Insult to WWII heroes: Graves of British troops smashed and desecrated by Libyan Islamists in protest over U.S. soldiers' Koran burning

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER

A furious mob has desecrated dozens of Commonwealth War Graves in a Libyan cemetery amid continuing fury in the Middle East over the burning of the Koran by U.S. soldiers.
Headstones commemorating British and Allied servicemen, killed during World War II campaigns in the Western Desert, lay smashed and strewn across Benghazi Military Cemetery.
Protesters rampaged through site on Friday, despite efforts by America to calm tensions sparked when it emerged U.S. soldiers had burned Muslim holy books in a pile of rubbish at a military base in Afghanistan.
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Gravestones
Desecrated: The headstones commemorating the deaths of allied servicemen, who fought in the Western Desert campaigns between 1942 to 1943, lay smashed on the ground
Sacrifice: Some 1,214 graves are marked in Benghazi War Cemetery
Sacrifice: Some 1,214 graves are marked in Benghazi War Cemetery
President Obama has apologised to President Karzai for the unintentional burning of the Korans at NATO's main Bagram air base after Afghan labourers found charred copies while collecting rubbish.
White House spokesman Jay Carney sought to counter criticism, telling reporters on board Air Force One: ‘It is wholly appropriate, given the sensitivities to this issue, the understandable sensitivities.’
But it appears to have had little affect on sentiment among many in the Middle East.
 
Twelve people died today during the bloodiest day yet of protests over the incident.
Immediately after news broke of the incident, more than 2,000 furious Afghans - some chanting ‘die, die foreigners’, other throwing rocks - gathered outside the giant US air base at Bagram, 40 miles north of the capital Kabul, as reports of the burning spread.
Military sources said that books were removed from the library of a nearby detention center because they contained extremist messages. 
Prisoners had been writing in the books as way of communicating.
Smashed: The mob rampaged through the grave yard after President Barack Obama apologised for U.S. soldiers burning the Koran
Smashed: The mob rampaged through the grave yard after President Barack Obama apologised for U.S. soldiers burning the Koran
Shattered: A gravestone in Benghazi War Cemetery, Libya, bears the scars of the rampaged by Muslims furious over the burning of the Koran by U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan
Shattered: A gravestone in Benghazi War Cemetery, Libya, bears the scars of the rampaged by Muslims furious over the burning of the Koran by U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan
The calm before battle: Field Marshal Bernard 'Monty' Montgomery, right, enjoys a brew with troops just 24 hours before the El Alamein during the Western Desert Campaign in north Africa in 1942
The calm before battle: Field Marshal Bernard 'Monty' Montgomery, right, enjoys a brew with troops just 24 hours before the El Alamein during the Western Desert Campaign in north Africa in 1942
There were immediate fears the Taliban and other insurgent groups would try to exploit the claims, using it as a rallying call against US, British and fellow Coalition forces.
The protests come as the FBI announced it has removed hundreds of pages of training documents that painted inaccurate or stereotypical views of Islam.
The counter-terrorism training materials referred to the Prophet Muhammad, the founder of Islam, as a cult leader and included graphs that implied devout Muslims got more violent throughout history, while Jews and Christians became less violent.
Burned: Protesters show copies of the burnt Korans
Burned: Protesters show copies of the burnt Korans
Anger: Afghan youth throw stones toward at soldiers shouting 'Allahu akbar, Allahu akbar'
Anger: Afghan youth throw stones toward at soldiers shouting 'Allahu akbar, Allahu akbar'
Plumes: Thick black smoke provides cover for a group of young stone-throwing demonstrators
Plumes: Thick black smoke provides cover for a group of young stone-throwing demonstrators 

 
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And in other news, today it was announced that A Christian pastor who was arrested in 2009 for renouncing the Islam faith can now be executed at any time without warning, according to an Iranian court. Youcef Nadarkhani, 34, was found guilty of apostasy by an Iranian lower court two years ago and now has been sentenced to death by hanging. Where's the outrage? I guess Koran burnings trump Christian persecution.....
Click to rate     Rating   9
As Always > The mail UK has the most descriptive explanation and overall coverage of an event of all the media. Here , I found the explanation of how this all started along with pictures that we will never see in the U.S.A. media. I'm willing to bet that most americans will never hear about the desecration of these graves ! And as our president continues to bow down to and apologize for the actions of the U.S. , there is absolutely NO apology by the Afghan regime for the killing of ours and NATO troops over this . We are all in more danger than people realize !
Click to rate     Rating   3
The unfortunate fact is that, to an Islamist, these actions, like every other attack on westerners, are not only understandable, but totally justified. With respect to Muslims who have not attacked westerners: would you trust a rattlesnake just because it hasn't bitten you YET?
Click to rate     Rating   7
If it were not for those men lying in those graves, those ignorant barbarians would have been slaves of the third reich, less we forget! Oh, and if it were not for American intervention in Afghanistan in the 1980's, those same barbarians would have all been slaughtered by the Soviets. In hind sight, we should have done nothing and let the Soviets kill them all...but hind sight is 20/20. Fortunately for Muslims, and the rest of the planet, there are better men in this country than me so America will never stand down and let evil overrun, even if the thanks we get is a spit in the face.
Click to rate     Rating   7
You reap what you sow. The UK and US sponsored and supported the barbarian rabble that laid waste to Libya, torturing and killing any blacks they found, and savagely torturing Gaddafi. The same groups are behind what is going on in Syria, and the results will be even worse.
Click to rate     Rating   1
Next time we are asked to help out "Oppressed Minorities" in Despotically run countries, it might be worth considering the knock on effect of doing so, is that country going to be any better doing this action, if not keep your nose out.
Click to rate     Rating   4
Well things do not seem to have changed in Lybia as far as fanatiscism is concerned. I bet Mr Haig and Cameron are proud of what they have helped to create by getting rid of Ghadaffi, and no doubt the same will happen in Syria when the goverment there falls with the help of our western do-gooding MPs. It's about time we stopped interfering in other countries policies, if they want to kill each other let them get on with it, for as soon as a new goverment get into power they turn on the countries who assisted them, Afghanistan is a perfect example, Mr Karhdsi the prime minister takes every chance he gets to rant about the Allied forces, and still the allies cow-tow to him. Dump them all
Click to rate     Rating   2
It is a disgrace a piece of paper apparently more value has, than a memory of person.
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Interestingly during the recently-reviled Gaddaffi's regime these cemeteries were allowed to be flawlessly maintained by the War Graves Commission, even after the US bombing raids. Cameron's schoolboy politics have resulted in a mob of medieval half-wits in charge of Libya who show no signs at all of being any better than Gadaffi.
Click to rate     Rating   8
Just another excuse for these crazed fanatics to kill and destroy, to say any of this is 'justified' for burning a few books which were,like many books worldwide, no longer readable or required, including bibles, is totally unacceptable in a civilized society, and for a U.S. president to grovel an apology only serves to encourage the lunatics to even greater frenzy
Click to rate     Rating   5
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