80298_OBS_AFGHANS_PROTEST_OVER_ALLEGED_FLUSHING_OF_QURAN_IN_US_JAIL_IN_CUBA.asp
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http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/05/11/afghan.protest.ap/
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http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1398932/posts
Dismay at US Koran 'desecration' (Have You Flushed A Qur'an Today?)
BBC ^ | 8 May 2005 | BBC News - World Edition
Pakistani officials say they are "deeply dismayed" over reports that the Koran was desecrated at the US detention facility in Guantanamo Bay. The latest edition of the American Newsweek magazine said such tactics were used to rattle suspects.
It says that US personnel on one occasion flushed a copy of Islam's most holy book "down the toilet".
Pakistan, a conservative Muslim nation, is also a key US ally in its war against terrorism.
'Highly objectionable'
Pakistani foreign office spokesman, Jalil Abbas Jilani, told the AFP news agency Pakistan was also concerned about "the highly objectionable and regrettable treatment meted out to the detainees at the Guantanamo Bay detention centre".
Mr Jilani said the reported act of sacrilege had shocked people of every faith around the world.
"The government of Pakistan condemns the incident and demands that an inquiry should be conducted to bring to justice the perpetrators of this shameful act," he said.
Insulting the Koran and Islam's Prophet Mohammed is regarded as blasphemy and punishable by death in Pakistan.
In an interview last week with the BBC's Haroon Rashid, Abdul Rahim Muslim Dost, an Afghan prisoner recently released from the Cuban detention centre, said a number of Arab prisoners had still not spoken to their investigators after three years to protest at the desecration of the Koran by guards.
Mr Dost also said inmates' beards were shaved and the prisoners were shouted at during interrogations.
The US is holding about 520 inmates at Guantanamo Bay, many of them al-Qaeda and Taleban suspects captured in Pakistan and Afghanistan following the 11 September 2001 attacks in the US
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more anti-U.S. protesters killed in clashes with Afghan police, officials say
|
Stephen Graham | |
|
Canadian Press |
http://www.canada.com/national/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=2183da92-2a8d-420e-942c-476eb7b5675f
KABUL (AP) - At least three more anti-U.S. protesters were killed Thursday in clashes with police, officials said, as rage at reported abuse of Islam's holy book at the U.S. jail in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, spread across the country.
In the capital, Kabul, students burned an American flag, while mobs attacked a government outpost and the offices of two international relief organizations just to the south, injuring one aid worker and leaving a trail of destruction, officials said.
The unrest came a day after riots in the eastern city of Jalalabad left four people dead - the worst anti-American protests in Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban in 2001.
While most of the protesters appeared to be students, officials have suggested that elements opposed to the country's U.S.-backed re-emergence were stirring the violence, which has also targeted the United Nations and American troops.
"It's the symbols of this change in Afghanistan that have been singled out," said Paul Barker, director of CARE International, one of the largest international relief groups in Afghanistan. "There are probably people around the country inciting this."
In the bloodiest incident, police fired on hundreds of anti-U.S. demonstrators in the town of Khogyani to prevent them from departing toward Jalalabad, about 30 kilometres to the north, local police chief Maj. Gul Wali said.
Wali said three of the protesters died and one was injured. He claimed many at the gathering were armed.
However, Interior Ministry spokesman Latufallah Mashal said only two people died in Khogyani.
Mashal said a third protester died in a separate clash with police in Wardak province, south of Kabul.
In Mohammed Agha district of neighbouring Logar province, Barker said a group of high-school students assailed the CARE office early Thursday morning, beating one staff member and destroying equipment. The office of another foreign relief group next door was set on fire, he said.
Logar Gov. Amanullah Hamimi said protesters also broke the windows of the district mayor's office and that unidentified men had destroyed a nearby mobile phone mast during the night with rockets.
In Kabul, more than 200 young men marched from a dormitory block near Kabul University chanting "Death to America!" and carrying banners including one stating: "Those who insult the Qur'an should be brought to justice."
At the entrance to the university, a man with a clipped beard and spectacles read a resolution calling on U.S. President George W. Bush to apologize and opposing long-term U.S. military bases in Afghanistan.
About two dozen students clambered onto the roof of a nearby building and burned an American flag to applause and cries of "God is great!" from the crowd below. Dozens of police - some armed with sticks, others with assault rifles - looked on.
