Afghanistan: When “sorry” doesn’t butter the biscuit

People who write Op-Ed pieces are not necessarily good reporters. Others are actually brilliant reporters. I fall into the former category. Whenever my editors have asked for a news piece, I end up throwing in my own two cents worth, and relating it situations my own life. This is not what a good reporter does. A good reporter is able to concisely write the "who, what, where, when, and why" of a news situation.

I'm a terrible reporter because these questions don't usually get answered when I write.

Often, I get bogged down in the depths of one of those "W" questions, and that ends up being the whole article. But can I really write this particular Op-Ed piece without reporting events? I don't think so.

What, When- A little over a week ago, the American Embassy admitted to burning Qurans. The Americans claim that written inside the Quran were compromising messages penned by Afghans insurgents who were being held at the American facility.

Who- The Pentagon in Washington has indicated that five servicemen inadvertently took the Qurans to the incinerator. This leads to the why question.

Why? Well that's really tricky. So many "whys" here. The Qurans were among many documents incinerated, accidentally, by a garbage detail.

Burning is a respectful way of disposing of American flags. A US flag, when it is no longer fit to be displayed, is burned at a ceremony. Perhaps, someone sent these compromised books to be burned. I don't know what the proper procedure is to dispose of the Quran if it is no longer in usable condition. In any case, when we do burn US flags, we don't also burn other documents as well. I don't question the sincerity of the claim that the Qurans were inadvertently burned.  It's possible that they were considered just another document and burned without further consideration. A mistake, someone would claim.

Another "who" question: An Afghan witnessed and reported burning and the US admitted their error.

Yep. Admitted it. 20 deaths and a week of riots later, I wonder "at what price honesty?"

So that's the who what when where of the latest US debacle. Diplomacy only works when diplomats use proper judgment. Instead, the protests staggered a struggling government and we have to make more apologies.

I remember when my children were small. As all children are, they too would, from time to time, commit some inconsiderate act or stray outside the boundaries of the household rules. Sometimes, on such occasions, they attempted to apologize.

"Sorry doesn't butter the biscuit!" I always said.

Then, I would compel them to make me a promise. They had to assure me that whatever they did wouldn't happen again. To transgress is forgivable, even expected, just so long as the perpetrator learns from his or her mistake. A lesson learned, after all, is a precious thing.

In the case of Afghanistan, poor President Karzai is playing host to some pretty insensitive houseguests who burn holy books by mistake. I hate to say this, because it's my country, but no amount of apologizing and output of the biscuit in Afghanistan would likely to help the situation. And, by the way, in the United States we are taught that only the bad guys burn books.

I think of History's great occupying armies like those of Alexander The Great, the Romans, even the Americans stationed in Japan after World War II. In each case, soldiers were assimilated at least to some extent into the cultural sensitivities of the host nation. Servicemen absorbed the culture by choice, and therefore understood it better than American soldiers overseas do now. In Alexander's case, he insisted upon the assimilation, and insisted upon respect for the culture that was being occupied. When the US occupied Japan, the leader of the occupation, General Douglas MacArthur, a student of history, followed Alexander's example. MacArthur allowed the Japanese dignity of their own cultural traditions. He punished those American servicemen who attempted to steamroll local customs and courtesies. As a result, our two nations developed a fast friendship. In fact, some of my own friends are the direct results of that friendship, the children of American servicemen who fell in love with Japanese women.

On the other hand, the prevailing attitude in Afghanistan, and supported by some in the media home, is one of depreciation and prejudice. Never mind that these activists were the same "God loving freedom fighters" that Ronald Reagan praised as they helped defeat the Soviet Union. The point is, if the American servicemen were shipped out not just schooled in the history, customs and struggles of these people, but actually appreciating and admiring them, then cultural snafus could be more easily avoided. We Americans forget that we do owe the Afghani people of gratitude for helping to end the Cold War. Those of us with relatives who suffered under the oppression of the Iron Curtain certainly have not forgotten. We certainly could find common grounds with these people which could lead to deeper understanding, but unfortunately, we lack the will.

We can blame Afghanistan for harbouring elements of al-Qaeda, but to blame the September 11 attacks on the Afghanis is less reasonable than blaming the Japanese for the bombing of Pearl Harbour, and our behaviour in Japan, though vengeance may have been justifiable, was not seen as a productive policy.

My father, now retired from his job as a college president, would always say that he was first a learner. No matter where he went, even when it was to underdeveloped countries in the Caribbean to help set up some sort of agricultural program, he would allow that nation's lessons to shape the way he did things back home. Abroad, his speeches never emphasized what his university could do for that particular nation, but were filled with sincere admiration for the lessons that the partner nation could teach the Americans.

I believe we Americans have missed golden opportunity to learn from the Afghan people. In fact, we're so concerned with counterterrorism and what we can provide countries as far-flung as Bangladesh, where, our own advisers counsel the government counterterrorism measures, that no matter where we go, we have grown too arrogant to be taught.

If Douglas MacArthur had been in charge in Afghanistan, not only would every serviceman have been able to recognize a Quran when they saw one, but an English translation of the text would've been required reading. In those charred pages, an opportunity was lost. If we had required our troops to study the book, each soldier may have discovered a key to promoting peace and understanding in a nation so far from home. Many Americans would have been surprised to discover that what we each believe or not so radically different.

I read in bdnews24.com today that US special forces are indeed stationed in Bangladesh. I hope that in their in-country training booklets they can read the poetry of Nazrul Islam, and understand that not every "Rebel child of Mother Earth" is an enemy to be vanquished.

Sorry doesn't butter the biscuit. No occupying army should ever incinerate a book, especially a holy book.

See, books, like bridges, once burned, can never be used to help us arrive at the shores of mutual understanding.

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Frank Domenico Cipriani writes a weekly column in the Riverside Signal called "You Think What You Think And I'll Think What I Know." He is also the founder and CEO of The Gatherer Institute — a not-for-profit public charity dedicated to promoting respect for the environment and empowering individuals to become self-taught and self-sufficient. His most recent book, "Learning Little Hawk's Way of Storytelling", teaches the native art of oral tradition storytelling.