Riding roughshod over Afghanistan

AMERICAN forces somehow managed to burn copies of the Koran at their Bagram airbase (also a clandestine prison on the extraordinary rendition route).

Afghans erupted in fury, unappeased by General John Allen’s assurance “I promise you… this was NOT intentional in any way.”

Intentions hardly come into this particular picture because despite the apology, it was made clear yet again that something so fundamental to Afghan culture appears neither to matter nor be comprehensible to the “peacekeepers” occupying the country.

Ask a silly question…

Is torturing terrorists ever morally right?

This is the subject of a new book by William Shawcross, also the Queen Mother’s official biographer, although the question is a no-brainer because terrorists either refuse to talk or tell their torturers what they want to hear.

Furthermore, torture demeans democratic society by dragging it down to the same abysmal level as the people trying to destroy it.

Rising temperatures

IF Iran acquires nuclear weapons, there could be a second cold war in the Middle East, warned Britain’s Foreign minister William Hague.

Despite the Cuba missiles blip, power was balanced during the West – USSR cold war and in retrospect the world was safer than now.

Hague also chose the wrong adjective because any Middle Eastern battleground involving Iran and Israel will be hot, not cold.