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I received this article a couple of days ago and found it very interesting. What do you think?


Ask Me if I Care About 'Mishandling' of Koran
By Doug Patton
June 6, 2005


First, Newsweek pulled a Dan Rather on us, running a fabricated story
just
because they wanted it to be true. They told the world that an
American
guard at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, detention center had ripped pages
from a prisoner's Koran and flushed it down a toilet. As a result,
innocent
people died when practitioners of Islam rioted in protest in
Afghanistan.

Oops, said Newsweek, it seems we can't back up our story. Oh well,
it's
probably true; we just can't prove it. (Isn't it convenient for
Newsweek
that the media now have "Deep Throat" to talk about so they can revel
in
their glory days and divert our attention from their criminal
negligence.)

The lie heard round the world about the flushed Koran has caused
convulsions
in the Bush Administration and forced the Pentagon to launch an
investigation of unfounded allegations contained in an
unsubstantiated
story. The results of said investigation are now in, and it seems
there are
at least five incidents of "mishandling" of the Koran at Gitmo.

Well, guess what? I don't care!

Are we fighting a war on terror or aren't we? Was it or was it not
started
by Islamic people who brought it to our shores on September 11, 2001?

Were people from all over the world, mostly Americans, not brutally
murdered
that day, in downtown Manhattan, across the Potomac from our nation's
capitol
and in a field in Pennsylvania? Did nearly three thousand men, women
and
chi! ldren di e a horrible, burning death that day, or didn't they?

And I'm supposed to care that a copy of the Koran was "desecrated"
when
an overworked American soldier kicked it or got it wet? Well, I
don't. I
don't care at all.

I'll start caring when Osama bin Laden turns himself in and repents
for
incinerating all those innocent people on 9/11.

I'll care about the Koran when the fanatics in the Middle East start
caring about the Holy Bible, the mere possession of which is a crime
in Saudi Arabia.

I'll care when Abu Musab al-Zarqawi tells the world he is sorry for
hacking
off Nick Berg's head while Berg screamed through his gurgling,
slashed throat.

I'll care when the cowardly so-called "insurgents" in Iraq come out
and
fight like men instead of disrespecting their own religion by hiding
in mosques.

I'll care when the mindless zealots who blow themselves up in search
of
nirvana care about the innocent children within range of their
suicide bombs.

I'll care when the American media stops pretending that their First
Amendment liberties are somehow derived from international law
instead of
the United States Constitution's Bill of Rights.

I'll care when Clinton-appointed judges stop ordering my government
to
release photos of the abuses at Abu Ghraib, which are sure to set off
the
Islamic extremists just as Newsweek's lies did a few weeks ago.

In the meantime, when I hear a story about a brave marine roughing up
an
Iraqi terrorist to obtain information, know this: I don't care.

When I see a fuzzy photo of a pile of naked Iraqi prisoners who have
been
humiliated in what amoun! ts to a college hazing incident, rest assured
that I
don't care.

When I see a wounded terrorist get shot in the head when he is told
not to
move because he might be booby-trapped, you can take it to the bank
that
I don't care.

When I hear that a prisoner, who was issued a Koran paid for by my
tax
dollars, is complaining that his holy book is being "mishandled," you
can
absolutely believe in your heart of hearts that I don't care.

And oh, by the way, I've noticed that sometimes it's spelled "Koran"
and
other times "Quran." Well, Jimmy Crack Corn and -- you guessed it --
I
don't care!

-----------

Doug Patton is a freelance columnist and political speechwriter who
has
worked for conservative candidates, elected officials and public
policy
organizations at the federal, state and local levels. His weekly
column can
be read in newspapers across the country and on selected Internet web
sites.
Readers can e-mail him at dpatton@neonramp.com.