U.S. Apologizes For Afghan Soccer Snafu

Soccer Balls With Islamic Inscription, Distributed By U.S. Helicopters, Are Denounced As Blasphemous

(CBS/AP)  The U.S. military said Monday it regretted any offense it may have caused by giving out a soccer ball with the word Allah written on it as part of a public relations exercise in Afghanistan.

At least one of several balls dropped by helicopter to children in eastern Khost province had a small picture of the Saudi Arabian flag. The flag features in Arabic script the Islamic declaration of faith, which contains the words Allah and the Prophet Muhammad.

Villagers were "upset and angry" when they saw the ball, said Khost Gov. Arsalah Jamal. "They wanted to demonstrate, but we explained to them it was a mistake."

Muslims treat with the utmost respect any printed matter containing verses of the Koran or the name of Allah or his prophet on it. Most would find the idea of kicking a ball emblazoned with those two names as deeply offensive.

Sgt. Dean Welch, a spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition, said Friday's "distribution of soccer balls was done in the spirit of goodwill, something that we hoped would bring Afghan children some enjoyment."

"We regret any disturbance that was caused in this case," he said. "If we hurt one person, that is one too many."

Afghanistan is a staunchly Islamic country and its people are quick to demonstrate at perceived disrespect to their faith. Many are already deeply unhappy at the presence of some 50,000 mostly non-Muslim troops in their country.

Last year, violent protests followed the printing of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in the Western media. In 2005, several people were killed during demonstrations against the alleged desecration of copies of the Koran by U.S. soldiers at Guantanamo Bay.

Jamal said the U.S. military had told him they bought the balls in a market in Kabul and that they were made in China.

The U.S. has previously looked to soccer to promote a peaceful message, in both Afghanistan - where soccer players after the U.S. invasion in 2001 began playing again in a Kabul stadium the Taliban used for executions - and Iraq, where celebrations after Iraq beat Saudi Arabia in the Asian Cup finals in July were viewed as a hopeful moment of national unity.

[lars008-2009]

Washington Post, Other Newspapers Won''''t Run ''''Opus'''' Cartoon Mocking Radical Islam

A popular comic strip that poked fun at the Rev. Jerry Falwell without incident one week ago was deemed too controversial to run over the weekend because this time it took a humorous swipe at Muslim fundamentalists.
http://salon.com/comics/opus/2007/08/26/opus/

[maudeharold]

What the hell is up with that story graphic?

lars008 wrote:

"A popular comic strip that poked fun at the Rev. Jerry Falwell without incident one week ago was deemed too controversial to run over the weekend because this time it took a humorous swipe at Muslim fundamentalists.
http://salon.com/comics/opus/2007/08/26/opus/"

Would you rather have gay cartoons printed?

Is that your point?

http://profielen1.****.nl/show.php?nick=lars008

Is Senator Larry Craig your hero?

[lars008-2009]

there is no peace with fascist nazi islam%u2026.. there never has been in it%u2019s 1400 year existence%u2026

dnc are like john adams and want to give the jihadist their lunch money hoping they will leave us alone....

gop are like thomas jefferson and want to spend their lunch money on weapons and go kick the jihadists in their arses.....

What Thomas Jefferson learned from the Muslim book of jihad

Thomas Jefferson knew about fascist nazi islam..... he killed plenty of them....

In 1786 Jefferson and John Adams went to negotiate with Tripoli''s envoy to London, Ambassador Sidi Haji Abdrahaman or (Sidi Haji Abdul Rahman Adja). They asked him by what right he extorted money and took slaves. Jefferson reported to Secretary of State John Jay, and to the Congress:

The ambassador answered us that [the right] was founded on the Laws of the Prophet (Mohammed), that it was written in their Koran, that all nations who should not have answered their authority were sinners, that it was their right and duty to make war upon them wherever they could be found, and to make slaves of all they could take as prisoners, and that every Mussulman who should be slain in battle was sure to go to heaven.[1]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Barbary_War
http://www.usvetdsp.com/jan07/jeff_quran.htm
muslim justifies slavery and piracy%u2026
http://www.hawaiireporter.com/story.aspx?6bdec278-6a71-4436-bc4d-29d1c54b0ad7

[lars008-2009]

It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace--but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death! March 23, 1775 Patrick Henry

USA''s PLEDGE 2 THE WORLD GIVEN BY JFK!!

"Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty." - John F. Kennedy, Inaugural Address, Jan. 20, 1961

"Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country." - John F. Kennedy, Inaugural Address, Jan. 20, 1961

One ought never to turn one''s back on a threatened danger and try to run away from it. If you do that, you will double the danger. But if you meet it promptly and without flinching, you will reduce the danger by half. Winston Churchill

"The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing." Albert Einstein

Edmund Burke: All that is necessary for evil to succeed is that good men do nothing.

[lars008-2009]

LOOK WHO IS TARGETING CIVILIANS!!!

Qaeda warns of attacks ''worse than 9/11''
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=070530102648.wuwa6k96&show_article=1

Hizbullah Deputy Sec-Gen Sheikh Naim Qassem: We Have Jurisprudent Permission to Carry Out ''Martyrdom'' Operations, Fire Missiles on Israeli Civilians From Ayatollah Khomeini
http://memri.org/bin/latestnews.cgi?ID=SD154907

Switching Sides: Inside The Enemy Camp

But then in 2000, well before his arrest, something happened which would make Abas question everything he believed in: a fatwa, a religious edict, was issued by Osama bin Laden.

"It should be understood that killing Americans and Jews anywhere found are the highest act of worship and the highest form of good deeds in the eyes of Allah," Simon quotes bin Laden.

Abas and his fellow commanders were ordered to read the fatwa to their men and make sure they carried it out. The others obeyed, but Abas refused. It was his moment of truth. He firmly believed that jihad was to be fought only on the battlefield in defense of Islam; he had always been taught that the killing of civilians had nothing to do with holy war and that it was forbidden.

The fatwa justified killing non-Muslim civilians everywhere.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/05/04/60minutes/main2761108.shtml?source=RSSattr=60Minutes_2761108
American Al Qaeda Member Threatens Attack
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/05/29/terror/main2865282.shtml

[rafterman1]

===The U.S. has previously looked to soccer to promote a peaceful message===

Well, that''s the problem. Soccer has never brought peace to anywhere. Ask the people in Europe getting blasted by urine bombs at games :)

[rafterman1]

===gop are like thomas jefferson and want to spend their lunch money on weapons and go kick the jihadists in their arses===

No, the GOP are like chickenhawk Lars, who screams war, but won''t lift a finger to fight it themselves.

[mayihavemore]

China strikes again!
Military leadership strikes again!
Military cant be that dumb!

[starleo146]

Who is in charge of public relations Chaney we should know where the Koran and the prophet Muhammad is concerned we better get our fact straight or do more harm than good 7 years and we still don''t get it.

[ov442]

I wonder why they would be selling anything in Kabul in the first place if it was so deeply dishonorable to their religion? Seems like more hippocrisy to me. Its ok to sell it if it makes them money, but if it comes from Americans as goodwill gesture, its an insult.

I wonder if our next goodwill drop could be glow in the dark toilet seats with a picture of Osama on it with his big mouth open around the seat.

[prinzowhales]

The idiots running our psychological warfare operations make that caricature of an intelligence officer, Colonel Flag, from the MASH series look like a military genius.

[tucano2]

Again look for the enemy within for yet another "snafu" blamed on the USA but most
likely caused by a "sleeper" Al-Queda person
a la Kim Philby, etc.

[agnim]

"U.S. Apologizes For Afghan Soccer Snafu"

So we would apologize over a silly symbol; but we wouldn''t think of apologizing for SLAUGHTERING HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF HUMANS BEINGS?

How freaking dumb and mindless are our policy makers.

We should be SPARING THE HUMANS, and indeed be TARGETING THE INIMICAL ISLAMIC IDEOLOGY AND ALL ITS SYMBOLS.; because it is the insane islamic ideology and its sinful symbols that are the mental poisons driving maniac muslim minds.

AMERICA SHOULD TARGET ISLAM IN THE WAY THAT COMMUNISM WAS TARGETED.

BETTER TO TARGET IDEOLOGY FOR DESTRUCTION THAN TO BE KILLING PEOPLE, the survivors of whom will in time have vengeance.

Level mosques.
Burn korans.
write koranic verses on football, on toilet paper, etc, etc.

Trust me; in time the insane islamists will come to recognize that they are not really being harmed when some silly symbol of islam is rubbished.

We are encouraging the maniac muslim when we help them to believe that an inimical ideology and its symbols are of any value. Tsk tsk

[killtheliars]

maybe they are trying to make little whimps out of the Afghan kids, since everyone knows soccer is for kids who don''t like playing american football.