Top US commander: Burning Quran endangers troops

[Fighter488]

"The free communication of ideas and opinions is one of the most precious of the rights of man. Every citizen may, accordingly, speak, write, and print with freedom, but shall be responsible for such abuses of this freedom as shall be defined by law."

Now - here is the catch. In countries like Denmark abusing religious texts aren't covered under "abuse". Delivering a public speech to kill all people of a certain sect is considered abuse however.

I am sure no religion, and I mean no religion, mandates its followers to insult or abuse other religion. What is to note that this pastor, is using his so called 'Freedom of Expression' to insult many christians as well. Christainity do not give a free-hand to insult any religion. This pastor is putting a very bad picture to non-christians, about the entire christian faith. I think his 'Freedom of Expression' ends then and there when he crosses or questions the faith of not only muslims but even of fellow christians.

Why is Freedom of Speech important?

Freedom of expression come with the flawed policy in democratic setup of 'One vote one person'. It is a known fact that the opinion of an educated and, if you allow to say, an enlightened person is far more valuable than a illiterate peasent! Democratic setup puts the two at par! This logic may be true in few scenarios, such as basic human rights, but become a bane when stretched too far. 'Freedom of Expression' come in to this category where ANY person is FREE to express any way the person chooses, some time crossing the fundamental right of others.

My two cents.

 

[Condor]

Your Freedom ends where My Nose Begins

 

[Pakistani_Athiest]

I am sure no religion, and I mean no religion, mandates its followers to insult or abuse other religion.

That problem can be solved by creating a new religion that asks its followers to insult every religion.

I think his 'Freedom of Expression' ends then and there when he crosses or questions the faith of not only muslims but even of fellow christians.

The pastor is free to insult even Christianity!

Freedom of expression come with the flawed policy in democratic setup of 'One vote one person'. It is a known fact that the opinion of an educated and, if you allow to say, an enlightened person is far more valuable than a illiterate peasent! Democratic setup puts the two at par! This logic may be true in few scenarios, such as basic human rights, but become a bane when stretched too far.

Lets pass this law - Children with at least one parent with a Bachelor's degree get 100% scholarship. Children born to uneducated parents should pay twice as much tuition.

Will this law pass in your system? Yes. Is this a fair law? No.

'Freedom of Expression' come in to this category where ANY person is FREE to express any way the person chooses, some time crossing the fundamental right of others.

You have NO "fundamental right" to stay above criticism.

 

[Devil Soul]

