Posted on 09/07/2010 7:40:54 PM PDT by kristinn
Obama State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said on Tuesday that the planned protest by an obscure Florida Christian church in which Korans will be burned as "un-American" and "consistent" with the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks by the Muslim group known as al Qaeda that murdered nearly 3,000 Americans and foreign nationals that day.
Crowley was commenting on plans by the fifty-member Dove World Outreach Center in Gainseville, Florida, to mark the ninth anniversary of 9/11 on Saturday by burning around 200 Korans on the church's property.
According to the State Department transcript of Tuesday's briefing, Crowley equated the protest burning of the Koran to the gruesome, fiery deaths of thousands of innocents at the hands of Muslim terrorists as he sought to bring public pressure on the church to cancel the protest:
"We hope that between now and Saturday, there’ll be a range of voices across America that make clear to this community that this is not the way for us to commemorate 9/11. In fact, it is consistent with the radicals and bigot – with those bigots who attacked us on 9/11."
The press corps at the briefing did not question Crowley about his equating burning the Koran with the 9/11 attacks. However, they did press him on the First Amendment rights of the church.
Crowley acknowledged those rights, but only as a formality before rhetorically bludgeoning the church and its pastor, Terry Jones, for the planned protest. In addition to equating the church with al Qaeda, Crowley called the protest "un-American", even as he acknowledged that he would not call burning the American flag un-American.
The Obama administration had no problems last year letting it be known that it appeased Muslims by burning Christian Bibles brought to Afghanistan by evangelicals. However, when it comes to the Koran being burned, the Obama administration has used its unique position to bring the weight of the government down on the church to defend Islam.
The White House, the Pentagon, the Justice Department and the State Department have all used the most harsh and menacing language in an effort to intimidate the church from going through with the protest.
Spokesmen for the church said Tuesday they still plan to burn the Koran on Saturday. Pastor Jones said he has taken to carrying a firearm after receiving more than one hundred death threats.
Keep an eye on this. This may well be the tipping point. If the governement pulls a Waco, then it's Revolution II.
Crowley ~ another form of cl-ass clown.
I agree, but I am in the Gainesville area and I bet no one is selling them.
Has the state dept. ever came out against flag burning saying that it was unamerican?
What about Burning the American Flag? The Holy Bible?
Are these people nuts?
In the end the savages were pushed back and that sort of thing stopped ~ and then someone thought we ought to import some more of it from the Middle East.
The Bishop insults the missionaries; he insults Catholics; and he insults those of us who are not Catholics but remember that it wasn't all sweetness and light ~ and it may well not be that way in the future if you start kowtowing to these people.
Too many idiots in the State Department.
I agree. It is scary how Bambi and his clan have stirred up the regular people. It is almost as shocking as the 911 in its own way, surreal.
Why is P.J. Crowley such a fag?
This particular religion has them targeted for death and slavery.
It's time to push back ~ long overdue in fact ~ and the fact you are on the wrong side means you will not be America's first, or even second, female President.
It’s a 50 person church but with the trash talk going on they might have a lot of visitors. They should have a BBQ dinner on the grounds.
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?!
Yeah, bonehead, exactly the same as 9/11.
Well, except for the complete destruction of the WTC and 3000 innocent dead people, yeah, I can see the analogy.
/sarc
Thank you for posting those pics.
Jones and his “church” are about to find out exactly and up close and personal just what a FATWA is. God help their souls!
If I can’t find a Koran I’m going to burn some other book and say it is a Koran. This is surreal, a bad science fiction reality, I can’t believe it.
...and the deaths of thousands of people..... He's waaaaay off base. Did he object to the P!@@ on Christ exhibit with the same ferver?
Seems that apples still aren't oranges and context is everything.
You forgot to mention the Rule of Law (specifically going after Sheriff Joe and reporting Arizona to the UN for human rights issues), all these items contemptible and justifiable by Obama (Chicago) standards.
Hyperbole much?
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