Santorum: no apology needed for Quran burning

[RandomGuy]

While we are on the subject of ol' Frothy's statements...


WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum criticized President Barack Obama's apology for the burning of Qurans in Afghanistan, adding that Afghanistan should apologize to the U.S. for the deaths of four U.S. soldiers during six days of violence sparked by the incident.

"There was nothing deliberately done wrong here," Santorum said Sunday on ABC's "This Week". "This was something that happened as a mistake. Killing Americans in uniform is not a mistake. It was something that deliberate."

More than 30 people have been killed in clashes since it emerged Tuesday that copies of the Muslim holy book and other religious materials had been thrown into a fire pit used to burn garbage at Bagram Air Field, a large U.S. base north of Kabul. Protesters angry over Quran burnings by American troops lobbed grenades Sunday at a U.S. base in northern Afghanistan and clashed with police and troops in a day of violence that left seven international troops wounded and two Afghans dead.

"The response needs to be apologized for by (President Hamid) Karzai and the Afghan people for attacking and killing our men and women in uniform and overreacting to this inadvertent mistake," Santorum said on NBC's "Meet the Press". "That is the real crime here, not what our soldiers did."

The president's apology suggests that there is blame and that the U.S. did something wrong "in the sense of doing a deliberate act," Santorum said.

Santorum says that rather than saying he was sorry, Obama should have only acknowledged that burning copies of Islam's holiest book in a trash pit was wrong and taken responsibility for the incident, "but to apologize, I think, lends credibility that somehow or another that it was more than that."

Santorum is the latest Republican to criticize Obama for apologizing for burning the religious materials. Despite apologies from the president and other U.S. officials for what they said was a mistake, their regrets have not quelled the anger of Afghans, who viewed the Quran burnings as an illustration of what they perceive as foreign disrespect for their culture and religion.

Santorum was interviewed Sunday on ABC's "This Week" and NBC's "Meet the Press."

http://news.yahoo.com/santorum-no-apology-needed-quran-burning-143141689.html

Is it just me, or does this sound like some sort of knee-jerk reaction?

"Obama did X, so therefore he was wrong when he clearly should have done Y"

If an apology from the President for a mistake can bring back just ONE more soldier home to his/her kids from that conflict, then I would hope he would be man enough to do so.

[Goran Dragic]

It's funny how obvious Santorum's hatred of all Muslims is. If he could press a button that would wipe out anyone of Muslim faith he'd do it without thinking twice.

[baseline bum]

It's funny how obvious Santorum's hatred of all Muslims is. If he could press a button that would wipe out anyone of Muslim faith he'd do it without thinking twice.

Just Santorum being a good Christian.

[Oh, Gee!!]

The name of the game during the republican primaries is to be the most critical of Obama, the most narrow-minded, the most anti-Muslim of all to get the nomination.

[mingus]

Just Santorum being a good Christian.

I have a hard time believing that killing Muslims makes him a good Christian.

Jesus does not advocate any sort of violence.

From Matthew 5:39:

But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.

[SA210]

I have a hard time believing that killing Muslims makes him a good Christian.

Jesus does not advocate any sort of violence.

From Matthew 5:39:

But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.

:tu

[boutons_deux]

Aghans should follow the Golden Rule, and Do Unto Americans As Americans Do Unto Them.

How about burning 1000s of American flags?

The causes of the protests in Afghanistan

it’s perversely fascinating to watch all of this condescension — it’s just a book: who cares if it’s burned? – pouring forth from a country whose political leaders were eager to enact a federal law or even a Constutional amendment to make it a criminal offense to burn the American flag (which, using this parlance, is “just a piece of cloth”). In fact, before the Supreme Court struck down such statutes as unconstitutional in 1989 by a 5-4 vote, it was a crime in 48 states in the nation to burn the flag. Here is what Chief Justice William Rehnquist wrote in dissent about why the Constitution permits the criminalization of flag burning (emphasis added):

The American flag, then, throughout more than 200 years of our history, has come to be the visible symbol embodying our Nation. It does not represent the views of any particular political party, and it does not represent any particular political philosophy. The flag is not simply another “idea” or “point of view” competing for recognition in the marketplace of ideas. Millions and millions of Americans regard it with an almost mystical reverence, regardless of what sort of social, political, or philosophical beliefs they may have.

