There's a Marine in hot water over a picture he allegedly had taken in Iraq, which shows him posing with two Iraqi boys. All three are smiling, and one boy is holding a sign that says "Lcpl Boudreaux killed my dad. then he knocked up my sister." CAIR has got their shorts in a wad, seething, gnashing, demanding the guy's head, the usual. Just one teeny, tiny problem: there's some doubt as to exactly what the sign says.
The thing in all this that got my attention was a paragraph from the Marine Corps Times story:
Gunnery Sgt. Jamal Baadani, the president and founder of the Association of Patriotic Arab Americans in Military, is on a one-year tour in the Middle East. There, he gives cultural lessons to newly assigned personnel and is Chief of Host Nation Training Support Coordination.I think his last sentence was misquoted. It's far more likely that it really read "If it was a local Iraqi Arab that did this, she would have been shot by a family member on the spot for violating their family honor." Posted by Chris at April 14, 2004 03:20 PM
“This picture and sign directed towards a Muslim family is inexcusable,” he said via e-mail. “Inexcusable because if this lance corporal was given a basic class on Islam, he would have known that remarks such as ‘knocking up’ a Muslim Arab woman is not tolerated and violates the honor of a Muslim woman and her family.
“If it was a local Iraq Arab that did this, he would have been shot by a family member on the spot for violating their family honor,” he said.
I think its unlikely the two boys would be smiling and giving the thumnbs up if the Lcpl had killed the boys' father and impregated their sister. Secondly, why would a Marine leave evidence of war crimes? I can't believe people are taking it seriously. I really wish people would use some critical thinking skills. Sheesh!
Good post as always!
Posted by: RightThinkingGirl at April 14, 2004 08:58 PMThe sinister part of my brain was willing to believe that it's possible the sign was real, and was a joke, and LCpl Boudreaux told the boys (who don't read English) that it said "Thank you President Bush and USA!"
Then my rational brain gave my sinister brain a Vulcan Nerve Pinch and reasserted control.
Posted by: Chris at April 14, 2004 09:12 PMPhoto's a fake. Here's the original.
Posted by: CavalierX at April 14, 2004 09:29 PMhttp://www.imagedump.com/index.cgi?pick=get&tp=59682&user=all3
Posted by: CavalierX at April 14, 2004 09:29 PMI believe that the sinister part of your brain is a quite possible version of events. Either it was a real sign and a joke, or someone edited the words on the sign as it went around.
Just gettin' my feet wet over here. :)
Posted by: Jon at April 15, 2004 04:13 PM