Stand back, wingnut heads are about to explode across the land:
President Obama apologized Thursday in a letter to Afghan President Hamid Karzai for the burning of Korans at the largest American military base in Afghanistan, according to the White House and Karzai's office. The incident at Bagram Air Base has fueled days of angry protests in the war-torn country.
"I wish to express my deep regret for the reported incident," Karzai's office quoted Obama as saying in the message. "The error was inadvertent; I assure you that we will take the appropriate steps to avoid any recurrence, to include holding accountable those responsible."
The incident in which Korans were destroyed on a U.S. military base was (apparently) a mistake, rather than a deliberate provocation by rogue soldiers, but it has unleashed angry protests that have left 14 people dead in Nangarhar province, including two U.S. soldiers shot by an enraged Afghan soldier.
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I really shouldn't make light of any of this, as it's a terrible situation, with no simple answers. On the one hand, as an alien military force that has had no small part in perpetuating death and violence in that hell-hole of a country, the U.S. military should have the most stringent procedures and safeguards in place to avoid a "mistake" so inevitably inflammatory as the destruction of Korans. The President's apology is necessary and appropriate in this context.
On the other hand, let's not pretend that the over-reaction of local citizens, the murder of Americans and Afghans, simply because of an act of desecration -- whether deliberate or accidental -- is something we should excuse or tolerate. This is the part that the wingnuts will highlight, of course, while remaining completely oblivious to the parallels among their own intolerant American Taliban ranks. The fact is, religious extremism and demonization of those with different beliefs, is unacceptable barbarism no matter where it occurs.
President Obama did the only thing he could in apologizing for this particular incident. Meanwhile, the continuing U.S. presence in Afghanistan will inevitable provoke further such reactions. Our withdrawal from the region will remove that source of provocation, but will not eliminate the causes and motivations of extremism. Only economic and social development, rather than war and reciprocal hatred, have a chance to make a lasting difference.