I just love the screaming BBC headline “US SNIPER SHOT AT KORAN” An American sniper has been sent home from Iraq for ….using a copy of the Koran for target practice at a shooting range near Baghdad. The Muslim “holy book” (DV italics) was found riddled with bullet holes last week by Iraqi police, who also discovered offensive graffiti inside its cover. My god – as if Abu Ghraib wasn’t bad enough now those pesky Yanks go shooting a copy of the Koran. Time for a Presidential apology and a public enquiry? At a time when too many Islamists use the Koran as their essential manual to justify mass murder without the mildest censure from Al-beeb, I would have thought that this was one of the mildest possible incidents that could occur in any war. However the BBC is so steeped in anti-Americanism that any sort of incident like this is used to demonise the US military further.
AMERICAN GANGSTER CRIME.
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Hugh | 19.05.08 – 2:09 pm |
How can it be biased to simply report what every other paper is reporting, and in much the same way? Are the Telegraph and Mail really reporting this because they’re a bunch of lefties? If this has been given undue prominence, fair enough, but has it?
The Telegraph and Mail have not lectured anyone from on high about how they prefer not to present material to the public – even if it is factually accurate – that might inflame hatred towards Mohammedans, specifically in the name of social cohesion. Yet, they have no problem with promoting (never mind merely reporting, they produce entire programmes) things that incite hatred coming the other way.
The BBC has made their policy on social cohesion very clear, both here and on editors’ blogs. They have made it known that they prefer to err on the side of Muslims.
MN: exactly – and you’ve answered Martin’s jibe perfectly. As for the BBC being viewed as biased in favour of the right, perhaps you cd direct us to the many blogs dedicated to pointing this out?
“If a Muslim soldier occupying the U.K. started using Bibles as target practice, I’m sure many of you on this blog would be apoplectic with rage.”
We wouldn’t hear about it from the BBC.
It’s a tired old argument, that because the BBC is criticised from both Left and Right, it must, therefore, be impartial.
Even were it true (and, clearly, criticism from the Left is far from common) that doesn’t mean the criticism would be accurate.
Day after day, evidence of bias is presented here (you may have to wade through some misplaced commentary, it is true). For impartiality to be established that evidence must consistently be confronted and disproved.
It hardly ever is.
i bet he gets £300 a throw on H and M,
giz back my licence fee.
i bet fat arse vance is laffing all the way to the bank with the money he gets from H and m
baldy fat arse
no more vance on bbc
or giz back my licence fee
no more vance on bbc
or giz back my licence fee
no more vance on bbc
or giz back my licence fee
hes nobodys child
no bodies child
no body wants him
hes nobodys child
shut up
shut up
shut up
baldy fat arse
yesterdays man
Golly Anon, you really know how to cut to the chase.
Phil:
Golly Anon, you really know how to cut to the chase.
—————————–
and cut out apostrophes…illiterate idiot.
‘The BBC is so steeped in anti-Americanism that any sort of incident like this is used to demonise the US military further.’
or….
Biased BBC is so steeped in Islamophobia that any sort of incident like this is used to demonise the BBC further.
joel…yes we are all islamophobic…I wonder why? possibly because they are trying to kill us?…a small thing I know but it does worry me a tad.
Right on Joel- maybe if we hung out with our muslim brothers for a day- say, went paint balling or something like that – we’d see they’re ok and all this stuff about islam and terrorism is over-blown.
One leftie’s gone nuts, it seems.
As Joel seems to have replaced Reith as our resident BBC employee-apologist, perhaps he would like to point out to us the BBC’s robust stance against radical Moslem preachers?
You know, the sort of thing Channel 4 exposed in Undercover Mosque ?
And while he’s troubling himself, perhaps he could also point us to the BBC’s steadfast support for the Ch 4 team, so vilified by the police.
Something approaching the Corporation’s glee at reporting its commercial rivals’ troubles with dodgy phone polls would be impressive.
feline..bds and fear of the vast right wing conspiracy does that to them…a copy of the guardian and a darkened room peps them up no end.
GCooper | 19.05.08 – 4:30 pm
perhaps he would like to point out to us the BBC’s robust stance against radical Moslem preachers?
The BBC have been exposing the danger of radical islamism for years – starting long before C4 jumped on the bandwagon.
Here’s a ‘for instance’ from 2003…almost 2 years before 7/7 :
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/newsnight/3182271.stm
Looks like Joel has us sussed. There’s no fooling him – Allahu akhbar.