Ahmad Shah, a political sciences undergraduate, said the students had decided to protest after hearing of the deaths in Jalalabad on Wednesday.
"America is our enemy and we don't want them in Afghanistan," Shah said as the students ended their protest and returned to classes on Thursday morning. "When they insult our holy book, they have insulted us."
Police said 150 students staged a similar brief demonstration at another high school in the city, but reported no violence.
Peaceful demonstrations have been reported in at least five other Afghan provinces.
The source of anger was a brief report in the May 9 edition of Newsweek magazine that interrogators at Guantanamo Bay placed Qur'ans on toilets in order to rattle suspects, and in at least one case "flushed a holy book down the toilet."
There was at least one protest in northwestern Pakistan on Thursday, which passed off peacefully, and hardline Islamic parties have called for demonstrations across the country on Friday.
The Pakistani government said at the weekend it was "deeply dismayed" over the Newsweek report, which Pentagon and White House officials said would be investigated.
Many of the 520 inmates in Guantanamo are Pakistanis and Afghans captured after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who is currently on a visit to Europe and travels to Washington later this month to seek long-term American military and economic aid, has called repeatedly for all the Afghan prisoners to be sent home.
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http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/world/20050511-0807-afghan-us-protest.html
Security forces clash with anti-U.S. protesters in Afghanistan, killing four people
By Stephen Graham
ASSOCIATED PRESS
8:07 a.m. May 11, 2005
 Associated PressAfghan university students march in the steets in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, carrying copies of the Quran and sticks and tree branches. Police and U.S. troops opened fire, killing four protesters and injuring more than 50, officials said. |
The U.S. troops fired into the air before quickly leaving the area in Jalalabad, near the Pakistan border, provincial intelligence chief Sardar Shah told The Associated Press. It was the biggest outpouring of anti-American sentiment since the fall of the Taliban in 2001.
Mobs also attacked the Pakistani consulate along with the offices of two U.N. agencies and a Swedish relief organization. No foreigners were reported hurt and witnesses said police and government troops had restored order by early afternoon.
"There is a lot of damage to the city, they have burned a lot of things," Shah said. "These are the enemies of peace and stability in Afghanistan who don't want people to be able to get on with their lives in peace."
U.S. spokeswoman Lt. Cindy Moore said American forces in the area were ordered back to their camps, but she had no information on whether any of them were caught up in the unrest.
Four people were killed and 71 injured, including seven police officers, according to the Interior Ministry. It didn't give more details.
An Associated Press Television News cameraman said the crowds grew larger and wilder after the firing and the streets were deserted of traffic. Mobs pelted a government office and the local television station with rocks and tore down posters of President Hamid Karzai.
Demonstrations began Tuesday, when protesters burned an effigy of President Bush over a report in Newsweek magazine that interrogators at the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, placed Qurans on toilets to rattle suspects, and in at least one case "flushed a holy book down the toilet."
At the Pentagon, spokesman Bryan Whitman said Wednesday that the allegation will be investigated.
"This is a serious allegation and it's gong to be looked into," Whitman said. "We have a great consideration with respect to the detainees we're holding and their religious practices."
U.S. Charge d'Affaires Richard Christenson said the embassy was "deeply concerned" at the violence and said "disrespect toward the holy book of any religion is unacceptable."
The Swedish Committee for Afghanistan, one of the largest aid organizations in the country, said staff at its Jalalabad office took refuge on the roof Wednesday as a mob stole, smashed or burned their equipment and torched two of their cars.
Murat Khan, Pakistan's deputy counselor, said the consulate building as well as his boss' residence were in flames.
People broke into two U.N. compounds and burned two cars, a U.N. spokeswoman said.
Deputy provincial health chief Mohammed Ayub Shinwari said at least two protesters were shot to death and another 45 were being treated at Jalalabad hospital, three with serious injuries. Another 12 injured were being treated at a university clinic.
Most of the injured were students, he said, adding that many of the injured also suffered gunshot wounds.
University and high school students held similar but peaceful protests in cities in neighboring Laghman province and Khost, further to the south.
Witnesses said students also demanded the release of all prisoners from Guantanamo, and that "American troops don't stay in Afghanistan forever" – tricky issues likely to be discussed when Karzai meets Bush in Washington later this month.
The government of neighboring Pakistan – like Afghanistan, a conservative Muslim nation and close ally in Washington's war on terrorism – said Saturday it was "deeply dismayed" over the magazine report and called for an inquiry.
