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Jewish World Review June 13, 2005 / 6 Sivan, 5765 What's being desecrated here? By Diana West
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
Thank you, Michael Isikoff. Because of Newsweek's commode Quran story —
the one that went down the drain in a retraction — a previously
undisclosed threat to our very existence has been revealed. It may be
too late to avert, but before admitting defeat, I just wish every
American would take a good long moment to reflect, not on the hysterical
headlines trumpeting "Quran abuse," but rather on the U.S. Army's
Quranic Code of Conduct in place at Guantanamo Bay.
The orders aren't called that, of course, but that's as apt a title as
any for the relevant sections of the officially titled "Detention
Operations Group Standard Operating Procedures" that go for Gitmo. And,
it bears repeating, every American should take a good long moment to
reflect on what they mean.
Since all of Guantanamo's inmates happen to be members of the same famed
band of Muslim extremists, the Army has seen fit to distribute Qurans.
So far, so good, I guess. But the Army doesn't just distribute its
Qurans like any other religious book. That is, the Bible may get passed
around, riffled through, dropped, tossed and stuffed into hotel room
drawers. But not the Quran. According to United States Army policy, the
standard operating procedure is: "Handle the Quran as if it were a
fragile piece of delicate art."
What's going on here? By official order, a whole lot of "respecting the
dignity of the Quran." According to Section 6-5-c(3), should a Quran
need to be removed from a detainee's cell — you know, carried somewhere
— and the detainee is personally unable to move it (best option), and
the Muslim chaplain, librarian and interpreter are also unable to move
it (second-best option), then the U.S. Army guard, as a very last
resort, may take action.
Then the insanity really begins. The guard is directed to don "clean
gloves ... in full view of the detainees prior to handling." He must use
"two hands ... at all times when handling the Quran in manner signaling
respect and reverence." Why "respect" alone isn't abundantly sufficient
isn't mentioned. While signaling two-handed respect and reverence,
however, the guard must be mindful that "care should be used so that the
right hand is the primary one used to manipulate any part of the Quran
due to the cultural association with the left hand."
It goes on. There's more "reverent manner," more instructions for
conveying the book inside a "clean, dry detainee towel." The cockeyed
picture is clear. But it doesn't explain what's going on.
At first glance, this scene may seem to exemplify a bizarre excess of
good manners, an absurdly obsequious respect for a largely foreign
faith. Since when does the United States specifically direct its
soldiers to show two-handed "reverence" in the handling of any religious
book? But it seems to me that there's more behind this charade. The
"clean gloves" and "detainee" towels are the tip-off. The fact is, under
Islamic law, non-Muslims are deemed unfit to touch the Quran. That much
is generally known. What is not usually considered is the reason:
According to the Islamic law, we are unclean.
In effect, then, with its official policy of clean cloves and detainee
towels, the United States military is promoting, enabling and accepting
the Islamic concept of najis — the unclean infidel — a barbarous
notion that has helped fuel the bloodlust of jihad and the non-Muslim
subjugation of dhimmitude. Our soldiers are many things:
self-sacrificing, bold, loyal and true. They are not unclean.
Is this political correctness run amok? Not exactly. It's something else
again, a new threat from within that needs vigilant redress. P.C. is
about victimology, the elevation of perceived victim groups to the
canonical pantheon. The Gitmo rules are more blatantly about surrender,
a voluntary self-extinguishment, a spreading condition of denial of what
is right and worth standing for. Not what you expect from the United
States Southern Command.
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JWR contributor Diana West is a columnist and editorial writer for the Washington Times. Comment by clicking here. © 2005, Diana West |
Arnold Ahlert | |||||||||||