Might one say the same for Muslims and the Koran? Along those lines, just imagine what would happen if a Muslim army invaded the U.S., violently occupied the country for more than a decade, in the process continuously killing American children and innocent adults, and then, outside of a prison camp it maintained where thousands of Americans were detained for years without charges and tortured, that Muslim army burned American flags — or a stack of bibles — in a garbage dump. Might we see some extremely angry protests breaking out from Americans against them? Would American pundits be denouncing those protesters as blinkered, primitive fanatics?


http://www.salon.com/2012/02/26/the_causes_of_the_protests_in_afghanistan/singleton/

[101A]

Aghans should follow the Golden Rule, and Do Unto Americans As Americans Do Unto Them.

How about burning 1000s of American flags?

The causes of the protests in Afghanistan

it’s perversely fascinating to watch all of this condescension — it’s just a book: who cares if it’s burned? – pouring forth from a country whose political leaders were eager to enact a federal law or even a Constutional amendment to make it a criminal offense to burn the American flag (which, using this parlance, is “just a piece of cloth”). In fact, before the Supreme Court struck down such statutes as unconstitutional in 1989 by a 5-4 vote, it was a crime in 48 states in the nation to burn the flag. Here is what Chief Justice William Rehnquist wrote in dissent about why the Constitution permits the criminalization of flag burning (emphasis added):

The American flag, then, throughout more than 200 years of our history, has come to be the visible symbol embodying our Nation. It does not represent the views of any particular political party, and it does not represent any particular political philosophy. The flag is not simply another “idea” or “point of view” competing for recognition in the marketplace of ideas. Millions and millions of Americans regard it with an almost mystical reverence, regardless of what sort of social, political, or philosophical beliefs they may have.

Might one say the same for Muslims and the Koran? Along those lines, just imagine what would happen if a Muslim army invaded the U.S., violently occupied the country for more than a decade, in the process continuously killing American children and innocent adults, and then, outside of a prison camp it maintained where thousands of Americans were detained for years without charges and tortured, that Muslim army burned American flags — or a stack of bibles — in a garbage dump. Might we see some extremely angry protests breaking out from Americans against them? Would American pundits be denouncing those protesters as blinkered, primitive fanatics?


http://www.salon.com/2012/02/26/the_causes_of_the_protests_in_afghanistan/singleton/

There is NO moral equivalence between us and them.

Stop trying to draw one. Sure, there are people here who don't like to see the flag burned; who even want a law against it. However, please show me the people who have been killed because someone who looked, or believed like them, somewhere else. burned a flag.

Bullshit.


This is the kind of evil we're up against:

http://m.post-gazette.com/ae/books/outlaw-platoon-murrysville-native-describes-the-afghan-war-he-fought-1212276?p=0

The American platoon stopped its Humvees in the road.
Ahead, a small boy of about 6, dressed in rags, staggered in circles.
Army Ranger Sean Parnell and his men were wary. It was July 2006 and they'd been in combat on the remote Afghan-Pakistan border for five months.
When the soldiers moved close enough, they saw that someone had gouged out the boy's eyes and burned the sockets black with a heated instrument. His teeth had also been knocked out.
"Jesus Christ, what is this?" said a hard-bitten sergeant.
In the nearby village, the unit's interpreter, Yusef, talked to an elder and learned what happened. The insurgents had swept through this village and punished the inhabitants for cooperating with the coalition.
http://www.post-gazette.com/images5/20120226_PakistanMap_200.png They kidnapped the oldest grandson of the elder and took him to the mountains, where they gouged out his eyes and raped him for weeks.
The platoon medic did what he could for the boy and other brutalized children in this place the men came to call the "Village of the Damned." The elder thanked them and they drove on, even the toughest among them stunned by what they'd seen.
"There's not a day goes by that I don't think about it," said Lt. Parnell, 30, a Murrysville native. "All I know is that moment taught me that there is definite good and evil in this world. We don't always realize it in America, but the rest of the world can be a barbaric place."


