Petraeus condemns Quran burning as protests rage on

cnn ^ | 4/3/2011 | cnn

[tobyhill]

Top U.S. officials in Afghanistan on Sunday condemned the burning of a Quran in the United States that sparked three days of protests in which more than 20 people died.

Burning the Muslim holy book "was hateful, it was intolerant and it was extremely disrespectful and again, we condemn it in the strongest manner possible," said Gen. David Petraeus, who heads the U.S.-led international forces in Afghanistan.

U.S. Ambassador Karl Eikenberry said in a statement that Americans respect the Quran "and all religious texts and deplore any action that shows disrespect to any religious faith."

"At the same time, I want to emphasize, as have many Afghan leaders, that to attack and kill innocent people in response to the deplorable act of one individual is outrageous, and an affront to human decency and dignity," Eikenbery's statement said.

[Travis McGee]

It’s hard to stay a step ahead of the PC madness.

[pillut48]

Thank you for “getting it”.

[pillut48]

Really?

We have been told NUMEROUS times that the Islamoterrorists are EXPERTS on the internet, social networking, etc. This preacher burned HIS copy of the Koran TWO WEEKS AGO.

Let me repeat: TWO WEEKS AGO. Not yesterday or the day before. TWO WEEKS AGO.

If the actions of this little known preacher were the catastrophic trigger causing our soldiers to be in ‘more’ danger than they already are, then WHY the time frame? Look at the person placing your child and the rest of our brave military in “more” danger...it’s NOT this rinky dink preacher that God has used to expose, as someone else put it, the liberals among the conservatives...I would suggest you turn your eyes toward to White House for those answers. Bottom line: OBAMA and PETRAEUS have betrayed their oaths to the United States of America. :*(

[Post Toasties]

This is inspiring me to burn a Koran on YouTube. Let’s go viral!

[tbw2]

True. He instead should be condemning the Muslims who "express" themselves by killing Christians in the Ivory Coast and aid workers in Afghanistan to protest burning one book.

If Christians took that much right to riot for every Christian pastor murdered, executed covert to Christianity, burned Bible, torched church, etc., there wouldn't be many Muslims left. And we have far better weaponry.

[fight_truth_decay]

London Telegraph

An effigy of Terry Jones, the US preacher, burns during a demonstration in Shinwar

The shootings came as rioting, which has claimed over 20 lives and left 150 injured, continued across Afghanistan. In the eastern city of Jalalabad, up to a thousand protesters blocked the main highway to Kabul and set alight effigies of Terry Jones, the evangelical preacher who supervised the burning of a copy of the Koran in Florda last month. Protesters in Lashkar Gah, in the southern province of Helmand, dispersed after shots were fired by police, killing two suicide bombers who were attempting to infiltrate the demonstration. Twelve people died in Kandahar over the weekend, when demonstrators waving Taliban flags and shouting "Death to America" burned cars, smashed shops and sacked a high school for girls. Seven UN staff were killed on Friday, along with five Afghans, after demonstrators overran their office in the normally-peaceful city of Mazar-e-Sharif

[fight_truth_decay]

This is inspiring me to burn a Koran on YouTube. Let’s go viral!

Even though I share you anger..post 46 number of people who have died in recent rioting in the fourth day of protests against the burning of a Koran.

YouTube "rioting" is hiding behind a computer, safe and sound..while our military in Afghanistan are the targets.

Rogue policeman shoots dead two US soldiers as Koran riots rage across Afghanistan

Twelve people died in Kandahar over the weekend, when demonstrators waving Taliban flags and shouting "Death to America" burned cars, smashed shops and sacked a high school for girls.

Seven UN staff were killed on Friday, along with five Afghans, after demonstrators overran their office in the normally-peaceful city of Mazar-e-Sharif.

Al Qaeda haa infiltrated into the build up of Afghan troops..this is not a good scene!!

[takenoprisoner]

...in the normally-peaceful city of Mazar-e-Sharif

Afghanistan is a war zone. There are peaceful cities? Hell, we should all move there. There's nothing peaceful about the city I live. Murder, home invasions, carjackings, arson, armed robberies, pick one. Each high crime occurs daily, sometimes multiple incidences of each.

