Since the devastating earthquake that struck Pakistan last month, aid agencies, the UN and the Pakistani government have appealed for more and more aid. As usual one of the first countries to respond was the United States, donating food, clothing and millions in relief funds. In addition to this assistance the US military has sent teams to help with rescue and donated the use of helicopters to airlift aid into the most hard to reach places. Just as during the tsunami in SE Asia or the famine in Somalia, the US has come to the aid of a Muslim country, and just as in those cases, the old adage has proven true: no good deed goes unpunished.

In this most recent incident a US helicopter was fired upon while operating a relief mission near the city of Chakothi. According to the military the firing was identified as a rocket propelled grenade. Though Pakistani authorities say it could have been dynamite. This explanation however, doesn’t hold water, given recent experience in Iraq and Afghanistan; our forces are more than capable of identifying hostile fire, a sentiment that was echoed by the US Commander in the region. "Our air crew is familiar with RPG fire," noted Nick Balice with the Disaster Assistance Centre.

In light of this event, it begs the question, while America and other western nations are giving to the relief effort where are the supposed champions of Islam? Where is Al Qaeda? Where is Zarqawi? Where is Ben Laden? Indeed these Muslim “heroes” are responsible for killing more Muslims than they have ever helped. Yet America is portrayed as an enemy. It’s a strange world indeed.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4397586.stm