Afghan Mob Kills 10 United Nations Workers

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: New York Times

By ROD NORDLAND
Published: April 1, 2011

KABUL, Afghanistan — Protesters angered by the burning of a Koran by a fringe American pastor in Florida mobbed offices of the United Nations in northern Afghanistan on Friday, killing ten foreign staff members and beheading two of the victims, according to an Afghan police spokesman. Five Afghans were also killed.

The attack began when hundreds of demonstrators, some of them armed, poured out of mosques after Friday Prayer and headed to the headquarters of the United Nations in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif. They disarmed the guards and overran the compound, according to Lal Mohammad Ahmadzai, spokesman for Gen. Daoud Daoud, the Afghan National Police commander for northern Afghanistan.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/02/world/asia/02afghanistan.html

---

I'm not sure which group of religious extremists I like less, or least, as the case may be. I guess I have to say it's a tie. Hat tip to George Mason and the other founding fathers for the First Amendment. They really hit it out of the park with that one.

[Harmony Blue]

1. The dilemma

is should they stay to try to help them, or is the cultural gap so vast that they should leave? I say they should leave along with all military operations be halted in Afghanistan IMVHO. Look how long it took for the middle east to embrace some democratic elements.

[uppityperson]

2. k&r, as usual, extremists kill the innocent while protesting other extremists. So sad.

[Harmony Blue]

3. Agreed

And this cycle will not end because extremists on both sides are unwilling to back down.

[BallardWA]

Terry Jones, this is on your head

Source: New York Times

KABUL, Afghanistan — Protesters angered by the burning of a Koran by a fringe American pastor in Florida mobbed offices of the United Nations in northern Afghanistan on Friday, killing ten foreign staff members and beheading two of the victims, according to an Afghan police spokesman. Five Afghans were also killed.

Mr. Ahmadzai, the police spokesman, said the crowd was angry about the burning of the Koran after a mock trial overseen by Pastor Terry Jones on Mar. 20. Mr. Jones had caused an international uproar by threatening to burn the Koran last Sept. 11, and demonstrations at the time led to deaths throughout Afghanistan, but on a small scale. Mr. Jones subsequently had publicly promised not to burn a Koran, but then went ahead last month, after holding a mock trial of the Koran at his fringe church in Gainesville, Fla.

After disarming the United Nations compound’s guards, the crowd surged inside. Eight of the foreign staffers, whose nationalities were not known immediately, were killed by gunfire, and two others were captured and then beheaded, Mr. Ahmadzai said. He added that 15 people had so far been arrested for their part in the attack, and that the Afghan authorities had brought the situation under control.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/02/world/asia/02afghanistan.html?_r=1&hp

---

Idiot

[Name removed]

4. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[JustAnotherGen]

5. No

Jones did this on the 20th of March . . . he held a 'trial of the Koran' quietly in his church then burned it.

[sharp_stick]

6. He did it again? I did not know that

Holy shit, that guy is out there.

I still revel in my hatred of all things fundi though.

[Bragi]

8. The US media self-censored, that's why you don't know /nt

[freshwest]

21. The The 'self' being the ones who own it... Less than five owners by now, I'm guessing.

[SkyDaddy7]

10. Same here!! nt.

[freshwest]

19. Apparently he had a press crew in the sanitorium, er, sanctuary.

As if the attention hungry 'reverend' didn't know that news travels.

We have to clean the festering wound of fanaticism to get better.

How awful for the people abroad, trying to help others, supposedly, that they were killed and their bodies multilated. Horrible.

I hope both our nations learn something from this, and soon.

[AlbertCat]

20. my hatred of fundamentalist pricks of all religions.

Yes, because this is not Jones's "fault." He didn't make Afghanis kill people who have nothing to do with him. They decided to do that themselves. Why either group would think that burning some wood pulp with ink stains on it should be significant is the problem. It's stone age thinking, that the book itself has power. It's like a Voodoo doll, or having to have an image of someone to perform a magic spell. Like what happens to the image happens to the person.... or something equally as childish.

Jones played leader and burned a book. I guess he feels all better now.

The Afghanis killed innocent people that have nothing to do with what they're mad about. Do they feel all better now?

[valerief]

41. Fundamentalist religions keep the ruling class ruling. They support fundamentalist religions.

Stupid works for them.

