Afghans Want Foreign Support

[Guest Guest]

Afghans want help from the outside world including the United States despite the rush of anti-Western outrage over allegations US troops desecrated the Koran, Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah said Wednesday.

 

At least 14 people died in Afghanistan and property including a foreign aid office was torched after Newsweek said US guards flushed the Muslim holy book down the toilet to annoy prisoners. The US magazine retracted the story Monday.

 

Abdullah, on a visit to Japan, said the unrest had subsided.

 

"We shouldn't mix up the situation," Abdullah was quoted as saying by Kyodo News.

 

"People of Afghanistan understand the need for cooperation from the international community -- the United States is playing a major role in it -- and appreciate it," he said.

 

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has said the originally peaceful protests over the alleged Koran abuse had been exploited by "enemies of peace" to undermine parliamentary elections and reconciliation with remnants of the ousted extremist Taliban regime.

 

Abdullah met here with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and expressed appreciation for Tokyo's strong financial support for Afghanistan's reconstruction.

 

Koizumi said Japan, a close US ally, was committed to helping the country.

 

"The stability of Afghanistan is not someone else's business. We should look at it as our own," Koizumi said.

[Guest Barclay]

I thought everyone might enjoy this satire. It is pretty funny.

 

 

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Unconfirmed sources report that President Bush signed the Quran Protection Act and held a brief press conference early this morning. The President signed the bill, answered a few prescreened questions then lit into Newsweek for its shoddy coverage of the whole 'Quran in the Can' story.

 

The Quran Protection Act makes it illegal to deface the Koran in any way. The Quran must not be burned, folded, spindled, mutilated, or flushed down the can. The law also forbids the simulated, depicted, or implied destruction of the Quran in any media format. The penalties for violating the law are very severe and can include indefinite interment at Guantanamo Bay.

 

Congress passed the law late last night with massive bi-partisan support and rushed the bill to the White House. Democrats and Republicans united, for once, to send a clear message to the Arab world that America cares. Senate and House leaders stood by the President as the bill was signed into law this morning.

 

"Muslims across the globe must know that while it is ok to kill Muslims, it is not ok to make up stories about flushing the Quran down the can." Said the President. "The conduct of Newsweek Magazine is unforgivable and I for one will not stand for it. I have ordered a complete investigation by the FBI, CIA, ACLU, IRS and the NRA to begin immediately. We are going to get to the bottom of this travesty of justice and punish anybody who we feel is responsible. We owe it to the Guantanamo Bay detainees to get to the bottom of this shocking display of journalistic hubris."

 

Newsweek Magazine could not be reached for comment.

[Luke_Wilbur]

An American military inquiry has uncovered five instances in which guards or interrogators at the Guantánamo Bay detention facility in Cuba mishandled the Koran, but found "no credible evidence" to substantiate claims that it was ever flushed down a toilet, the chief of the investigation said on Thursday.

 

I'd like you to know that we have found no credible evidence that a member of the Joint Task Force at Guantánamo Bay ever flushed a Koran down a toilet," General Hood said in a Pentagon news briefing.