Stop claiming we're the bad ones; we're the evil ones. We accidentally burn a few Koran's and THIRTY PEOPLE have died. If they think books are more important than people, then they are wrong, and they need to advance in their morals a few centuries....and we apologize to an asshole who wouldn't even have any fucking power if WE didn't take out the assholes who had power before him? Fuck that.

I don't normally post so emotionally, but this is getting ridiculous. After we defeated Japan in WWII; a condition of surrender was that they would have a constitution which did not allow for a religious government. How did we forget that that was important over the next 6 decades? What is wrong, after you kick someones ass, demanding that they, as a civilization - advance their morality a few centuries; and if they don't want to, MAKE THEM!!! We are the most sissified bad ass country that ever ruled the world. We come, we see, we conquer, then we appease and equivocate! We second guess ourselves - to the detriment of not only us, but those we have conquered, as well. If you don't think that part of the world couldn't do with a huge heaping helping of modern Western Civilization and morality, church/state separation; then, frankly, you are wrong. The world would be a better place if the behavior being exhibited RIGHT NOW in Afghanistan, a country we conquered and currently occupy, was crushed completely, and severely; not implicitly condoned by our president.

By any modern, reasonable standard: We did nothing wrong. We ought not apologize for that.

/rant

[George Gervin's Afro]

There is NO moral equivalence between us and them.

Stop trying to draw one. Sure, there are people here who don't like to see the flag burned; who even want a law against it. However, please show me the people who have been killed because someone who looked, or believed like them, somewhere else. burned a flag.

Bullshit.


This is the kind of evil we're up against:

http://m.post-gazette.com/ae/books/outlaw-platoon-murrysville-native-describes-the-afghan-war-he-fought-1212276?p=0


Stop claiming we're the bad ones; we're the evil ones. We accidentally burn a few Koran's and THIRTY PEOPLE have died. If they think books are more important than people, then they are wrong, and they need to advance in their morals a few centuries....and we apologize to an asshole who wouldn't even have any fucking power if WE didn't take out the assholes who had power before him? Fuck that.

I don't normally post so emotionally, but this is getting ridiculous. After we defeated Japan in WWII; a condition of surrender was that they would have a constitution which did not allow for a religious government. How did we forget that that was important over the next 6 decades? What is wrong, after you kick someones ass, demanding that they, as a civilization - advance their morality a few centuries; and if they don't want to, MAKE THEM!!! We are the most sissified bad ass country that ever ruled the world. We come, we see, we conquer, then we appease and equivocate! We second guess ourselves - to the detriment of not only us, but those we have conquered, as well. If you don't think that part of the world couldn't do with a huge heaping helping of modern Western Civilization and morality, church/state separation; then, frankly, you are wrong. The world would be a better place if the behavior being exhibited RIGHT NOW in Afghanistan, a country we conquered and currently occupy, was crushed completely, and severely; not implicitly condoned by our president.

By any modern, reasonable standard: We did nothing wrong. We ought not apologize for that.

/rant

Assuming your right we could conclude that a few bad apples within the muslim faith committed these evil acts. We don't care about thse folks because they are bad and we want to kill them.

Do we then include everyone else within this campaign of 'blaming the religion' for killing our guys?

How do you propose we crush this country? Are you implying that you want to kill everyone in Afghanistan? I think it would be safe to assume that the few nice mulsims that are still our friends wouldn't be friendly to us anymore if we wiped out their families for no other reason than being muslim.