[freshwest]

70. In all countries, the results are predictable. Violence and/or oppression.

[uppityperson]

7. To keep in LBN, you need to copy the headline as subject line.

Since you were the first to post, if you do that, perhaps the other post in LBn will be combined with yours. Otherwise, due to the subject line, this will be moved to GD.

[cstanleytech]

9. I Call BS for the topics header

Why? Because one wrong doesnt make a right and what these people did isnt the fault in the end of the idiot who burned the koran but it lays with them for deciding it was ok for them to commit murder because someone did something that offended them.

[pecwae]

12. The whole thing is bullshit

from Jones to the Afghans committing the murders.

[No Elephants]

15. Yep.

[Bragi]

16. I agree with you

Showing one's disrespect of a religion through the burning of a religious object may be (and is) offensive to many, but doing so is well within the legal First Amendment rights of any American.

Jones is an ass, but the people who committed this violence are far more detestable.

[Bragi]

11. No, the people who commited this violence are responsible

Far as I know, Terry Jones is not in Afghanistan, so he isn't responsible for this violence.

[freshwest]

23. Mentally damaged from an early age by oppressive religion, reacting on gut instincts.

Sounds a lot like the GOP if they got their way.

[No Elephants]

13. You have to use NYT headline--LBN forum rules.

[PoliticAverse]

14. Please stop giving ass-hats world publicity....

It only encourages them.
It is what they want.

[Bragi]

18. You are wrong

The U.S and Western media largely self-censored themselves when Jones pulled his most recent stunt.

This hasn't stopped word of it being circulated abroad -- witness today's tragedy. It just makes Americans a bit more ignorant about this than they otherwise might be.

I think what was needed was accurate and critical coverage of what Jones did, not media self-censorship.

[ProgressIn2008]

17. How bizarre. No, this is the responsibility of the murderers. nt

[Beams1969]

22. Jones is an idiot, but anyone who murders because someone half a world away

burned a book is completely cooked morally and mentally. The fact they would hold the UN responsible for this is such a huge disconnect I feel something is being lost from the complete story.

[freshwest]

24. They were taught to hate the UN as an occupying force, no doubt. But no excuse for this.

[benld74]

25. BOTH Jones and the individuals who atrocized the UN offices are to be faulted,,,,

You cannot say it is OK for the stuff to happen over here, while on the other hand fault people for their actions when they heard of it across the world!
And WHY cant the actions in this country be blamed? The actions that occurred HERE are JUST AS BAD as what they caused over there! Just because WE are the so caused civilized society give us NO RIGHT, to condemn another religion!
Get yur heads outta your collectives behinds and see the light people!

[riderinthestorm]

48. Sorry but there is no equivalence. 1 book burned in FL = 10 UN staff murdered??!!

What kind of equivalence is that??

While Jones is an asshat, the murderous brainwashed mob actually killed 10 people, United Nations staffers who are most definitely there to HELP the Afghans and not proselytize, over a book being burned on the other side of the world.

Honestly the mosque leaders who whipped the mob into a frenzy over this bear a huge part of the responsibility as well. Deliberately creating this situation is grotesque.

[SkyDaddy7]

26. UN staff killed in Afghanistan amid protests over (Fla. Pastor) Qur'an burning

Source: Guardian

The UN mission in Afghanistan has been thrown into a deep crisis after a furious mob of protesters killed and wounded a number of its staff in one of the country's most peaceful cities.

One police source in the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif claimed at least eight foreign UN employees were killed after a demonstration in the thriving commercial hub turned violent. Other officials reported different figures.

Provincial police spokesman Sherjan Durrani said the demonstrators poured out of mosques in the city in the early afternoon, shortly after Friday prayers where worshippers had been angered by reports that a Florida pastor had burned a copy of the Qur'an.

Last year Terry Jones, a US fundamentalist Christian leader, did threaten to burn copies of the Muslim holy book. He backed down after warnings that Islamic opinion around the world could be inflamed and the lives of US troops in Afghanistan and Iraq endangered.

But on 21 March Wayne Sapp set light to a Qur'an with Jones standing by.

Durrani said that while most protesters were peaceful, others were seeking targets to attack, including shops and the UN compound.

