Incendiary Rage

"You should bring the invading forces' military bases under your brave attack, their military convoys, kill them, capture them, beat them and teach them a lesson that they will never again dare to insult the Holy Koran." Taliban

Canadians have been warned to give Afghanistan a pass. The Department of Foreign Affairs warns Canadians already in Afghanistan to remain on the alert, given the violent protests taking place after American soldiers inadvertently burned Korans at the Bagram Air Field base. It was a cleaning-up operation, the Korans had been used by Afghan prisoners, and it would seem many American soldiers considered the Koran to be somewhat of a terrorist manual.

Americans too have been warned to be vigilant. "U.S. citizens should make every effort to avoid being predictable in their movements, including varying their routes and times in commutes or other routine travel", the American embassy warned in an advisory: "Avoid areas where Westerners congregate", for obviously enough they have become targets of collective outrage. Outrage doesn't perhaps quite cut it; mass hysteria seems inadequate, group psychosis more like it.

The Koran is a holy book, a sacred text, not to be handled by infidels, for that alone is an insult of monumental proportions to Islam, let alone engaging in the 'heinous' act of burning a Koran. And so, Canadians planning to travel for whatever reason to Afghanistan are advised they would be taking "serious risks" to do so. Foreign Affairs advises that "Canadians already in Afghanistan should leave". Good advice.

For once the beast has been aroused it becomes quite difficult to pacify its blood lust. And blood lust is precisely what is being exhibited in Afghanistan in response to the burning of Korans. One might think logically that it is well enough known on a wide enough scale how wildly, impetuously violent Muslims become, reverting to primitivism in their response to perceived slights against Islam, never mind outright unconscionable sacrilege.

Shah Marai/AFP/Getty Images Afghan demonstrators shouts anti-US slogans during a protest against Koran desecration in Kabul on February 23, 2012. The Taliban exhorted Afghans on February 23 to attack and kill foreign troops to avenge the burning of Korans at a US-run base, but stopped short of cutting off contacts with American officials in Qatar.

The burning of Korans in Afghanistan - or anywhere for that matter - constitutes an atrocity. Muslims are accustomed to atrocities, they visit slaughter on one another at the slightest provocation when Sunnis advance with murder in their hearts on Shias, and vice versa. But those are ordinary atrocities, not to be compared with the horrendously atrocious act of burning a Koran. That text is sacred, holy; human life is expendable.

Afghans have attacked French, Norwegian and American bases, screaming frantically, "Death to America!" So, warns the U.S. embassy, "Shelter in place and avoid any unnecessary movement. Road closures are expected and it is possible the protests will become violent." It most certainly is. Two American soldiers were shot dead when an Afghan soldier turned his weapon on them, then fled capture.

Another two NATO service members were killed, their nationalities unnamed. Roughly twenty Afghans have so far, in the volatile riots, also been killed. In service to Islam. Which makes of them martyrs. And speaking of martyrs, a convoy of 41 children, ages six and up were rescued, in the process of being smuggled from Afghanistan to Pakistan, to be trained as suicide bombers. These children from poverty-stricken villages are now heading back home.

Their parents were happy to see them go, escaping poverty, leaving more food for the rest of the family. They were sending, they believed, these children to be educated in a madrassa. The 'madrassa' they were heading toward a recruiting ground for terrorists belonging to Hizb-i-Islami.

Burning Korans is one thing, unforgivable. Training children in the fine art of turning away suspicion due to their tender age, while carrying out suicide attacks, quite legitimate.