President Obama has apologized and a joint investigation by Afghan and American military leaders concluded that mistakes were made but there was no intent to burn the copies of the Quran at Bagram Air Field in Afghanistan.

Meanwhile,  Afghani authorities are still demanding that the American personnel involved be publicly identified and appropriately punished. Maulavi Khaliq Dad, a member of the Afghan religious leaders’ Ulema Council, told NY Times reporters the following:

“There are some crimes that cannot be forgiven, but that need to be punished. This is not any book; this is the book of the whole Muslim nation, and if a few people are punished, America will not be destroyed. But if that doesn’t happen, it will create animosity and enmity between America and the Muslim world.”

Now there is at least one Western official who told the AP that at least five American military personnel could face some kind of disciplinary review over the inadvertent burning of Qurans.

According to the joint investigation, the Qurans had been written on and used by prisoners to pass messages and the damaged texts had been confiscated and boxed up. Somehow the boxes ended up in the hands of US military personnel on garbage detail. With no knowledge of what was in the boxes, they took them out to be burned with the daily trash. Afghan workers at the base subsequently recognized the material as Qurans and salvaged them before any of the texts were completely destroyed.

The inadvertent Quran burning has resulting in more than a week of rioting, and deaths to 6 members of the US military and at least 30 Afghans plus several hundred injuries.

Response: Exactly what are the 5 Us military personnel going to be disciplined for? What have they violated in the US military code of justice by doing nothing except following orders?

Here’s the real problem– President Obama. When he apologized to the Afghani President, Obama said that those involved would be ‘appropriately punished.’ The Pentagon refused to comment on that possibility which leaves one to read between the lines that the White House and the military are in disagreement over the appropriate course of action in this case.

The President and his administration obviously wants the soldiers to face some kind of discipline while the military leaders are at loss to find what those involved could possibly be charged with. Burning Qurans is not covered in the military code.

Meanwhile, the Afghan government wants those involved to be turned over to them for ‘appropriate’ Muslim sharia justice which disregards intent or knowledge but only prescribes punishment for actions. In this case, the soldiers would be subjected to prison, torture, and eventual execution. 

This is obviously not going to happen and yet President Obama does seem to be willing to make some kind of example of the soldiers. The problem with disciplining the soldiers involved, it will never be enough for the Afghanis and it will be unfair and far too much for Americans. Also, the soldiers in question do have rights under the code of military justice. They cannot be railroaded, one would think.

This is a no win situation no matter what. Obama and the military should go ahead and do what is right and exonerate those involved since there was clearly no knowledge or intent on the part of the US personnel. Unfortunately you can usually count on this President to do the wrong thing.  We will be watching to see how this situation plays out.              *Top

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