Whatever the final death toll, the incident is seen as a disaster for the UN, coming just over a week after the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, announced that Mazar-e-Sharif would be one of the first areas of the wartorn country to be transferred from Nato to Afghan government security control.

If the number of UN staff killed is high, the organisation will be obliged to consider closing down or dramatically reducing all its operations in the country – something it came perilously close to doing in late 2009 when an attack on a UN guesthouse in Kabul killed five staff.


Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/01/un-staff-afghanistan-mazar-sharif-killed-quran

---

This disgust me on so many levels!!

[drm604]

27. Innocent people dying because of hatred between religious fanatics.

:banghead:

[defendandprotect]

28. Religious fanatacism always ends in violence --

[loudsue]

29. I hope that asshole in Florida KNOWS that this blood is on his bigotted hands.

:argh:

[Bragi]

30. Do the murderers bear no responsibility for their actions? /nt

[47of74]

62. Yeah, he probably knows, and probably doesn't care.

[Bragi]

31. Eight killed in Afghan demonstration after U.S. preacher burns Koran

Source: AP (via Globe and Mail)

Eight foreigners were killed Friday after demonstrators protesting a reported burning of the Muslim holy book stormed a U.N. office in northern Afghanistan, opening fire on guards and setting fires inside the compound, a top Afghan police official said...

The protesters were condemning a reported burning of the Quran at the Rev. Terry Jones' small church, Dove Outreach Center, in Gainesville, Florida.

Last week, Afghan President Hamid Karzai issued a statement calling the burning a “crime against a religion.” He denounced it as a “disrespectful and abhorrent act” and called on the U.S. and the United Nations to bring to justice those who burned the holy book and issue a response to Muslims around the world.



Read more: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/asia-pacific/eight-killed-in-afghan-demonstration-after-us-preacher-burns-koran/article1966938/

---

My view is that what is noteworthy here is that, while the U.S media has (unwisely) self-censored itself and not reported on Jones' Quran-burning, people elsewhere are aware him, and they fully intend to use this as a political opportunity.

As for any attempt "to bring to justice those who burned the holy book" as per Karzai's demand, no action can or will be taken against Jones since burning anyone's holy book is well within the First Amendment Rights of Americans to the exercise of free speech.

I predict that reaction to Jones' widely-ignored Quran-burning last month will evolve in coming weeks/months into a crisis not unlike what happened with the Danish cartoons. Hope not, but that's my prediction.

[Angry Dragon]

32. I do not think jones was the one that burned the Quran

It was another preacher and jones was just there adding his support

[Bragi]

33. Jones organized the event

He mounted a "trial" of the Quran, after which the book was burned.

Because US media self-censored and blacked out the event, Americans are largely unaware that it took place.

I think this has played into the hands of those who want to use this to stoke anti-Western sentiment in the Muslim world.

[Angry Dragon]

34. Perhaps we should take up donations for an airline ticket

for jones so he can go over there and explain his reasoning behind it then.......... just a thought


on edit: Could he be arrested for actions to incite a riot??

[moondust]

35. Where can I donate?

Air-drop him into northern Afghanistan so they can settle their differences among themselves.

[CBHagman]

50. Maybe you'd like to donate to UNICEF...

...or to Doctors without Borders, the International Rescue Committee, Oxfam, or any organization you have reason to believe is doing good work.

In fact you might want to donate in memory of the people who died. You can check out nonprofit groups at sites such as Charity Navigator.

My hands are shaking as I type this. Such a cruel, senseless thing to do...but I do hold Jones and is ilk responsible for their part in whipping up hysteria. What they do may be protected speech, but that is not to say they are acting responsibly.

[Bragi]

38. He can't be arrested for exercising legal free speech

Nor should he be.

[Angry Dragon]

42. Inciting a riot is against the law

and not covered by free speech

[Bragi]

44. Good luck in court with that one

Americans have a legal right to burn holy objects (even American flags!) and be offensive. That is what the First Amendment is about.

If mobs in another country thousands of miles away decide to kill nationals of another country because of what an American may or may not have said, then no American court is going to convict an American who exercised their legal right to offensive free speech.

[Igel]

53. In which case Jones is off the hook.

On 3/20 the paper and ink were burned. Ten days later, there are riots. Now, that's some incitement.

