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Wednesday, November 09, 2005

You Care, I Don't


I received this email from a friend. The forwarded intro credited a particular individual with authoring it, but I will not publish the name, as I haven’t been able to confirm its authenticity. It is a letter to a family member serving in Iraq, supposedly written by a woman in Atlanta.

I agree. What about you?

What’s All The Fuss?

"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 children die a horrible, burning or crushing 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.

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 amounts 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 and a prayer mat, and fed "special" food that is 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 could not have said this any better myself! Especially today!

2 comments:

Buffalo said...

When do two wrongs make a right?

James Shott said...

I think the point here is that certain Americans get all worked up over supposed wrongs when they happen to the worst of humanity, and they waste a lot of energy on those matters that could better be directed to other, more important issues.

I don't see that the U.S. is under any obligation to treat radical, murdering Muslim fanatics any better than those fanatics treat U.S. soldiers, citizens in Iraq, or their own countrymen. That isn't a "wrong" in my book, and I'd venture in your Vietnam days, it wasn't a wrong in yours, either.

Am I wrong about that, Buff? If so, please accept my apology.