A Butterfly Flaps Its Wings...

To say the last few days have been filled with angst would be an understatement.  I asked one of my fellow CPTs if the Koran burning at BAF was the most significant non-CIVCAS, non-border incident they have had during their deployment, and he replied in the affirmative.  The international news stories are too numerous to list but below are a few.  Bottom line is this -- the actions of one soldier has had devastating affects across the AO this week, from two American soldiers KIA to dozens of Afghan civilians KIA/WIA to untold strategic and operational affects.  I am trying to be restrained in my commentary here but know this -- this event has been as emotional for CF as for Afghans.  Sometimes the reaction to the event speaks even louder volumes than the event itself.  And for a public forum, I'll leave it at that.

POTUS SEND LETTER OF APOLOGY TO POA  (AP) The Afghan president's
office says it has received a letter from President Barack Obama
formally apologizing for the burning of Qurans at a U.S. military base
in Afghanistan.  In the letter, which is quoted in the statement, Obama
expresses his "deep regret for the reported incident" and offers his
"sincere apologies."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_AFGHANISTAN?SITE=AP&SECTION=HO
ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-02-23-07-58-09

AFGHANISTAN'S KARZAI  SAYS U.S. OFFICER BURNED KORANS  (REUTERS)
Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Thursday blamed a U.S. military officer
for the burning of Korans at a major NATO base which triggered three
days of violent protests.  Karzai told MPs at his presidential palace
that the officer acted "out of ignorance and with poor understanding" of
the Koran's importance as Islam's holy book, a presidential statement
said.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/23/us-afghanistan-korans-karzai-i
dUSTRE81M11L20120223

IN KABUL, AFGHAN POLICE SYMPATHIZE WITH PROTESTORS ANGRY OVER KORAN
BURNING (WA-PO)
Some of those same Afghan police officers showed few qualms Thursday in
telling a foreign reporter that their mission left them deeply uneasy.
What their government was asking, they said, was for police officers to
quell protesters whose cause they fully shared.  "Afghans and the
world's Muslims should rise against the foreigners. We have no patience
left," said one police officer in central Kabul, who has worked at the
same checkpoint since he joined the force seven months ago. He looked at
his colleague, who stood next to him, nodding. "We both will attack the
foreign military people."  Police officers interviewed at four posts in
the Afghan capital voiced the anti-American sentiments on the same day
that two U.S. troops in eastern Afghanistan were fatally shot by a man
wearing an Afghan army uniform. The killings were the latest apparent
incident of fratricide aimed at Americans within a nominally united
U.S.-Afghan force, and they have added to misgivings among many U.S.
troops about the loyalty of their Afghan counterparts.  "Those behind
the act should be asked about their deed and must be punished," said an
officer near a U.S. military base in Kabul. "If I find the opportunity,
I would shoot them in the head."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/two-us-soldiers-killed-in-afghanista
n-obama-apologizes-for-koran-burning-as-taliban-calls-for-revenge/2012/0
2/23/gIQALNKIVR_story.html