The rioters poured out of mosques after Friday prayers. Gee, I wonder what they were told? Was it Jones' act per se, or those who roused the rabble, that did the inciting to riot?

Note that the Muhammed cartoons had the same problem. They were published in the West. They were published in Egypt a week or two later. Then, after a hiatus of months, a frenzy was produced--based partially on images that were entirely misconstrued--and the riots happened. Did the caricatures produce the riots? Far from directly. Somebody else engaged in some incendiary speech.

But that's okay. They're lesser beings, so emotional, so unable by nature to keep their inferior natures in check. We have to hold other Westerners to a higher standard. Or at least that seems to be the assumption.

No, the imams roused. The rabble responded as instructed. And those uninvolved, except that they were part of the same "Christian" community (talk about collective punishment!), died.

It's communal punishment, actually. It's common there. And in Egypt. And in India. And Indonesia. It was common in Russia, as well. Then again, it was the system imposed by the Horde.

[Bragi]

54. Good post. Thanks. /nt

[riderinthestorm]

58. This is a great post. Wish it could be an OP in GD. nt

[Turborama]

36. USA Today reported on it

Quran burned at Rev. Terry Jones' tiny church
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/Religion/post/2011/03/burn-quran-koran-terry-jones-muslim/1

The insane publicity monger was given the amount of attention he deserved, IMO.

[Bragi]

39. Not what I'd call media saturation

Seriously, all major news outlets struck a deal back in September not to cover this guy. Nonetheless, awareness of his stunt has been promoted outside the US by people wanting to inflame anti-Western sentiment in part of the Muslim world.

[LeftinOH]

37. delete-

[valerief]

40. Holy crap. They should have airlifted Jones and his church to Kabul. nt

[Amonester]

59. Bingo.

Let the 'provocateur' coward try to defend himself there.

Of course he'll remain 'safe' in his cowardice. :puke:

[MellowDem]

43. It ain't near a tie...

It's very obvious that the people who would go kill totally innocent people over what some random religious extremist says half a world away are much fucking worse.

I mean, I'm trying to be nice here, but to try to equate the two is just.... ugh, this shit pisses me off.

Regardless, I'll be interested in how the ol Florida pastor responds to this.

Also curious why such the delayed reaction.

Also curious as to what fuckhole in the mosque presented the sermon to get the ignorant masses riled up.

[Bragi]

46. I think the delay is for this reason

Contrary to what many think, the Quran burning story has not been covered, let alone pushed, by the MSM.

The delay is because the story is being spread slowly through channels controlled by Islamic radicals for political reasons.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

49. "... to try to equate the two is just.... ugh...."

That's a valid point. Clearly, killing people because someone 6,000 miles away burned a book is inexcusible. The point I wanted to make is that I had little use for either side in this affair. I wish they'd both go away. The guy in Florida isn't doing anybody any favors, though his actions are nowhere near those of the mob. As has been stated, he's putting other people at risk.

Thanks for writing.

[nalnn]

45. While both groups

Are idiotic in their actions. I'd have to say I dislike the murderous ones more.

[Bragi]

47. Good choice. Me too /nt

[Raine]

51. A "tie"???? WTF!!! There is no comparison between burning

a stupid book (whether it be the bible or the koran) and slaughtering 10-12 people, that is just plain NUTZ!!!! Not that I'm excusing the crazy minister but to call this a tie and not be able to decide who is worse .... geeesh!

[jzodda]

52. I'm going to ignore the nutty pastor and ask the question: Why are we there?

Afghanistan is a barbaric country with a totally corrupt gov and has been in an endless cycle of war.

So why do we have like 100,000 troops there? What exactly are we accomplishing? A decade of blood, sweat and tears-and the people there seem to hate us more and more. Sure we have made some tragic mistakes but when we kill civilians with air strikes by accident (which is not acceptable) they go into the street and demand our bloody heads. When the Taliban goes into a village and beheads people the people don't protest or want to vent their anger at all.

We are wasting the lives of our troops, spending money we could use at home and all to accomplish ZERO.

Lets leave that place and let them sort out their own problems. If the Taliban take over again? Too bad-we tried.

[Rage for Order]

55. Ah, the Religion of Peace strikes again

Lovely

[daleo]

56. It's like getting stuck back in the Hundred Years War

With people killing each other over interpretations of religious myths, goading each other, etc.