So I am thinking of moving to the "peaceful" town of Mazar-e-Sharif.

[fight_truth_decay]

Not an oasis of peace under the Forrest Gump Box of Chocolates Rule in the measure of peace.

[Kaslin]

I don’t care about the UN, I care about our troops.

[Girlene]

Thanks for your “guess”, oldnewyork....it’s as good as any I can come up with. There could be a number of reasons why Karzai would stir up trouble across Afghanistan based on this incident in Florida. Plain stupidity is one. I just found it interesting that he was the central source of this story coming to light in Afghanistan.

[ohioWfan]

Here's a thought for you, pillut....

What if (anti-American) Phelps wannabe, Jones coordinated his Muslim-inciting, chaos inspiring Koran burning (after waiting 6 months from his first LOOK AT ME!!! attention grabbing threat) with the Muslim-inciting chaos inspiring attack on Libya by (anti-American) Obama?

(A thought expressed by Glenn Beck this morning, not original with me).

What if your outrage at loyal patriot and strong leader Petraeus is completely misdirected, and should instead be directed at (anti-American) Phelps wannabe and moral/mental midget, Terry Jones?

Perhaps your anger should be at the Obama/Jones combo and not the Obama/Petraeus combo.

Some food for your thoughts.....

[xzins]

If Jones coordinated his Koran burning with Obama, then King Abdullah would be upset and Obama wouldn’t be allowed to bow before him anymore....at least not with head on shoulders.

“What IF: pigs could fly” is what my mom would have said. Ifa, woulda, coulda,...

For Lindsay Graham and David Petraeus to suggest that free speech be curtailed is worthy of censure.

You stand up to bullies; you don’t give in to them. It’s that simple.

Give in to the Jihadists on another point, and another point, and the next thing you know, ohioWfan, they’ll be giving you the choice between conversion or death.

You don’t give in to bullies.

[ohioWfan]

That's not an answer to Beck's theory, xzins.

If the goal of anti-American Obama is to cause chaos in the Muslim and world community as well as the United States, then why is it not plausible that Phelps-follower Jones coordinated his delayed event to coincide with the chaos Obama was creating?

(Remember that this is Beck's musing that I am just relaying here. I found it a fascinating theory).

[xzins]

Whether Jones is Obama’s new playmate is irrelevant to whether we should give in to bullies. We shouldn’t. Ever.

[ohioWfan]

I'm not arguing that point, xzins. I completely agree that we shouldn't give in to bullies (though that's far too nice a word for the monsters we're fighting).

My point is that Petraeus' statement in protection of his troops is not doing that. It's saying, think about what you're doing and do the right thing for our troops.

Jones clearly doesn't give a rip about our troops.

What Graham said was giving in, in that he, as a member of Congress actually said we should take away rights. That's a different matter, for which he should be castigated and possibly impeached.

Now think about the Soros/Obama goal of inflaming the Middle East and see how Jones' bad behavior fits nicely into their plan.

It does, doesn't it?

[OldNewYork]

“There could be a number of reasons why Karzai would stir up trouble across Afghanistan based on this incident in Florida. Plain stupidity is one. I just found it interesting that he was the central source of this story coming to light in Afghanistan.”

I agree - it could just be Karzai’s plain stupidity. That’s one of the risks of guessing: projecting an intelligence, or lack of, from ourselves into someone else’s motives, that’s just not there. We’ll see what happens in the rest of the Mohammadan world after mosque this Friday, but I haven’t heard it spreading to Pakistan where presumably word of mouth spreads from Afghanistan fast, so as yet this seems to be a problem in Karzaistan.

There are seemingly lots of nefarious goings on behind the scenes there, suitcases full of money, opium, you name it. Who knows? Karzai is a Pashtun, and they have a tribal code still followed, which could be a major factor as well. Whatever Karzai’s motive in spreading the story and whatever Petraeus’ motive in saying the things he did, I don’t think either of them is able to foresee long term consequences of it. And that’s why keeping close to principle is so important, which is what has outraged people here on this thread, including me.

[fight_truth_decay]

"don’t care about the UN, I care about our troops."

I know you care about our troops, we all do! Petraeus does as well.