“2003…almost 2 years before 7/7”
…and almost five years ago.
Passing through writes:
“The BBC have been exposing the danger of radical islamism for years – starting long before C4 jumped on the bandwagon.”
A single instance? From five years ago?
Not much to stack up against Question Time and the hours of drooling sycophancy is it?
And I note you have nothing to say in response to the shameful lack of support for CH 4’s team.
Don’t hacks defend the principle of press freedom any longer? Or does it only apply when it’s your own journalists are under the cosh?
Hugh | 19.05.08 – 5:44 pm
I thought you would be familiar with the more recent ones – such as John Ware’s Panorama, Shiraz Maher’s Panorama and the joint investigations by Newsnight and Radio 4’s File on Four.
Shooting up a copy of the Koran is hardly going to help race relations in Iraq, indeed shooting up any holy book is unacceptable.
Nothwithstanding my last point, I must agree with David the BBC are quick to condem the childish behaviour of this specfic soldier, yet when it comes to the so called ‘spontaneous’ demonstrations by extremists who all seem to have obligatory US/Israeli/UK flags ready to light, the BBC feels that no comment is required
These continued omissions by the BBC can only reinforce this blogs main point that the BBC employs double standard.
Someone mentioned earlier on this specific article that we all suffer from Islamaphobia on this site, well I don’t, what the hell is Islamaphobia supposed to mean?.
Islam is like all religions, some good things some bad things, if I have a problem with terrorists blowing up other people and treating woman like 2nd class citizens , it does not mean that I have a phobia about Islam, it means that I detest murdering scum of whatever religious/political caste they belong too.
I would have thought that if people are prepared to comment about Islam, or indeed any other religion this means that far from being phobic they are instead trying to understand the religion. If not this means that I have a Brussels Sprout phobia, 32 years trying to understand the point of sprouts my tastebuds still find them unappetising, yet I still eat them if they appear on my plate.
have i not been banned yet!!!
“anon:
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz”
Has he taken a chain saw to his head?
Feline:
One leftie’s gone nuts, it seems.
————————————–
Not necessarily a leftie. Just a twat.
“If a Muslim soldier occupying the U.K. started using Bibles as target practice, I’m sure many of you on this blog would be apoplectic with rage.”
No,Bibles would be forbidden,most of us would be dead,the rest slaves and dhimmis.
passing through | 19.05.08 – 6:32 pm
Yes, fair enough.
what do u have 2 do around here to get a ban??????????
c’mon get on with it
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
I’m bloody fed up waiting on this ban…….
help him out somebody
i’m away on me hollidays until june see you peeps then…….
by that time may be you lot could be wised up…….
catch your fuckin selves on…..
The story seems to have something missing.The soldier was reported to be a sniper,thus would not be that close to the target to t ascertain what the book contained.Snipers do take ranging shots,but it is doubtful that any book could take more than a couple of high velocity 5.56 rounds without disintegrating.
heaven help butlins when anon getes there.
pontins 😉
send u a post card thud
Peter,
The rifle used, if it was a sniper, would have been either 7.62 or .50cal. If it was the latter, then there would have been feck all of the book left after the first hit!
Regards
Mailman
I don’t know if this has been discussed, however, this article seems to be an excuse to attack Israel.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7408390.stm
pontins sounds about right but you can forget postcard as I don’t have the time to figure out what the hell your illiterate ramblings are about…have fun on the sunshine special.
Mailman.
Nothing left after a 7.62 either.
“”If a Muslim soldier occupying the U.K. started using Bibles as target practice, I’m sure many of you on this blog would be apoplectic with rage.”
I couldn’t care a damn if someone shot up the Bible. I’m sure the only people likely too would be devout christians, whom the Beeb detest with every bone in their body. Furthermore, I’m sure muslim soldiers have desecrated many a bible but we’re not given the opportunity to be emotionally manipulated by the media (unlike our muslim friends), because we’re not likely to be told of it.
Al Beeb should pop over to Youtube if they want to stir up a hornet’s nest. The variety of methods used to destroy the Koran – or “The Anarchists Cookbook” as it’s more commonly known – range from the bizarre to the hilarious.
Oh but wait, none of them are American soldiers and therefore are unlikely to catch a bullet if the MSM report it.
Can some of the ex-military people on here comment further on this “riddled with bullet holes” angle – or indeed on any other part of the story.
I remember well the “flushing a koran down the toilet” story. This was so obviously bogus to anyone who has used or even just seen a flushing toilet. A book would just kinda get stuck and wet.
