The U.S. commander in Afghanistan on Monday criticized a Florida church’s plan to burn copies of the Quran on September 11, warning the demonstration “could cause significant problems” for American troops overseas.
“It could endanger troops and it could endanger the overall effort in Afghanistan,” Gen. David Petraeus said in a statement issued Monday.
The Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Florida, plans to mark the anniversary of al Qaeda’s September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington by burning copies of the Muslim holy book. The church insists the event is “neither an act of love nor of hate,” but a warning against what it calls the threats posed by Islam.
The event has drawn criticism from Muslims in the United States and overseas, with thousands of Indonesians gathering outside the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia, on Sunday to protest the planned Quran burning.
“The burning is not only an insult to the holy Quran, but an insult to Islam and Muslims around the world,” said Muhammad Ismail, a spokesman for the hard-line Indonesian Muslim group Hizb ut-Tahrir.
With about 120,000 U.S. and NATO-led troops still battling al Qaeda and its allies in the Islamic fundamentalist Taliban movement, Petraeus warned that burning Qurans “is precisely the kind of action the Taliban uses and could cause significant problems — not just here, but everywhere in the world we are engaged with the Islamic community.”
In a statement on its website, the Dove World Outreach Center said it plans to burn Qurans “to warn about the teaching and ideology of Islam, which we do hate as it is hateful.” Its pastor, Terry Jones, has written a book entitled “Islam is of the Devil,” and the church sells coffee mugs and shirts featuring the phrase. But the church says its animus is not aimed at individual Muslims.
“We love, as God loves, all the people in the world and we want them to come to a knowledge of the truth,” it states.
(Read More: CNN)
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14 Responses
L’havdil, a rov about to hear the arguments of two baalei din, before either of them had spoken, exclaimed to one of the two, “You’re right!” The second baal din complained, “But the rov hasn’t yet heard my side of the story.” The rov again exclaimed, “You’re right!” The rov’s shamesh wondered out loud, “How can they both be right?” The rov replied, “You’re right too!” It is the same situation here. The Quran teaches its followers to convert non-believers, and failing that, to kill them. The Quran burners are right (it is a protected form of free speech in America, no less so than burning an American flag), but so is General Petraeus.
I don’t think that burning a quran does anything other than make the church lose credibility with liberals, who are already going to support the mosque anyway.
Oh Brother… Maybe Muslims that the General fears, would get respect, if they gave it. Everyone is worried about the terrorist’s feelings. Just eliminate them and we won’t have to be concerned about those poor murderers feelings..
It could endanger troops? Really? I thought Islam was a religion of peace? What a joke.
What does the general think – if they don’t burn the korans the Taliban wouldn’t try to kill them if they could?
What I’m worried about is setting a precedent. What would stop Farrakan, Fat Al, & other antisemites from burning…
As much as we all know what it says in the koran, I think Agudah should weigh in & stop it m’shum aiva.
The very fact that people live anywhere in the world under a set of rules not called sharia law is what got the taliban going to begin with. The general should know that. Quran burnings are just an excuse for them to hang their hats on.
With that said, I have a problem with an xtian pastor burning qurans because of the hatred it preaches. Did pastor jones forget that the xtian bible is the original anti semitic rag? That more people in the history of mankind have been killed in the name of xtianity (the religion of “love”) and its bible than anything else? What would pastor jones reaction be if (pastor jones and his church are so far off to the fringe it is almost impossible to include them under any umbrella group) a group of jews decided to burn his bible due to the hatred spread in its name?
Public burning of the Quran is a dangerous thing. This nut job’s next target could be a sefer Torah.
I can’t believe people on a frum site are endorsing the actions of a hateful anti-Semitic anti-American! The so-called pastor has endorsed the actions of the Westboro Baptist Church, which regularly protests at the funerals of American servicemen killed in action, and held a protest at the University of Florida Hillel where among the messages on their signs were “God hates Israel”! We can be very happy that the counter-protest against these hate groups attracted far more people.
Are we so assimilated into right wing American culture and politics that we now identify with anti-Semitic haters?
Isn’t that the point? you put the troops in harms way so they can neutralize the threat? If anything this could bring our troops home sooner. If the taliban gets angry enough to come out of hiding then the troops will have an easier time finishing them off, and stabilizing Afghanistan.
Of course, this could be a ploy by the Obama administration to condemn the burning from a safety standpoint. The president can now legitimately argue to undecided voters that this is a dangerous idea, without sounding like he is pandering to the terrorists. I’m sure Petraeus had to go along with it even though he doesn’t think this will have an adverse effect, if any at all, in Afghanistan. It’s not like the taliban sits around all day watching Fox News.
#4
Said to the point!!! did the Jews endanger the nazis when they burnt the Jewish Books???!!
None of us is in much disagreement either on our perceptions of Sharia or on the failure of Muslim leaders to express direct criticism of terrorism. But how do we make the leap from these positions to one that supports what is shaping up to be an intolerant and increasingly violent backlash against all Muslims living in this country?
I think the leap is indefensible and frightening – and certainly contrary to fundamental founding principles of this country. One could be anti-Communist in the 50s, afterall, and still think the McCarthy witch hunts were an anethema to what this country is about.
Book burning of religious texts puts these people in league with Crusaders, the KKK, Nazis and Communists. Give me one example of a person or group to which any of you would look upon favorably who burned books. Taking account that most book burners in history were burning our books, you all should shudder at this.
READ THIS FILTH – IT IS FROM THE WEBSITE OF THE CHURCH DOING THE BOOK BURNING – THEY’LL BURN TORAH NEXT; THEY’RE MORE DANGEROUS THAN RUN OF THE MILL AMERICAN MUSLIMS
“Christians must return to the truth and stop hiding. We need to speak up against sin and call the people to repentance. Abortion is murder. Homosexuality is sin. We need to call these things what they are and bring the world the true message: that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Him (John 14:6).
“Any religion which would profess anything other than this truth is of the devil. This is why we also take a stand against Islam, which teaches that Jesus is not the Son of God, therefore taking away the saving power of Jesus Christ and leading people straight to Hell.”
It’s because of Jewish homebuilding in Israel, it’s because of free speech in Florida…every excuse in the world for unabated anti-Western terrorism except an honest look in the mirror at failed military leadership. Petraeus is at the helm of a superpower’s military at the very moment Iran is going nuclear, and he’s telling the President he can’t do anything about it.