Little Green Footballs provides an apt reminder of how the Muslim world feels about the desecration of holy items. Recall when Palestinian terrorists seized the Church of the Nativity, looted it and, with their typical cowardice, held civilians hostage.

One of the monks, Narkiss Korasian, later told reporters: "They stole everything, they opened the doors one by one and stole everything....They stole our prayer books and four crosses...they didn't leave anything. Thank you for your help, we will never forget it."...

Catholic priests said that some Bibles were torn up for toilet paper, and many valuable sacramental objects were removed. "Palestinians took candelabra, icons and anything that looked like gold," said a Franciscan, the Rev. Nicholas Marquez from Mexico.

Was there rioting in Rome? Of course not. Whether or not Newsweek lied or merely erred, the manner in which Afghans reacted reminds us that there is something fundamentally wrong with Islam today and we will be safe from terror when it is fixed.

UPDATE: (By Mark Noonan); the Washington Post points out in this news story that the US troops in Guantanamo Bay were given strict and detailed instructions on Koran-handling. Boiled down, nothing was to be done which in any way could be considered desecration (they even had to wrap the book in a clean towel when moving it). This, in my view, does go too far; Moslem sensibilities are all well and good, but it is, after all, just a book...but it does show how unlikely, with these sorts of instructions, that anything remotely like desecration could have occured.

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