WHAT HAVE WE BECOME ??

This is so outragous I can't believe it. No matter what you think of these people no one , absolutely no ones religious believes, bibles or icons should be desecrated in this way. I love my country, but people like this are ruining everything we are trying to do over there. I personally am ashamed of their actions. They are representing all of us when they are over there. And this is one time when I strongly agree with the other side. They do deserve "OUR APOLOGY" !

UNIVERSITY STUDENTS PROTEST


U.S. MUST APOLOGISE OVER KORAN REPORT -AFGHAN PAPER

MAY 14, 2005


The United States should apologize to Muslims for the senseless desecration of the Koran which has only strengthened the hands of fanatics and undermined efforts to build democracy, an Afghan newspaper said on Saturday.

Sixteen Afghans have been killed and about 100 injured since violent anti-U.S. protest erupted on Wednesday over a report in Newsweek magazine that U.S. military interrogators at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba had desecrated the Koran.

Protests spread across the Muslim world on Friday with thousands taking to the streets in Pakistan, Indonesia and Gaza.

The United States has tried to calm Muslim anger, saying disrespect for the Koran was abhorrent and would not be tolerated, and military authorities were investigating the allegation.

But the Outlook newspaper said the United States must do more.

"The U.S. government should officially apologize to the Muslims of the world about the heart-wrenching act of desecration of the holy Koran ... and immediately arrest and punish those who are responsible," it said in an editorial.

Newsweek said in its May 9 edition investigators probing abuses at the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay found that interrogators "had placed Korans on toilets, and in at least one case flushed a holy book down the toilet."

Muslims consider the Koran the literal word of God and treat each book with deep reverence.

"Already there are strong anti-American feelings among some Muslims who think America, by going to war in Afghanistan and Iraq, waged a war against Islam," said Outlook, Afghanistan's only English-language daily.

"These types of senseless actions will only strengthen the hands of fanatics and fundamentalists and undermine all efforts toward building democratic societies," it said.

( I hate to see them burning our flag. It makes me sick. )

*TODAYS ARTICLE FROM NEWSWEEK STATES *

ALL REPORTED MAY NOT BE TRUE


We regret that we got any part of our story wrong, and extend our sympathies to victims of the violence and to the U.S. soldiers caught in its midst," Whitaker wrote in the magazine's latest issue, due to appear on U.S. newsstands on Monday.

The weekly news magazine said in its May 23 edition that the information had come from a "knowledgeable government source" who told Newsweek that a military report on abuse at Guantanamo Bay said interrogators flushed at least one copy of the Koran down a toilet in a bid to make detainees talk.

But Newsweek said the source later told the magazine he could not be certain he had seen an account of the Koran incident in the military report and that it might have been in other investigative documents or drafts.

Whitaker told Reuters that Newsweek did not know if the reported toilet incident involving the Koran ever occurred. "As to whether anything like this happened, we just don't know," he said in an interview. "We're not saying it absolutely happened but we can't say that it absolutely didn't happen either."

*INCIDENT UNDER INFESTIGATION*