I was always taught that if you carry the big stick on the block you wield it cautiously and use it only as the last option available. You don't don't go swing it just because you have it.

[George Gervin's Afro]

double post

[Blake]

Stop claiming we're the bad ones; we're the evil ones. We accidentally burn a few Koran's and THIRTY PEOPLE have died.........

.....By any modern, reasonable standard: We did nothing wrong. We ought not apologize for that.

/rant

If we went in and torched them on purpose, then I'd agree, no reason to apologize.

But we didn't, so I don't.

[DarrinS]

What she said

ZYEctbGSkkw

[ChumpDumper]

Not going to watch.

What do you actually say, Darrin?

[Agloco]

What she said

ZYEctbGSkkw


Not going to watch.

What do you actually say, Darrin?

Just Darrin being Darrin tbh.

[DarrinS]

Not going to watch.


It's a free country.



What do you actually say, Darrin?

I agree with the sentiment expressed in the video, but I thought I made that obvious.

[ChumpDumper]

It's a free country.



I agree with the sentiment expressed in the video, but I thought I made that obvious.I didn't watch it.

State your sentiment.

[SA210]

It's a free country.



I agree with the sentiment expressed in the video, but I thought I made that obvious.

:rollin

[mercos]

There is NO moral equivalence between us and them.

Stop trying to draw one. Sure, there are people here who don't like to see the flag burned; who even want a law against it. However, please show me the people who have been killed because someone who looked, or believed like them, somewhere else. burned a flag.

Bullshit.


This is the kind of evil we're up against:

http://m.post-gazette.com/ae/books/outlaw-platoon-murrysville-native-describes-the-afghan-war-he-fought-1212276?p=0


Stop claiming we're the bad ones; we're the evil ones. We accidentally burn a few Koran's and THIRTY PEOPLE have died. If they think books are more important than people, then they are wrong, and they need to advance in their morals a few centuries....and we apologize to an asshole who wouldn't even have any fucking power if WE didn't take out the assholes who had power before him? Fuck that.

I don't normally post so emotionally, but this is getting ridiculous. After we defeated Japan in WWII; a condition of surrender was that they would have a constitution which did not allow for a religious government. How did we forget that that was important over the next 6 decades? What is wrong, after you kick someones ass, demanding that they, as a civilization - advance their morality a few centuries; and if they don't want to, MAKE THEM!!! We are the most sissified bad ass country that ever ruled the world. We come, we see, we conquer, then we appease and equivocate! We second guess ourselves - to the detriment of not only us, but those we have conquered, as well. If you don't think that part of the world couldn't do with a huge heaping helping of modern Western Civilization and morality, church/state separation; then, frankly, you are wrong. The world would be a better place if the behavior being exhibited RIGHT NOW in Afghanistan, a country we conquered and currently occupy, was crushed completely, and severely; not implicitly condoned by our president.

By any modern, reasonable standard: We did nothing wrong. We ought not apologize for that.

/rant


This is the biggest mistake we have made in the occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan. Say what you want about our intentions, and reasons for going to war (I disagreed with the Iraq invasion myself) but in the end we did oust rulers who the general populace of each country did not like. More should have been done to get religion out of their government and new constitutions. The middle east will never see peace as long as the people there "cling to their guns and Qurans" to borrow (and alter) a phrase from President Obama.

[Goran Dragic]

I have a hard time believing that killing Muslims makes him a good Christian.

Then you should read up on modern day Christianity

[boutons_deux]

"NO moral equivalence between us and them"

their Holy Book, full of spiritual guidance, is sacred to them, our unHoly Flag, representing death, blood, wars, is sacred to some Americans. In that way, their sacred object is more MORAL than some Americans' scacred object.

Try burning some Bibles and US flags around the USA and see if you, your family, your car and house survive.

[johnsmith]

Try burning some Bibles and US flags around the USA and see if you, your family, your car and house survive.

