OK, so President Obama directs his Secretary of Defense to call an obscure pastor in central Florida and request that he not burn the Koran. I have to ask this -- has Mr. Obama had any of his Cabinet call the pastor of the Westboro Baptist Church and ask him not to protest military funerals? Did he call the pastor of the Amazing Grace Baptist Church and ask him not to burn the Bible? Double standard, anyone? Is it any wonder why Americans suspect Mr. Obama of secretly being a Muslim?
So lets see, book burning is equal to opening a multifaith cultural center? Christians are extremists if they burn the Qur'an but Muslims are extremists if they read from it?
No, because there isn't a real risk that Americans will freak out from such actions and riot in the streets.
True, they don't riot in the streets, they use labour saving devices instead Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
So that's what it takes, huh? Threats of violence spur the President of the United States into calling an American and asking him not to pull a silly publicity stunt? Who's pulling whose strings here?
Nevermind she is on autopilot she doesn't always read what she replies to Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Sorry my bad, I thought you were equating the book burning with the mosque. However, I don't see why book burning is equal to protesting military funerals - why honour someone who kills as a profession? Jesus would not approve - I think protesting the glorification of violence should be more prolific. I admit I am a bit conflated about a pastor burning the Bible, I think people should have the right to burn their own ideas.
Well duh. We are in the middle of a war where courting Muslim cooperation is critical. Who the hell cares if a bunch of Americans are pissed off?
I think the president is more lisence to act on issues that might be a threat to national security. While protests at a soldier's funeral are terrible, disrespectful, and tactless it probably isn't viewed as a comparable threat to this latest moronic book burning.
I think he's being asked to intervene because people occupied by Americans [who just coincidentally happen to be Muslims] might retaliate against US soldiers for the perceived insult to their faith. I doubt the protest against military funerals or burning the bible will be as big a deal.
Well, now, do you really think the Muslims who would kill us would choose not to kill us on any given day? Do you really think they're thinking, "Well, we weren't going to kill any US soldiers today, but since that obscure guy in Gainesville burned the Koran, we're going to!" They want to kill us at any given opportunity. President Obama was foolish to give Terry Jones so much attention. He should have just blown the whole thing off as exactly what it was -- a silly, desperate publicity stunt. But now Mr. Jones has worldwide celebrity status. Obama is fanning the very flames he wants to extinguish. Other crackpots will now see Mr. Jones' phenomenal "success" and surely start copycatting. It's like yelling at a prank caller -- it just makes the situation worse.
Sure, but it also seems certain to convince certain people who are uncertain, to join up with the like of al qaeda etc. Recruitment bonanza and all that.
Seems pretty clear I don't know, did the Wall Street Journal ask the commanding generals in Iraq or Afghanistan for their opinions on the Westboro or Amazing Grace protests? Actually, no. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Nate Beeler, The Washington Examiner, September 1, 2010 (via Cagle)
You are apparently unaware of the nature of the protests in question. They aren't protesting against the war, or the service of the dead soldiers in said war (quite the opposite). Rather, their contention is that the reason that God allowed these soldiers to die, and has not yet granted the United States total victory over the Muslim barbarian hordes, is that the United States defies God by failing to make homosexuality a capital offense, enshrine fundamentalist Christianity as a state religion, and various other nasty things. That's why their website is called "godhatesfags.com" But make no mistake: the protestors in question are heavily in favor of military confrontation against Islam, to the point of genocide. Their protests are against things they see as impediments to that goal.
Yeah, that was part of the worry - most of the people in theater, including Petraeus et al, seem to think that's a definite possibility.
President Obama made multiple statements denouncing the Koran burning to the press. Further, he had his Secretary of Defense call Mr. Jones personally.
