Mistakes are made, by governments, by politicians, our military, and people. It is a fact of life, we are all human, we try our very best, but sometimes the outcome is just not what we hoped. That is what happened last week when American and NATO forces in Afghanistan mistakingly burned the Muslim holy book, the Koran, along with waste products while departing a former prison. To Muslims, this is a huge insult to their religion. I would understand that. I would be willing to bet for the majority of Americans and those who are devoted Christians, they would find it a great insult to seeing a Bible burned or an American flag. We would all have some form of negative reaction to something we hold dear being burned.
The key here is that it was a mistake. When one makes a mistake, the person has the choice to acknowledge it and show remorse for an action that damaged another. Or one can ignore, lie, or at the very worst, show absolutely no remorse and even some joy in the pain of others. Along with these mistakenly burned Korans, the latter happened.
President Obama, recognizing the long run importance of winning the hearts and minds of the Muslim world and understanding the fragile balance of peace in the Arab world between the West and Arabs, most notably in Pakistan and Afghanistan issued an apology to President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan. This is showing leadership. Something President Obama's predecesor, President George W. Bush did as well after a U.S. Forces snipper mistakenly shot a Koran, destroying the Holy Book.
Unfortuately, during this election year, Obama's other GOP Presidential hopefuls took another path. Former Senator Rick Santorum and Former Speaker Newt Gingrich both denounced Obama's apology. Santorum saying: "Say it’s unfortunate…but to apologize for something that was not an intentional act is something that the President of the United States in my opinion should not have done ... I think it shows weakness.” (ABC News) Mr. Gingrich also contributed by saying: "It is an outrage that on the day an Afghan soldier murders two American troops, Pres. Obama is the one apologizing." (Yahoo! News)
Both of these views are very dangerous and yes Mr. Gingrich, outrageous. Not only are they wrong, lack leadership and the demonstration that America is a step ahead of acting as if we are in the middle ages, but it incites violence. Violence leads to Americans being put into harms way. As I write this, tens of thousands of angry protestors are proceeding to violence against western backed entities and the Taliban has been gaining ground on winning back the hearts and minds of Afghanis (Yahoo! News). This leaves the deaths of U.S. Service men and women in vain, all of their sacrifices washed out.
Are Santorum and Gingrich directly responsible for this new onslaught of violence, probably not. What they are responsible is perpetrating the same image of American arrogance that incites such violence. See, it is the very idea that America is waging a war on Islam that incites violence from Taliban and Islamic Extremist Terrorist organizations. To put politics ahead of the lives of American soldiers, to leave the deaths of hundreds of American service people in vain, and to jeopardize our future of establishing peace in the region, is inexcusable. Not to mention, it is immoral to cause harm to another without seeking forgiveness, both Gingrich and Santorum as Christians should know this all to well, so we would hope.
America needs to demonstrate our leadership as a first world nation and that we are a demonstration of peace, morality, and dignity, not our lack of it and arrogance.
Additional Sources:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/28/us/politics/for-obama-campaign-afghanistan-violence-causes-ripples.html?_r=1&ref=world
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