it's completely ridiculous that things like this keep happening. every few months it seems like we have another desecration-of-the-quran incident.
usually the discussions that follow these stories are in terms of how much of an obligation the u.s. military has to show respect to islam. but even if you put the "respect" issue aside, if you're trying to bring stability to a country like iraq, these incidents are major strategic blunders. and "blunder" isn't even the right word, because it implies an accident. no one accidentally picked a quran to use for target practice. someone did it intentionally to be provocative. being provocative directly undermines what the u.s. claims it is trying to do in iraq. i can only wonder if the unnamed soldier who decided to do this faces any disciplinary action, other than having to write a letter of apology.
