Petraeus "Planned Burning of Qur'ans Could Endanger Troops"

We should be above their hate. Burning the koran only justifies the anger that radical muslims feel towards the west. It's also UN-AMERICAN to burn the koran, or any sacred book of any religion, because we have religious freedom in this country. That means respecting all religions. Also, the koran is important to ALL muslims, not just the radical ones. This means you might now be pissing off muslims who were previously sympathetic.

Ask yourself, what do you hate about the terrorists? For me, it is that they attack us without knowing us. They assume that we are all evil infidels.

By burning the Koran, you are assuming that all Muslims are evil terrorists. You are acting just like your enemy. Wake up and quit with the hate.

There's no need to fuel the fire of hatred.

Scum just wants publicity.

Where there is too much rage , reverence cannot live . Where is the humility "Reverandg" ?

A minister of Satan and all that is evil, good luck with that closed mind!

Even if it has no effect on the troops, it's still an ASSHOLE thing to do because this is AMERICA. We have religious freedom here and all muslims are not terrorists. The koran represents all of Islam, not just radical islam.
Now I don't think this pastor should be arrested or harmed if he does decide to burn the koran, because again, this IS AMERICA. But, we should all stand up and let him know that he is a douche and he is stirring up hate, and his actions bring no more good to the world. They only highlight and feed the evil. The evil is bright and strong enough. As a pastor, he should be working on the side of GOOD.

I could careless about Christian or Islam but you have to admit that pissing half of Afghanistan off by burning there Holy book does put our troops in more danger than they normally would be in. Radical Islamics have a tendency to respond to what we do here.

Actually , it does work as a good tool for inciting violence in muslim countries . Do you recall the 15 deaths caused by the rumor that a Quran was flushed down a toilet in Gitmo ?

I just heard on NPR that an effigy of said pastor was burned by a crowd and stones were thrown at troops ......

The reason many are easily provoked is because they wish to be. Have you heard of "playing the victim"? In the population of human beings worldwide, it appears to be all too common.

The problem isn't primarily with those who delight in provoking but with those who delight in being provoked. As I've tried to point out, burning a copy of the Quran I've rightfully purchased with my own money genuinely harms no one. Then again, if you love playing the victim ...

But if it wasn't about the pastor and his idiocy, it would be and WILL be about something else. As I've tried to point out, people in love with anger will become angry at just about anything.

So you've managed to stop the burning of books. Good on you. Perhaps you did so without technically violating the pastors rights and liberties. Again, good on you.

On to the next threat over something silly.

I'm laughing here. I can't believe you just compared this pathetic pastor to these men. Totally different. Major money and politics are involved in all the cases you mention above. Even your Julian AssaNge example doesn't fit because the US wants him for encouraging the theft of government property. Again, money and politics. This petty little pastor is just a loud-mouth ignorant southern asshole with no real power. Don't do him the favor of putting him in the same league as these worthily famous/infamous gentlemen.

The comment was meant to be taken a bit sarcastically yes.

But my overall point is/was-- yes you are correct- Pastor Terry Jones is not yet in the "same league as these worthily famous/infamous gentlemen" which is why I said therefore he needs to stop and think and examine what happened to these men when they crossed the line into a league of their own if you will--and take some steps to change his behavior. Because ultimately Pastor Terry Jones is playing a very dangerous game with people who take themselves and their game much more serious than he does--and who won't hesitate to kill him or make him mysteriously disappear one day--hence the Jimmy Hoffa and JFK references.

Also this pastor is SO exactly in the same position Glenn Beck was a few years ago or Sarah Palin for that matter or just about all the front runner Tea Party candidates in the November elections and that's what's so scary--and he's a lot like Julian Assange too -- because ALL of these people were/are petty, loud-mouthed, ignorant, bigoted, hateful, assholes with no real power until they stepped out in the public eye and created a big splash. And they didn't care about whom they endangered/climbed over/killed or politically/personally destroyed to get to the top of the league-- it was always about making money and gathering power for themselves.

His head on a stick? That's a little far. He's an asshole, but he's in America. We don't kill people for being assholes here, most of the time. Maybe some cowardly douche will send him a mail bomb, but head-severing is quite a stretch. The people that will pay for his koran burning are US troops in Afghanistan.

Crazy zealots have killed good people for far less of a reason . Have you been around long ?

