3 Killed, U.S. Embassy on lockdown amid protests...we accidentally burned holy books.

[Adventureless_Hero]

There were some protests taking place outside the U.S. Embassy in Kabul. It was difficult to see the clear story in this article. The protestors shouldn't be taking violent measures, while it was pretty fucked up that we burned copies of their Qur'an.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-...amid-protests/

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-...in;contentBody

Do I think the burning of the books was a complete accident? No. But it sounds like it was a snap decision made by someone on site and was later regretted when news of the decision made it's way outside the Embassy.

[reaper239]

i don't think the government should be involved in book burning. if it was an individual personally protesting islam then that would be one thing, but the government shouldn't burn books in protest of anything. although, from the sound of it, the books were confiscated due to some violation of prison rules. it sounds like they were trashed because they confiscated for a violation of prison rules, and then the trash was burned. it doesn't sound to me like someone set out to burn the books, it just sounds like they were burning their trash and the books happened to be in the trash. if that is the case, then i don't see that they did anything wrong, as long as burning their trash is their standard policy. if that is not the case, then someone should probably be disciplined.

[Adventureless_Hero]

Agreed.

Yeah, I was reading that the books were confiscated because they were passing messages in them.

"The military official with knowledge of the incident said it appeared that the Qurans (Korans) and other Islamic readings were being used to fuel extremism, and that detainees at Parwan Detention Facility were writing on the documents to exchange extremist messages."

I guess they weren't really important messages, otherwise they would be taken for intelligence purposes, right? I'm wondering how they ended up in the trash to be burned though, and how someone of the Islamic faith was able to see them burning the books? It kind of sounded intentional, intentional on the behalf of a singular person and not our government as a whole. Still, it sucks that the protesters are getting violent (or were, not sure of the condition right now).

[reaper239]

true, it does seem odd. the only thing i can think of is that where they burn the trash is in plain view either prisoners or protesters. the only real option outside of that is, as you said, it was intentional. i'd hate to think that after everything that has happened with misconduct in the past that our guys would be bullheaded enough to risk further damage to the US reputation abroad, but it is not outside the realm of possibility.