Military Apologizes for Dreaded Soccer Balls of Blasphemy

Mon, Aug 27, 2007 at 11:39:07 am PDT

Yes, that’s right, our military is publicly apologizing today to the usual gang of hyper-sensitive Dark Ages morons, for the crime of trying to bring some fun into the lives of Afghan children: U.S. military regrets ‘blasphemous’ balls for Afghans.

KABUL (Reuters) - The U.S. military in Afghanistan on Monday expressed regret for a publicity campaign aimed at winning hearts and minds that ended up offending scores of Muslims. U.S. troops on Friday dropped dozens of free footballs for soccer-mad Afghan children from helicopters in an area of southeastern Afghanistan, all marked with flags of various countries.

But the balls depicted the Saudi Arabian flag, which features the Islamic declaration of faith and includes the names of Allah and the prophet Mohammed. The idea of kicking something bearing their names is considered deeply offensive to Muslims.

“This ball ... carries a message with it which, like an atom bomb, can cause carnage and insecurity in all parts of Afghanistan,” a leading Afghan private daily, Cheragh, said on Monday.

Fawad Ahmad, a shopkeeper in Kabul, said: “Americans themselves create insecurity by ignoring religious sensitivity, it is against Islam.”

A spokeswoman for the U.S. military in Afghanistan said the ball distribution was part of a “goodwill humanitarian aid mission ... for the enjoyment of Afghan children.” Captain Vanessa Bowman said the military had been unaware of the sensitivity of the issue. “We do regret any disturbances caused,” she said.

Note: you can be sure that the balls distributed in Afghanistan didn’t have the Israeli flag, like our picture above.

Here’s a BBC report from Liveleak (hat tip: Killgore):