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In a memorandum dated January 19, 2003, the Pentagon issued a detailed set of rules regarding the proper handling of the Koran at Gitmo (see this article from WaPo):
U.S. Long Had Memo on Handling of Koran
By Robin Wright
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, May 17, 2005; A03
More than two years ago, the Pentagon issued detailed rules for handling the Koran at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, requiring U.S. personnel to ensure that the holy book is not placed in "offensive areas such as the floor, near the toilet or sink, near the feet, or dirty/wet areas." (boldface added)
The three-page memorandum, dated Jan. 19, 2003, says that only Muslim chaplains and Muslim interpreters can handle the holy book, and only after putting on clean gloves in full view of detainees.
The detailed rules require U.S. Muslim personnel to use both hands when touching the Koran to signal "respect and reverence," and specify that the right hand be the primary one used to manipulate any part of the book "due to cultural associations with the left hand." The Koran should be treated like a "fragile piece of delicate art," it says.
The memo, written a year after the first detainees were brought to Guantanamo from Afghanistan, reflects what U.S. officials said was a specific policy on handling the Koran, one of the most sensitive issues to Muslims. The Pentagon does not have a similar policy regarding any other major religious book and takes "extra precautions" on the Muslim holy book, officials said.
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**Certainly this memorandum begs the question, why did the Pentagon feel the need to issue such a memorandum, at that time, in that amount of detail, and specific to Gitmo?**
The memorandum was issued about a year after the first detainees were brought to Guantanamo.
The memorandum is three pages long, with the gist being "don't defile the Koran." But instead of a short admonition, the memo goes into detailed, specific procedures, even describing with which hand the Koran should be held and how it should not be turned over when being wrapped in a towel.
The WaPo article above states that the Pentagon "does not have a similar policy regarding any other major religious book".
Are we to believe that someone at the Pentagon spontaneously (and without precedent) decided, while wading through the blizzard of torture memos floating around, that the Pentagon should officially develop and distribute a three-page policy on the proper handling of the Koran so as not to offend the religious sensibilities of detainees at Gitmo?
Why did the Pentagon feel the need to issue such a memorandum, at such a time, and in such detail? Why would it be necessary?
Res ipsa loquitur. "The thing speaks for itself."
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