Who was focusing on the UN in all of this?..Our troops Can & Do suffer from Our actions. As I said it's so easy to hide behind a computer, write in a blog and put out threats to the Muslem world which with technology they can easily read - in htis case, the burning the Quran. What good does it really accomplish? ..it makes us feel good, it gives us strength in numbers, but others can pay the price. It is not about being brave or being a coward.

I am terribly afraid we are now going backwards in Afghanistan, making it more dangerous for our military and those that fight the fight along side our men and women, wherever they are stationed in the world.

The pastor who has made a name for himself in Florida is supported by the media which also puts our military in harms way. He is protected by the freedom to express his viewpoint on the Quran which our men and women fight and die for his right to do so. The shootings of the young suicide bombers the other day during a riot has shown a marked increase in building HATE, IN ORDER TO RECRUIT MORE ANGRY MUSLEM SUICIDE BOMBERS.. leading to more violence, because someone wants to MAKE A STATEMENT?

Those with ULTERIOR MOTIVES know what buttons to push in supporting their agenda. Sure a Dutch Cartoonist should be able to create any political or religious cartoon he wants without having to go into hiding or be killed. Muslems burn the American flag--even Americans burn the American flag, and we hate the act and denounce the act but we don't kill the deranged idiot for it even though feel hate toward him..FACT: There are Muslems around the world who fight this war to wash Christians and Jews from the face of the earth, and are not afraid of death in their quest to do so. They believe the Quran is the word of God..they will die to protect their beliefs.

So burning the Quran for the Muslem world to see does what exactly?

Words have consequences, as well as actions.

[rolling_stone]

SOMEONE ELSE SUMMED UP FOR ME, SEE PART 1 AND 2:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2699990/posts

[Girlene]

ohioWfan, Gen. Petraeus is an honorable man.....I'm sure he is all for protecting our troops given the constraints of ROE's currently in play......but...... I question his tactics. Since I'm not in the military, my opinions may not matter much, but here there are.

A snippet from the WSJ, Inside the Massacre at Afghan Compound
Inside the building, other attackers targeted one of the safe rooms. The door proved little protection against the mob. As intruders penetrated the safe room, Pavel Ershov, a Russian diplomat who speaks fluent Dari sought to protect three staff members by distracting the assailants, the U.N.'s Mr. de Mistura said.

"Are you Muslim?" the assailants asked Mr. Ershov, according to one diplomat briefed on the attack. Mr. Ershov lied and said he was, the U.N. said. The assailants tested him by asking him to recite the traditional profession of belief in Islam, which begins, "There is no God but Allah."

When he successfully completed the test, his life was spared. Still, he was dragged into the street and beaten badly, according to a local shopkeeper who said he participated in the assault.

Gen. Petraeus has been trying to win the "hearts and minds" of Muslims for as long as I can remember in the ME. It makes sense on paper, it may work in certain instances where you take ground little by little with the local populace, fighting back the insurgents or Taliban. But, this little exchange provides a lot of insight into the Muslim mind.

Muslim? okay - you only get beaten if you work with the infidel. Not Muslim - you are dead, and deservedly so....the quran allows/encourages it.

Gen. Petraeus wants to protect his troops.....that is a given. Treating these Muslims like children who have "maybe understandable passions" is appeasement. It's one thing to appease(guide) a two year old after a tantrum, knowing that you're job is to help them mature, learn lessons, grow up, etc. These Muslims are very dangerous, killing machines, given enough ammunition (whether it's physical or mental "anguish")

There is only one way to stop them....no quarter for behavior like this. Fear begets respect. We ain't gonna win their hearts and minds with appeasment. We encourage more irrational behavior by excusing the original irrational behavior, and we give them more time to breed younger Muslims in the ways of the quran.

We can keep going down the road we've traveled, or we can try a new one. Their reaction to the Jones' "book-burning" incident is a perfect opportunity to try a new route. Instead, we are continuing to appease, and make excuses for their intolerable behavior.

xzins, your statement, Whether Jones is Obama’s new playmate is irrelevant to whether we should give in to bullies. We shouldn’t. Ever. - is spot on. (and much more succinct than my blather!)