Yet the story got legs and produced the desired round of hysteria from the usual suspects.
To Patrick, who said “Islam is like all religions”:
How come 99.9999999% of all suicide terrorist attacks are carried out by Muslims? What exactly is it about Islam – apart from all other religions – which creates a culture and celebration of death in its followers? Why isn’t the world full of Buddhist, Christian or Hindu suicide bombings?
To me, the ease with which Muslims accept death as an honor suggests to me that in fact Islam is anything but “like all religions”. Please, let’s not hear any more suggestion of equivalence when it comes to Islam, because it is just NOT an objective viewpoint.
Butlins! I still remember the old ad from the early 80’s:
We never have to splash out
When we’re on holiday,
‘Cos we come here to Butlins
Things are free for kids all daaaaaay….
Come on dad, hurry up, last one in’s a drip
He regrets he took the plunge
Well….at least it’s dried his hair
See, that’s another thing about the Beeb. No classic commercials.
How d’you like your eggs done
Have you seen the postman
D’you know you’ve got a wasp in your ear…
But ask about the Bran Flakes, that’s a different matter
They’ll all agree…
They’re tasty, tasty, very very tasty…they’re very tasty
I apologize, and I’ll stop now.
Regarding the “flushing a Koran down the toilet” story…
Here in New York a student of Pace university was caught trying to flush pages from the Koran down the toilet…and he got charged with a hate crime.
Just goes to show the kind of world we’re in for unless we fight the left with every last molecule of our existences!
“To Patrick, who said “Islam is like all religions”:
How come 99.9999999% of all suicide terrorist attacks are carried out by Muslims? What exactly is it about Islam – apart from all other religions – which creates a culture and celebration of death in its followers? Why isn’t the world full of Buddhist, Christian or Hindu suicide bombings?”
You wont ever get an answer from the brainwashed leftist evangels. Leftists think reason and reality are just authoritarian weapons. Leftists don’t believe in reason or reality.
Leftists, like Tom Cruise, want to “create new and better realities and improve conditions”.
“Here in New York a student of Pace university was caught trying to flush pages from the Koran down the toilet…and he got charged with a hate crime.”
Blimey, those toilet spot checks must be pretty rigorous in NY – what other nefarious deeds did they find people up to :-O
Islamism isn’t a religion, it’s an ideology.
I don’t know if this has been discussed, however, this article seems to be an excuse to attack Israel.
Patrick (Bonn) | 19.05.08 – 9:42 pm
Tim Franks ‘Jerusalem diary is almost always slanted in an anti Israel – Palestinians are innocent victims stance. No surprises here.
I just wish he did his homework before writing it. Arkadi Gaydamak owns the Betar Jerusalem football team. He also is the major financial backer ($400,000) for the Arab Bnei Saknin football club. That surely was relevant information.
Almost all Israeli sport is attached to one of the Israeli sporting federations, which are in turn, at least historically, connected to political movements. IMHO this is to the great detriment of Israeli sport.
Hapoel Katamon did not design the badge as could be implied by the article. Every Hapoel team wears the hammer and sickle badge of the Histadrut Trade Union sporting federation.
For the record the other major groups are; Betar (originally from the Begin’s Herut party); Maccabi (originally from Weizman’s General Zionists) and Elitzur (the religious sporting federation associated with the NRP).
Back with Iraq, Sunday’s (quite insignificant) Koran shooting story is still top of the BBC website Iraq news page on Tuesday.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/middle_east/2002/conflict_with_iraq/default.stm
The big news in Iraq of course is the so far successful move into Sadr City of Iraqi government forces, which the BBC website reports here
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7410144.stm
but sees fit to bury by not linking to it either from the Iraq news page or the Middle East page. To clearly report Iraqi government success is evidently not on the BBC’s agenda.
Thanks for that link, Ed.
I’ve just read Bill Roggio’s report on the same event, so I thought I’d check the Beeboid version.
Well, blow me down, I couldn’t find it. Plenty about Bush apologizing for the ‘Koran shooting’ and some spat between Bush and Mubarak, but news from the frontline was strangely absent.
Then again, not so strange after all. Don’t forget Paul Reynolds declared the Mehdi Army as being victorious over Iraqi government forces well over a month ago. So obviously, defeated/humiliated/Yankee-stooge Iraqis couldn’t possibly be taking over Sadre’s backyard now, could they?
Have a look at Roggio’s view of events. As ever it’s highly informative.
http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2008/05/iraqi_army_presses_i.php