{"id":41748,"date":"2017-09-07T00:34:30","date_gmt":"2017-09-07T03:34:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/?p=41748"},"modified":"2017-09-07T00:34:58","modified_gmt":"2017-09-07T03:34:58","slug":"us-military-apologizes-for-offending-afghan-muslims-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/2017\/09\/07\/us-military-apologizes-for-offending-afghan-muslims-again\/","title":{"rendered":"US Military Apologizes for Offending Afghan Muslims. Again."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"The US military apparently conducted a leaflet drop in Afghanistan recently that offended just about everyone<\/a>:<\/p>\n

The leaflets dropped Monday night, which encouraged Afghans to cooperate with security forces, included an image of a dog carrying the Taliban flag, said Shah Wali Shahid, the deputy governor of Parwan province.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The problem, such that it is, is the Islamic verses of the Quran are venerated in Islam — and there are Islamic verses on the Taliban flag.\u00a0Dogs are viewed as filthy.<\/p>\n

So, despite the evil\u00a0the Taliban represents, seeing a Taliban flag in the mouth of a dog is worse.<\/p>\n

The Taliban subsequently claimed an explosion outside the US Air Base at Bagram was “retaliation” for the pamphlet.<\/p>\n

MajGen James Linder — commander of US Special Operations in Afghanistan — apologized profusely and promised to go after the “responsible party<\/a>.”<\/p>\n

Maj. Gen. James Linder apologized, acknowledging in a statement that “the design of the leaflets mistakenly contained an image highly offensive to both Muslims and the religion of Islam.” He offered his “sincerest apologies<\/strong> for this error.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cI sincerely apologize<\/strong>. We have the deepest respect for Islam<\/strong> and our Muslim partners worldwide,\u201d Lindor said in the statement. \u201cThere is no excuse for this mistake. I am reviewing our procedures to determine the cause of this incident and to hold the responsible party accountable<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

On one hand, there’s no excuse — not because the US should be going out of its way not to “offend” anyone, but because the US has been down this road multiple times before. Somewhere on a SIPR computer on Bagram is a lesson learned file that says to watch out for the Islamic verses — probably including the Taliban’s flag.<\/p>\n

In fact, that file is probably dated 2012 or even earlier, given that’s just one of the times the US military went through this and made a point of highlighting the “highly decorative script<\/a>” that can sometimes make such verses unrecognizable to non-Arabic speakers — like that on the Taliban flag.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, some might find it a bit disconcerting for the US military to so quickly apologize — and to seemingly sacrifice a (presumably) US troop in the process. In fact, apologies in that culture are seen as weak, and kowtowing to cultural sensitivities about Islamic verses could actually make the perceived problem worse.<\/em><\/p>\n

The great irony, of course, is the US military hasn’t seemed bothered by treating Christians in similar “offensive” ways (burning Bibles in the trash<\/a>, anyone?), nor has it been bothered by doing other things Muslims find offensive — say, flying an LGBT flag<\/a> or having “gay pride” events in Afghanistan<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, which is more important: local sensitivities, or the virtues, faith and trust of your own troops?<\/p>\n

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