That why I put "most of the time" at the end of the statement. The USA has a lot of problems, but our speech is pretty damn free here. It could be better, but you can pretty much get away with saying almost anything you want. That's what my comment, "we don't kill people for being assholes, most of the time" was driving at. Peoples heads don't usually end up on sticks in this country for simply expressing an opinion, even if it is totally ignorant.

Because censorship is the opposite of burning shitloads of books, right?

Don't promote history repeating itself.

What the hell are you talking about?
He's right.

Burning Qur'ans does absolutely nothing except piss off Islamic extremists, which motivates them to bad things like recruiting more terrorists and blowing shit up.
That should be incredibly obvious.

Like they are not killing and blowing shit up already?

no reason to make things worse for an idiotic reason. This pastor is lumping all muslims together as "evil" or "enemies of america" through the act of burning the koran, and doing that will just piss of the few bad eggs to violent heights. Have a demonstration against radical islam if you want, i don't know how you'd do that, but burning the koran is a slap in the face of all muslims, most of whom have no desire to kill us infidels.

Anti-America protests in Afghanistan are getting intense. While this idiot preacher is safe in Florida, he's instigating more American hatred from an already American-hating group in Afghanistan. A group that the soldiers have to deal with, not him.

Cutting a tree is a slap in the face of those who love trees - even those who do not presently wish you harm for doing so.

Let's suppress the cutting of trees too, m'kay? If you're going to advocate the suppression of anything that might anger anyone else who could potentially become a threat to many or to one, you'll find yourself with very little room to move after a while.

what you've done here is create a "straw man" argument, but i'll respond anyway. If this theoretical lumberjack is just cutting down a tree just to prove a point to the other ones in the forest, then that lumberjack is an asshole.

Why make it worse because of unnecessary pride?

Nope, not a "Straw Man" argument at all. There are genuinely individuals who look upon trees with spiritual intensity and importance. Injury to trees is always offensive to them and some persons have, in fact, destroyed trees to make precisely the point you find so irrelevant.

Having said all of that, it is still their right to destroy those trees IF they have rightful ownership of them. The emotions of others are quite beside the point.

You're right - they're assholes - but being an asshole isn't always illegal.

never said it was illegal. So I guess we're in agreement then

I wish I could vote this up two or three more times.

Well said.

Jesus was right on about that , I wish he could come back and turn over the money changers tables again . I would like to see that . Then the propaganda would be he was really the devil and they (xtian zealots) would kill him again .

For the most part, I agree, but the burning of a book is hardly in the same category as flying planes full of people into builidings full of people.

Let's get some perspective on what precisely we mean by "extremist".

Burning a book is no more extremist than holding a Labor Day barbecue or burning a flag - unless one is mentally childlike.

Didn't say it was!

His point is that the burning of flag or the effigy of an American president causes no genuine harm to the United States, to Americans OR to their President. They can burn all of the flags, Constitutions, and effigies they like. None of it is a genuine threat.

Missiles pointed at the United States? Flying planes into buildings? Bombs, chemicals or infectious agents sent through the mail? Yes, those are threats.

Burning the Christian Bible? No. Human beings in general need to get some mature perspective.

Hey it's OK, I think we both get the jest of what will happen and is happening with burn the Qua-ran and this current recycled Islamaphobia!

Please don't Interfere in the effective dictatorship in North Korea. Is it really worth endangering the lives of others to prove a point that doesn't need proven?

North Korean leadership already knows that most other people around the world don't love "the great leader" or believe in his "great vision" or the superiority of totalitarian socialism and communism. Such acts as embargoes, arms imitations treaties, insistence on basic human rights or other kinds of international censorship only serve to aggravate and anger the North Korean government. The North Korean leadership will not receive any new messages from such acts, but rather negative false generalizations about the governments and peoples of other nations will be further ingrained into their minds.

__________

See ?

North Korea and Islam or the Afghan War can hardly be compared. If citizens were to plan a Kim Jong-il effigy burning or something just to upset him, I would be against that too. Anyway enough of replying to your silly analogy, because I have a more to say on your other replies.

Suit yourself.

"We understand the General's concerns. We are sure that his concerns are legitimate."

Mr. Jones even admits that Pratraeus is right, but he still wants to endanger troops and further spread the divide of Islam and the West. He just needs to suck up his pride and say "maybe this Koran burning wasn't such a good idea."

Yes indeed, suck his ignorant pride and tell his followers this is not a good idea!