A coalition of hard-line Islamic parties in Pakistan said it will hold nationwide protests on Friday, the traditional day of prayer for Muslims.
The United States is holding about 520 people at Guantanamo Bay, many of them al-Qaeda and Taliban suspects captured in Pakistan and Afghanistan following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in America.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------Afghans riot over Koran report, 4 dead: official
Wed May 11, 2005
JALALABAD, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Afghan police opened fire on protesters on Wednesday in violent demonstrations which left four dead and dozens wounded after a report that U.S. interrogators had desecrated the Koran, a health official said.
U.S. troops stationed in the conservative Muslim city of Jalalabad, 130 km (80 miles) east of the capital, Kabul, were confined to base during the protest, witnesses said.
Government offices in Jalalabad were set on fire, shops looted, and U.N. buildings and diplomatic missions attacked as thousands took to the streets, witnesses and officials said.
Police fired to disperse crowds several times, witnesses said. Four people had been killed and 52 wounded, provincial health chief Fazel Mohammad Ibrahimi said after compiling information from three city hospitals.
"Police had to open fire on the protesters, they were destroying the city," provincial police chief Hazrat Ali told Reuters. He declined to comment on casualties.
About 1,000 school students demonstrated in nearby Laghman province. In Khost city, also in the east, protesters burned a picture of U.S. President George. W. Bush and a U.S. flag.
There was also a report of a protest in Wardak province, southwest of the capital. Kabul was quiet.
Newsweek magazine said in a recent edition that investigators probing abuses at the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay had discovered that interrogators "had placed Korans on toilets, and in at least one case flushed a holy book down the toilet."
U.S.-backed President Hamid Karzai told reporters during a visit to NATO headquarters in Brussels: "It shows Afghan institutions are not yet ready to handle protests ... That must be made better."
The provincial governor and other officials were unavailable for comment. Witnesses said police and national army troops had restored order by early afternoon.
The United States commands a foreign force in Afghanistan of about 18,300, most of them American, fighting Taliban insurgents and hunting Taliban and al Qaeda leaders, including Osama bin Laden, architect of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
The United States is holding more than 500 prisoners from its war on terrorism at the naval base on Cuba. Many of them were detained in Afghanistan after U.S.-led troops drove the Taliban from power in late 2001.
ANTI-KARZAI SLOGANS
About 2,000 students chanting "Death to America" protested in Jalalabad on Tuesday demanding an apology and punishment for those involved in the reported incident.
But many more turned out on Wednesday with ordinary residents also taking part, said a witness who estimated that well over 5,000 people were involved.
The protesters also denounced Karzai, destroying a big portrait of him and shouting "Death to America's allies" and "Death to Karzai" as well as "Death to Bush."
"We don't want America, we don't want Karzai, we want Islam," they shouted.
Cars were smashed, shops ransacked and government buildings torched. Protesters also looted the Pakistani consulate, a witness said. An Indian mission was also attacked, he said.
"The governor's office building is on fire," said one witness as smoke billowed across the city on the main road to the Khyber Pass and Pakistan.
Two U.N. cars were set on fire and two U.N. offices attacked but not seriously damaged, said U.N. spokeswoman Ariane Quentier. All staff had been accounted for and confined to safe areas.
In Kabul, a U.S. military spokesman said the reported desecration of the Koran was being taken seriously.
"We are investigating this and other complaints to see if in fact it has happened and, if so, to put in place procedures so that it will not happen again," the spokesman said.
A high-level U.S. military investigation into accusations of detainee abuse at Guantanamo Bay has still to be completed and released.
Politicians in neighboring Pakistan have also called for an apology and an inquiry into the Newsweek report and assurances from Washington that those responsible would be punished.
Karzai is due to visit the United States this month where he said he would seek special long-term ties with Washington. (Additional reporting by Yousuf Azimy)
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Four dead as Afghans riot over Koran report
(Filed: 11/05/2005)
Four people have been killed and 52 wounded in Afghanistan after riots following reports that interrogators at Guantanamo Bay had been desecrating the Koran.
Afghan police opened fire on protesters, as thousands took to the streets setting government offices in Jalalabad on fire and attacking UN buildings and diplomatic missions.
Shops were looted and US troops stationed in Jalalabad, a conservative Muslim city 80 miles east of Kabul, were confined to base during the protest, witnesses said.
