Afghanistan is a desert war zone. The troops burn their trash, including books. O'Reilly sent copies of his book to Afghanistan. Not enough soldiers wanted them, so they were burned.[1]
A group of evangelical soldiers tried to evangelize the Afghans around the base with Bibles mailed to them from an US church.
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Central Command General Order No. 1 specifically forbids “proselytizing of any faith, religion or practice.”[2]Those Bibles were burned.
They confiscated Qurans from prisoners. They then sacrilegiously destroyed the books. This is different than what was done with the Evangelical Bibles. The purpose of the Bibles was not personal worship. Also the troops were not prisoners. Prisoners are under different human rights protections. If these Afghan detainees are covered by the Geneva Conventions, this is the applicable portion.
Article 34
Prisoners of war shall enjoy complete latitude in the exercise of their religious duties, including attendance at the service of their faith, on condition that they comply with the disciplinary routine prescribed by the military authorities.
Adequate premises shall be provided where religious services may be held. [3]
Chaplains who fall into the hands of the enemy Power and who remain or are retained with a view to assisting prisoners of war, shall be allowed to minister to them and to exercise freely their ministry amongst prisoners of war of the same religion, in accordance with their religious conscience. They shall be allocated among the various camps and labour detachments containing prisoners of war belonging to the same forces, speaking the same language or practising the same religion. They shall enjoy the necessary facilities, including the means of transport provided for in Article 33, for visiting the prisoners of war outside their camp. They shall be free to correspond, subject to censorship, on matters concerning their religious duties with the ecclesiastical authorities in the country of detention and with international religious organizations. Letters and cards which they may send for this purpose shall be in addition to the quota provided for in Article 71. [4]
Article 36
Prisoners of war who are ministers of religion, without having officiated as chaplains to their own forces, shall be at liberty, whatever their denomination, to minister freely to the members of their community. For this purpose, they shall receive the same treatment as the chaplains retained by the Detaining Power. They shall not be obliged to do any other work. [5]
When prisoners of war have not the assistance of a retained chaplain or of a prisoner of war minister of their faith, a minister belonging to the prisoners' or a similar denomination, or in his absence a qualified layman, if such a course is feasible from a confessional point of view, shall be appointed, at the request of the prisoners concerned, to fill this office. This appointment, subject to the approval of the Detaining Power, shall take place with the agreement of the community of prisoners concerned and, wherever necessary, with the approval of the local religious authorities of the same faith. The person thus appointed shall comply with all regulations established by the Detaining Power in the interests of discipline and military security. [6]
Article 38
Prisoners shall have opportunities for taking physical exercise, including sports and games, and for being out of doors. Sufficient open spaces shall be provided for this purpose in all camps. [7]
Prisoners are given "complete latitude", I am not certain if you can confiscate their Qurans. Still I do not know. I am neither a soldier or a lawyer.
However, it is also important to note that if the Qurans were garbage, they were to be burned like all garbage. The military burns Bibles and I am sure they burn other religious texts. I do not know how the military was supposed to dispose of the books. I am sure we'll find out.
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