Because they believe it is much more than that. Whether you agree with them or not does not change the fact that burning the Quran is one of the most offensive things you can do in their culture.
How can you not be completely enraged by this act. A book burning is a book burning, and the symbolism itself is terrible enough without the added insult that is directed at the populace; a populace that is supposedly under the protection of the US/NATO (their propaganda, not mine).
And BTW, the military claims that copies of the Qur'an were among the books burned, which included books declared to be inflamitory.
I don't see this act as being one that upholds or defends the Constitution of the United States.
Would you want these people, people who have already shown the propensity to burn words they dislike or do not believe in, to come to your country?
They should have restraining orders preventing them from being within 500 ft of libraries and bookstores.
'Sup.
I think the whole thing is outrageous, to be honest. It shows carelessness and tactlessness on the part of the US military, not that they're usually tactful and kind. They need to realise that when they enter another country to fight terrorism, it is like they are in a friends house. They need to respect the beliefs of that nation and its citizens.
A lot of jumping to conclusions and some either misinformation or under information.
#1, the two soldiers who burnt the (what I understand was two copies) books were on detail, burning more than just the two books, but a bunch of stuff. Once they realized that there were Korans in the pile of stuff they were burning, they pulled them out. This you can tell by the pics of the partially burnt books.
#2, supposedly its a sin in the muslim culture to deface the Koran. Hmmm. Then why were there extremist messages written in those two books that were removed from the detention center library. In my opinion, the individuals who wrote in those books are just as guilty, if not moreso, of intentionally defacing the Koran as are the soldiers who realized what was happening and decided to attempt to correct it.
Apparently there is a double standard in place, which is not surprising.
#3, the books were removed from the detention center library for security reasons, for the messages written in them by the detainees.
#4, 'burning books', as in rounding up every single copy and/or a 'ritual burning' of a Koran (think about that guy in Florida a couple of years ago), is, at least, extremely insensitive and at most censorship and suppression of the freedom of the written word. Despicable for sure in that manner. To dispose of two specific copies for a specific security purpose in a prison is different. If I have to explain the difference to you, you are incapable of critical thought. But no, we shouldn't be burning Korans indiscriminately.
#5, the President apologized, what more can he do?
#6, my opinion follows, what can the President do? Get us out of there. We have nothing to gain by being there. Only so much we can do about AQ, and we've pretty much done that. There isn't much you can do for a group of people who haven't evolved much from the time of Hammurabi, evidenced by the way they react to situations like this.
#7, since we are there anyway, security and safety of our folks is a primary consideration. In my opinion, no apology necessary for meeting that mission consideration. That may be insensitive, but at times, you have to do what is right for the mission, within the laws of armed conflict, without respect for overly sensitive folks.
Flame suit on.
