horse of george

"... as for the Koran burning incident, my tendency is to think people aren't asking quite the right question... yes, it's legitimate to wonder why it happened... a simple screw up? a misunderstanding?... or an indication that the rank and file of the US military are fed up with Afghanistan and the burning is an expression of that contempt?... and yes it's legitimate to wonder why in the hell we're bothering with a country that after years of effort and billions spent still unbelievably can't manage to stand-up an even remotely half decent army to defend itself, but some idiot burns a Koran and they're all out on the street crying for bloody vengeance... these questions are understandable as is the frustration born of counter insurgency's tendentiously syllogistic approach to war making... but my feeling is the right question would address not so much the cause of nor the hysterical wrath churned up by the burning but rather the fact that there's no native and natural Afghani voice in particular or Muslim voice in general willing or even able to stand up and proffer the counter point of why all the fuss?... if you can't mock the most firmly held beliefs, regardless of how just or unjust that mockery may be, then freedom remains a dark stranger to whom the door can never be opened... and if we can't open or insist on fooling ourselves into imagining there's no need to open that door, then why are we there?..."