It's hard to believe that the western world is going broke and borrowing money from China for this.

[SpartanDem]

57. A tie? Let me know when someone here get beheaded

there is a big difference being an asshole and barbaric

[Geoffrey_Lebowski]

60. The nutjobs played right into the other nutjobs hands

And innocent civilians were caught in the crossfire. So sad. My heart goes out to the families of these slain innocents.

Looks like a win/win for the nutty pastor ... I'm sure he hates the UN almost as much as he hates Islam.

One thing I will say ... the Muslims do NOT fuck around. Perhaps it'd be best to not poke sticks into their beehive.

[BrightKnight]

61. I would like to see Jones be extradited to Afghanistan. - n/t

[Omaha Steve]

63. UN envoy: UN workers killed running from bunker

Source: AP

By DEB RIECHMANN

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - Fearing for their lives, the U.N. workers dashed into a dark bunker hoping to escape the mob of Afghan protesters angry over the burning of a Quran by a Florida church.

Hope wasn't enough for three of them. They were hunted down and brutally slain - their bodies found later in three different parts of the compound in northern Afghanistan.

"They were killed when they were running out of the bunker," said Staffan de Mistura, the top U.N. envoy in Afghanistan, who recounted their harrowing deaths to reporters on Saturday evening. "One was pulled out alive because he pretended to be a Muslim."

De Mistura spoke in a somber tone as he described how three U.N. staff members and four Nepalese guards were killed Friday when the protesters stormed their compound in the normally peaceful city of Mazar-i-Sharif. He placed direct blame on those who burned a copy of the Muslim holy book in Gainesville, Florida, last month, stoking anti-foreign sentiment that already was on the rise after nearly a decade of war in Afghanistan.


Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20110402/D9MBR4Q80.html

---

Afghan policemen stand guard near a burnt booth, right, at the compound of UN's office, which was attacked by protesters on Friday during a demonstration to condemn the burning of a copy of the Muslim holy book by a U.S. Florida pastor, in Mazar-i- Sharif north of Kabul, Afghanistan on Saturday, April. 2, 2011. Afghans angry over the burning of a Quran at a small Florida church stormed a U.N. compound in northern Afghanistan on Friday, killing seven foreigners, including four Nepalese guards. (AP Photo/Mustafa Najafizada)

[msongs]

64. the religiously insane with nothing better to do in their lives. Murderers in the name of religion

[SpiralHawk]

65. More deaths caused by Republicon Crusaders cruel insensitivity

fanning the flames. No excuses for the murderers. But no excuses either for those faux christians who needlessly poured gas on the fires simmering since so many Afghan women, children, and civilians have been shot down or bombed to oblivion over the last years.

[TomClash]

66. UN envoy: UN workers killed running from bunker

Source: AP

UN envoy: UN workers killed running from bunker
By DEB RIECHMANN
Associated Press

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- Fearing for their lives, the U.N. workers dashed into a dark bunker hoping to escape the mob of Afghan protesters angry over the burning of a Quran by a Florida church.

Hope wasn't enough for three of them. They were hunted down and brutally slain - their bodies found later in three different parts of the compound in northern Afghanistan.

"They were killed when they were running out of the bunker," said Staffan de Mistura, the top U.N. envoy in Afghanistan, who recounted their harrowing deaths to reporters on Saturday evening. "One was pulled out alive because he pretended to be a Muslim."

De Mistura spoke in a somber tone as he described how three U.N. staff members and four Nepalese guards were killed Friday when the protesters stormed their compound in the normally peaceful city of Mazar-i-Sharif. He placed direct blame on those who burned a copy of the Muslim holy book in Gainesville, Florida, last month, stoking anti-foreign sentiment that already was on the rise after nearly a decade of war in Afghanistan. "The demonstration was meant to protest against the insane and totally despicable gesture by one person who burned the holy Quran," he said.

Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_AFGHAN_UN_ATTACK?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=HOME

---

More Religious Morons.

[dhill926]

67. reacting to other religious morons........

just crazy........

[fortyfeetunder]

68. Just tragic for the families of the deceased.

I am sorry they died because of the stupid actions of a few.

[MrSlayer]

69. Idiots like these make idiots like Jones look right.

The best reaction would have been no reaction.