STICK AND STONES WILL BREAK MY BONES!

STICK AND STONES WILL BREAK MY BONES! (Frazer Chronicle)

It's an old saying, one that was used in my day, back in the early 1950's on the playgrounds of Andersonville grade school, come on, you know it, "sticks and stones will break my bones, but names will never hurt me." Bullets and bombs however are a completely different story, at the very least they will blow off parts of your body and of course at the most they will kill you.

That's what happened to a couple of American service members, when an Afghan official retaliated for the burning of a pile of Korans by U.S. military personnel at the largest military compound in Afghanistan, apparently in an inadvertent act.

The mistaken burning has sparked violent protests, causing more then 25 deaths and exposing a fraying trust between the U.S. and Afghan forces that need to be allied so that the Americans can leave the country by the end of 2014.

The incident not only exposed the trust issue, but also showed the vulnerability between the Obama administration and the Afghani people, the religion of the region, and a complete disregard for whatever lessons have been learned over the past ten years.

This weeks incidents further shows the divide between middle easstern cultures and the western powers that occupy the country. There really isn't a sense of  brotherhood between military forces in Afghanistan, there now seems to be a fear of fratricide, "brother killing brother."

As I have said before, "I hate war, any kind for almost any reason," and the actions that have taken place this week in Afghanistan seems to do nothing but strengthen my beliefs, but now I read a statement from republican presidential candidate Rock Santorum criticising President Obama for issuing an apology for U.S. personnel burning a pile of Korans to the Afghan people and I wonder what planet he, "Santorum" is living on.

To make a heartfelt apology for an act that is so wrong, so against maybe what the people of the region feel, or think, to me is not a stance showing weakness, rather understanding and human compassion and a profound apology for an event that never should have happened.

Crossing Rick Santorums' name off my list of possible presidential candidates, and the reasons for such a move is now completed. As Santorum once said, "the devil is attacking America, a good and decent country," I find his statement to be true, but sadly he is the attacker.....could he be the devil in Catholic's clothing?