Top US commander: Burning Quran endangers troops
By KIMBERLY DOZIER, Associated Press Writer – 5 mins ago
KABUL, Afghanistan – The top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan warned Tuesday an American church's threat to burn copies of the Muslim holy book could endanger U.S. troops in the country and Americans worldwide.
"Images of the burning of a Quran would undoubtedly be used by extremists in Afghanistan — and around the world — to inflame public opinion and incite violence," Gen. David Petraeus said in an e-mail to The Associated Press.
His comments followed a protest Monday by hundreds of Afghans over the plans by Gainesville, Florida-based Dove World Outreach Center — a small, evangelical Christian church that espouses anti-Islam philosophy — to burn copies of the Quran on church grounds to mark the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States that provoked the Afghan war.
Muslims consider the Quran to be the word of God and insist it be treated with the utmost respect, along with any printed material containing its verses or the name of Allah or the Prophet Muhammad. Any intentional damage or show of disrespect to the Quran is deeply offensive.
In 2005, 15 people died and scores were wounded in riots in Afghanistan sparked by a story in Newsweek magazine alleging interrogators at the U.S. detention center in Guantanamo Bay placed copies of the Quran in washrooms and flushed one down the toilet to get inmates to talk. Newsweek later retracted the story.
At Monday's protest, several hundred Afghans rallied outside a Kabul mosque, burning American flags and an effigy of Dove World's pastor and chanting "death to America." Members of the crowd briefly pelted a passing U.S. military convoy with stones, but were ordered to stop by rally organizers.
Two days earlier, thousands of Indonesian Muslims rallied outside the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta and in five other cities to protest the church's plans.
Petraeus warned images of burning Qurans could be used to incite anti-American sentiment similar to the pictures of prisoner abuse at Iraq's Abu Graib prison.
"I am very concerned by the potential repercussions of the possible (Quran) burning. Even the rumor that it might take place has sparked demonstrations such as the one that took place in Kabul yesterday," Petraeus said in his message. "Were the actual burning to take place, the safety of our soldiers and civilians would be put in jeopardy and accomplishment of the mission would be made more difficult."
The U.S. Embassy in Kabul also issued a statement condemning the church's plans, saying Washington was "deeply concerned about deliberate attempts to offend members of religious or ethnic groups."
Dove World Outreach Center, which made headlines last year after distributing T-shirts that said "Islam is of the Devil," has been denied a permit to set a bonfire but has vowed to proceed with the burning. The congregation's website estimates it has about 50 members, but the church has leveraged the Internet with a Facebook page and blog devoted to its Quran-burning plans.
A surge in troop deployments has brought the number of U.S. forces battling the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan to about 100,000 and Petraeus is asking for 2,000 more soldiers to join the 140,000-strong international force here, NATO officials said Monday. It was unclear how many would be Americans.
Coalition officials said nearly half will be trainers for the rapidly expanding Afghan security forces and will include troops trained to neutralize roadside bombs that have been responsible for about 60 percent of the 2,000 allied deaths in the nearly nine-year war.
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not supposed to talk about the issue with media, said the NATO-led command had been asking for the troops even before Petraeus assumed command here in July.
Petraeus recently renewed that request with the NATO command in Brussels. The alliance has had trouble raising more troops for the war effort, with at least 450 training slots still unfilled after more than a year.
With casualties rising, the war has become deeply unpopular in many of NATO's 28 member countries, suggesting the additional forces will have to come from the United States.
Also Tuesday, authorities confirmed the ambush killing of a district chief by suspected insurgents in the northern province of Baghlan on Monday afternoon. Nahrin district chief Rahmad Sror Joshan Pool was on his way home after a memorial service for slain anti-Soviet guerrilla leader Ahmad Shah Massoud when rocket-propelled grenades hit his vehicle, setting it on fire, said provincial spokesman Mahmood Haqmal.
Pool's bodyguard was also killed in the attack, and one militant died and two were wounded in the ensuing fire fight with police, Haqmal said.
Five children were killed and five wounded in Yaya Khil district in the southern province of Paktika when an insurgent rocket fired at an Afghan army base hit a home Monday evening, provincial government spokesman Mokhlais Afghan said.
Kidnappers also seized two electoral workers and their two drivers in the western province of Ghor, according to deputy provincial police chief Ahmad Khan Bashir.
Insurgents have waged a campaign of violence and intimidation to prevent Afghans from voting, especially in rural areas, while some pre-election violence has also been blamed on rivalries among the candidates.
___
Associated Press writers Slobodan Lekic in Brussels and Amir Shah in Kabul contributed to this report.

 

[Leviza]

Shameless westerns are worried that by this act thier armed forces will be in trouble in afghaistan but THESE HUMAN KILLERS DONT SAY THAT THIS IS A WRONG ACT AND THEY DONT DO ANYTHING TO STOP IT.....

I HATE MY NATION(AMERICAN) DOUBLE STANDARDS.... IM SORRY ON BEHALF OF AMERICA AND I FEEL BLOOD OF INNOCENT KIDS AND PEOPLE OF AFGHANISTAN AND IRAQ ON MY HANDS.......

GOD PLEASE HELP US.............

 

[Hafizzz]

U.S. church's Koran-burning plan condemned
U.S. church's Koran-burning plan condemned - World - Canoe.ca

U.S. military commanders in Afghanistan warned Monday that a small Florida church’s plan to burn copies of the Koran on the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks could endanger the lives of American troops.

The warnings followed an angry protest Monday by several hundred people in the Afghan capital, Kabul, who chanted “Death to America” as they denounced the planned burning event by the Gainesville, Florida-based Dove World Outreach Center church.