I bet they all would survive......just sayin'.

[johnsmith]

Not going to watch.

What do you actually say, Darrin?

What are your thoughts on the OP Chump?

[Goran Dragic]

lol Tebow

[ChumpDumper]

What are your thoughts on the OP Chump?Santorum didn't shit himself when Bush apologized for Quran desecration in 2008.

Neither did DarrinS.

It's just stupid politics.

[ChumpDumper]

Look at the fawning libtards encouraging American weakness.


I do think that the president was right to apologize, and when we look at Kabul, for example, the capital of Afghanistan, a city of 5 million people, the protesters have only managed to have a thousand people come out on the streets. That's pretty pitiful even by rent-a-mob standards. So, it seems that despite the radicals being fanned up by Iran and Pakistan and the Taliban, most of the Afghans have put this behind them and want to concentrate on something else.


Oh yeah, absolutely. I mean, we made a boneheaded, insensitive mistake dealing with this significant holy book representing one of the great religions of the world. I mean, all the holy books represented in religions are very sensitive, but in -- the Quran is even more so for the Muslim people, so there's always going to be charged situation as a result of it.

And make no mistake. I mean, the political agendas in Afghanistan are complex. All those people you see on the street there demonstrating, they're not all just reacting viscerally to something that they feel insulted about. There's stakeholders here that are trying to undermine Karzai's government, there's stakeholders on the street trying to undermine the United States of America. The president is trying to give Karzai a tool to help him defuse the situation. That's what the apology's all about.

Yesterday, Karzai goes before the Parliament and asks all the parliamentarians to help him with the situation and quotes from the letter the president's statement. And obviously he's using the president of the United States as leverage to accomplish what he's doing. Karzai's not the strongest leader we've ever dealt with, quite the contrary; he's a very mercurial figure, and at times it drives us nuts, you know, trying to keep him in the box. But frankly he does need some help here and the president, that's what he's trying to do, help him.


Lisa Curtis, a senior research fellow with the Heritage Foundation, also said in an email that the Obama administration dealt with the mistake "appropriately," and described the president's letter as a "sincere demonstration of respect for the Afghan people and their religious sentiments."

Going forward, she called on Karzai to try and calm the protests and "expose" the Taliban's role in "exploiting the situation."

Links to all found here. (http://mediamatters.org/research/201202280001)

So yeah, Santorum's rage is fake.

Most everything about DarrinS is fake, except stuff like his mental weakness and chronic vaginal irritation.

[mingus]

Then you should read up on modern day Christianity

I do more than selective, confirmation bias reading. I've been all over the world and experienced it.

[Goran Dragic]

I do more than selective, confirmation bias reading. I've been all over the world and experienced it.
I'm sure you've read about the crusades then, tbh.

[NewcastleKEG]

The name of the game during the republican primaries is to be the most critical of Obama, the most narrow-minded, the most anti-Muslim of all to get the nomination.
Republicans are stuck between a rock & hard place

- Nominate Mormon who will be viewed as a Obama sidekick
- Nominate uber conservative wacko & expose the parties inner motives to the mass population

[boutons_deux]

Professional conservatives, not sex-obsessed, religious asshole like InSanetorum, support Hussein's apology:

Conservative Experts Say That Obama Was Right To Apologize For Quran Burning

Several conservative foreign policy and military experts have agreed with President Obama's decision to apologize to Afghanistan for the burning of Qurans by U.S. military personnel. Ignoring these experts, Fox News' conservative hosts and pundits have tried to flame outrage over Obama's apology.


http://mediamatters.org/research/201202280001

[Pelicans78]

Santorum is still stuck in 2003. He's worse than Bush because he actually believes what the neo-cons stand for. Bush basically did what he was told to do. Santorum is more dangerous.

[boutons_deux]

If InSaneTorum wins a big state like OH, the Repug death march, esp InSaneTorum "incentivized" to go more crazy, will get fantastically more entertaining.