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According to Reuters News Service on Tuesdsay, "Bibles in Afghan languages sent to a U.S. soldier at a base in Afghanistan were confiscated and destroyed".
According to spokeswoman Major Jennifer Willis at the air base in Bagram, the Bibles "were, in fact, collected by the chaplains and later destroyed."
Now the excuse given of course is that trying to convert Muslims to any other faith is against the law in Afghanistan. True enough.
However, consider that the Bibles (sent by a church in the United States to a soldier stationed there) were taken to a "Bible class" being held on the base. The Bible class would be filmed. The Bibles were translated into two local languages: Pashto and Dari.
If someone (a local or not) taking a Bible class on an American military base wants a Bible to read printed in a language they know, and a soldier gets them sent from home to give them (a definite act of showing international good will on a small scale), how is that proselytizing?
And by what has been said and done regarding the incident, my scenario seems not only plausible, but highly likely - or at the very least, pretty close to the mark.
That Major Willis had to publicly "confirm that the Bibles shown on Al Jazeera's clip" were in fact "never distributed" in and of itself says what likley really took place: our military, stationed in a foreign country for the sole purpose of bringing/maintaining peace/safety/freedom to the inhabitants/citizens of that country is once again forced by our own leaders to muffle/hide/apologize for what they believe in/stand for to the very people we are saving/freeing/etc from dictators.
This is ultimately no different than when our soldiers were forced to wear black armbands that covered the American flag patches on their sleeves in order to not offend the people who wanted our help in the first place.
Why are so many of our soldiers in recent years falling apart at the seams? Having mental breakdowns, committing morally reprehensible and/or illegal acts, killing themselves? I think it's time that our government recognized that at least part of the problem stems from our leaders being more concerned with international political opinion than they are with the hearts and minds of our G.I.'s.
You take a 20 year old youngster, train them to be a highly efficient soldier, cultivate within them the spirit of a warrior that is willing and ready to fight and die for what they believe in day after day in the arena of war...and then tell them to apologize for what they are, to deny who they are, to be ashamed of being what they were made to be.
How do you do that and not expect their hearts, their minds, and their very souls to get hopelessly screwed up in the process?
And here now, our "leaders" are so worried about offending the OPEC nations that we now have not only our soldiers, but military chaplains no less - the spiritual guides for our troops - burning bibles!! What is wrong with this picture?
Here's another picture. One from 75 years ago. One of other soldiers (and then citizens) burning Bibles at the command of their "leaders". Recognize it?
According to spokeswoman Major Jennifer Willis at the air base in Bagram, the Bibles "were, in fact, collected by the chaplains and later destroyed."
Now the excuse given of course is that trying to convert Muslims to any other faith is against the law in Afghanistan. True enough.
However, consider that the Bibles (sent by a church in the United States to a soldier stationed there) were taken to a "Bible class" being held on the base. The Bible class would be filmed. The Bibles were translated into two local languages: Pashto and Dari.
If someone (a local or not) taking a Bible class on an American military base wants a Bible to read printed in a language they know, and a soldier gets them sent from home to give them (a definite act of showing international good will on a small scale), how is that proselytizing?
And by what has been said and done regarding the incident, my scenario seems not only plausible, but highly likely - or at the very least, pretty close to the mark.
That Major Willis had to publicly "confirm that the Bibles shown on Al Jazeera's clip" were in fact "never distributed" in and of itself says what likley really took place: our military, stationed in a foreign country for the sole purpose of bringing/maintaining peace/safety/freedom to the inhabitants/citizens of that country is once again forced by our own leaders to muffle/hide/apologize for what they believe in/stand for to the very people we are saving/freeing/etc from dictators.
This is ultimately no different than when our soldiers were forced to wear black armbands that covered the American flag patches on their sleeves in order to not offend the people who wanted our help in the first place.
Why are so many of our soldiers in recent years falling apart at the seams? Having mental breakdowns, committing morally reprehensible and/or illegal acts, killing themselves? I think it's time that our government recognized that at least part of the problem stems from our leaders being more concerned with international political opinion than they are with the hearts and minds of our G.I.'s.
You take a 20 year old youngster, train them to be a highly efficient soldier, cultivate within them the spirit of a warrior that is willing and ready to fight and die for what they believe in day after day in the arena of war...and then tell them to apologize for what they are, to deny who they are, to be ashamed of being what they were made to be.
How do you do that and not expect their hearts, their minds, and their very souls to get hopelessly screwed up in the process?
And here now, our "leaders" are so worried about offending the OPEC nations that we now have not only our soldiers, but military chaplains no less - the spiritual guides for our troops - burning bibles!! What is wrong with this picture?
Here's another picture. One from 75 years ago. One of other soldiers (and then citizens) burning Bibles at the command of their "leaders". Recognize it?
3 comments:
"Where they have burned books, they will end in burning human beings."
- Heinrich Heine
You may remember that I had that exact quote among the Wise Words page of my home site for several years. :-)
I wish to God I could say I was surprised, but I am not. this is like taking your car in for servicing, then standing over the mechanic, telling him which tools he may or may not, use.
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