The center, calling itself a “New Testament, Charismatic, Non-Denominational Church,” says it will go ahead with the torching of the Koran Saturday to mark the ninth anniversary of the 2001 attacks against the United States. Gainesville authorities have said that will contravene fire safety rules.

Two top U.S. commanders in Afghanistan said the proposed burning of the Muslim holy book risked undermining U.S. President Barack Obama’s efforts to reach out to the world’s 1.5 billion Muslims. They said it could also trigger retaliation against U.S. forces serving in Afghanistan.

“It could endanger troops and it could endanger the overall effort,” General David Petraeus, the U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, said in a statement to U.S. media organizations.

“It 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,” he added.


Lieutenant-General William Caldwell, commander of the NATO Training Mission in Afghanistan, told CNN the news of the planned Koran burning by the little-known Florida church was already provoking popular anger in Afghanistan.

“It’s their Holy Book, so when somebody says that they’re going to destroy that and cause a desecration to something that’s very sacred to them, it’s already stirred up a lot of discussion and concern amongst the people,” he said.

“We very much feel that this could jeopardize the safety of our men and women that are serving over here,” Caldwell added.

In Kabul, the demonstrators, mostly students from religious schools who gathered outside Kabul’s Milad ul-Nabi mosque, said they would continue their protests.

“We call on America to stop desecrating our Holy Koran,” student Wahidullah Nori told Reuters.

The dispute came at a time of already heated debate in the United States over a proposal to build a cultural center and mosque two blocks away from the site in New York of the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center.

Opponents of the building plan say it is insensitive to families of the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks by al Qaeda.

U.S. GOVERNMENT SLAMS ‘OFFENSIVE INITIATIVE’

U.S.-backed Afghan forces toppled the Taliban government in Afghanistan soon after those attacks for harboring al Qaeda leaders, including Osama bin Laden.

Demonstrations and riots triggered by reported desecration of the Koran are not infrequent in Afghanistan and other Muslim countries. The most violent protests came after cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammad in a Danish newspaper in 2006.

In comments broadcast by CNN, Terry Jones, pastor of the Dove World Outreach Center, said it would be “tragic” if anybody’s life was lost as a result of the planned Koran burning.

But he added, “Still, I must say that we feel that we must sooner or later stand up to Islam, and if we don’t, it’s not going to go away.”

The church’s website says it seeks to “expose Islam” as a “violent and oppressive religion.” It displays a sign reading “Islam of the Devil.”

The U.S. Embassy in Kabul said the “United States government in no way condones such acts of disrespect against the religion of Islam, and is deeply concerned about deliberate attempts to offend members of religious or ethnic groups”.

“Americans from all religious and ethnic backgrounds reject this offensive initiative by this small group in Florida, a great number of American voices are protesting the hurtful statements made by this organization,” it said in a statement.

Last January, Afghan troops shot and killed eight demonstrators and wounded 13 in southern Helmand province in a riot triggered by a report that foreign troops had desecrated the Koran during a raid. A spokesman for NATO forces denied the report.

Shame on those bad people.

 

[lioneern]

I don't aprove these provocative acts . But they have the freedom of speech to do that granted under the US constitution

 

[Safriz]

Please stop advertising their dirty tricks..They are attention whoring..and all they want is a bit of attention..By creating such threads we are giving them what they want.

 

[nomi007]

if this will happened than kill every American where u see them

 

[Kompromat]

 

[LongLiveBritian]

This is disgusting, pure hatred, World war 3 will break out anytime soon.

 

[mjnaushad]

if this will happened than kill every American where u see them

Why???? Not every American is supporting this....Dont generalize the incident.

 

[Kompromat]

This is disgusting, pure hatred, World war 3 will break out anytime soon.

I second that , WW breaks out of stupid reasons.

 

[Spring Onion]

I don't aprove these provocative acts . But they have the freedom of speech to do that granted under the US constitution

aahhh freedom of speech where it is when it comes to Holocaust denial

 

[Spring Onion]

I don't aprove these provocative acts . But they have the freedom of speech to do that granted under the US constitution

Any attack on US or Americans as result of this religious terrorism by the Church in the name of freedom of speech will also be an expression of freedom of speech.