This morning most of us woke up to horrible news about an American soldier who went on a rampage and killed a number of Afghan civilians. It was a horrible incident, and that soldier will be dealt with by the American military. The purposeful killing of civilians is never acceptable. There are some doubts as to the details of what actually happened–there was an awful lot of killing for one person, why wasn’t he stopped after the first house or so, etc. However, it was an awful incident, and those responsible for it will be dealt with.
But wait a minute. Robert Spencer posted an article at Front Page Magazine today pointing out a rather obvious double standard. In regard to this incident President Karzai has stated, “This is an assassination, an intentional killing of innocent civilians and cannot be forgiven.”
The article points out:
It is noteworthy, however, that in the riots and rage that followed the discovery of the burned Qur’ans at Bagram Airfield, Afghan Muslims have murdered numerous civilians. Just last Monday, a jihad-martyrdom suicide bomber murdered at least two civilians at the gates of the airfield. Thirty people have now been killed in protests over the burning of the Qur’ans, despite (or perhaps because of) the fact that Obama and other American officials have apologized repeatedly, profusely, and abjectly for the burning of the Muslim holy book.
There was no call for the arrest and prosecution of those who murdered Americans and civilians after the Koran-burning incident.
The article further points out:
The U.S. soldier’s mass murder of Afghan civilians Sunday was an enormous crime. But so was the murder of American civilians by Qur’an-Rage rioters. So also is the ongoing phenomenon of Afghan military trainees turning on the U.S. and NATO military personnel who are training them and murdering them – which in recent months has been happening with increasing frequency in Afghanistan, with no murmur of apology from Karzai or anyone else.
It’s time to hold the Afghan soldiers who turn their guns on Americans to the same standard as the American soldier who murdered Afghans over the weekend.
