An incident involving the burning of several Korans by military personnel at the Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan has led to large, violent demonstrations and an apology from the NATO commander, U.S. General John Allen. The U.S. embassy in Kabul is now on lockdown, and demonstrations are spreading across Afghanistan, with a death reported near Jalalabad. NATO officials are saying that the burned Korans contained messages between militant prisoners. OK, but shouldn't we have turned the books over to Afghan security forces and let them deal with them?
How anyone in their right mind could fail to appreciate what the burning of Korans would trigger is beyond us. It's not another Abu Ghraib, but at a bare minimum, it signals just how careless we are in dealing with other cultures and their religious beliefs. We want the Afghan public on our side, and this is a severe blow to that goal.
(photo: M. Hossaini/AFP/Getty Images)
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