The riots followed an article in Newsweek magazine that said investigators probing abuses at Guantanamo Bay naval base in Cuba had discovered that interrogators "had placed Korans on toilets, and in at least one case flushed a holy book down the toilet".
Police fired to disperse crowds several times, witnesses said.
Four people had been killed and 52 wounded, Fazel Mohammad Ibrahimi, the provincial health chief, said after compiling information from three city hospitals.
About 1,000 school students protested in nearby Laghman province, police there said. There was no trouble reported in Kabul.
Hamid Karzai, the US-backed president, said during a visit to NATO headquarters in Brussels: "It shows Afghan institutions are not yet ready to handle protests ... That must be made better."
The United States commands a foreign force in Afghanistan of about 18,300, most of them American, fighting Taliban insurgents and hunting Taliban and al-Qa'eda leaders, including Osama bin Laden.
The United States is holding more than 500 prisoners from its war on terrorism at Guantanamo Bay.
In Kabul, a US military spokesman said the reported desecration of the Koran was being taken seriously.
"We are investigating this and other complaints to see if in fact it has happened and, if so, to put in place procedures so that it will not happen again," the spokesman said.
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May 12, 2005,
KABUL, Afghanistan -- Angry young Afghans protested both violently and peacefully Thursday against U.S. policies, broadening what is the first anti-American upheaval since U.S. troops arrived here in 2001. A day after rioting in the eastern city of Jalalabad, protests spread to at least four more localities, and three people were killed.
The protests ignited over the emotional accusation that U.S. troops at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba desecrated the Quran while guarding or interrogating Muslim prisoners. But they quickly expanded into a general condemnation of America's presence here. Thursday, for the first time, one of the protests, at Kabul University, included the political demand that President Hamid Karzai reverse his appeal to Washington for long-term U.S. military bases in Afghanistan.
Afghan officials voiced concern that the protests appear organized by foes of the United States in Afghanistan who have seized on the Quran issue as a powerful symbol of American disrespect for Islam. The protests suggest that the U.S. effort in Afghanistan -- to crush militant Islamic movements and establish a stable, democratic government -- faces deep problems that go unmentioned in the upbeat assessments of U.S. officials here.
The sudden uprising comes at a bad moment for Washington, as the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan and the anti-U.S. guerrilla war in Iraq have both escalated. Unlike in Iraq, Afghans have very broadly supported the U.S. presence in their country. While the protests here pose no immediate threat to that presence, they have for the first time made it a subject of public debate. And they underscore discontent among Afghanistan's largest ethnic group, the Pashtuns.
Thursday's most violent clash was in Khugiani, a rural district southwest of Jalalabad, in eastern Afghanistan. Hundreds of protesters, at least some of them reportedly armed, gathered to drive to Jalalabad, where riots on Wednesday left four dead and offices of the government and foreign aid agencies smashed and burned. Police blocked the crowd from going to Jalalabad, gunfire broke out and two protesters were killed, local officials told reporters.
In Wardak province, southwest of Kabul, a crowd torched a police station and one man died when ammunition inside exploded, Interior Ministry spokesman Lutfullah Mashal said in Kabul. At the town of Mohammed Agha, south of Kabul, hundreds of men smashed police cars and offices of the district government and of the aid agency CARE, Kabul radio reported.
At Kabul University, an estimated 200 to 300 students rallied, chanting "Death to America!" and burning an American flag. They cheered a student leader who read a statement declaring that permanent U.S. bases would undermine Afghanistan's independence.
Away from the crowd, a medical student named Ali Sher hastened to assure an American reporter that "the students don't hate America. America has done good things to chase out the Taliban," which enforced an oppressive, narrow, theocratic rule in Afghanistan in the 1990s. "But the American soldiers are killing peaceful civilians and putting people in jail and stepping on the Quran and our Islam," he said. "So it is making the situation angry and dangerous."
A strong root of the protests appears to be anger among ethnic Pashtuns, who traditionally have dominated the government, under the Taliban, the communists of the 1980s and the monarchy that ruled here for centuries. Pashtuns complain that, while Karzai is a Pashtun, the government gives too much power to minority groups, notably the ethnic Tajiks of northern Afghanistan. All the protests so far have taken place in ethnic Pashtun regions of southern and eastern Afghanistan.
This item is available on the Militant Islam Monitor website, at http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/600