U.S. president Barack Obama has finally weighed in on the planned Qur’an burning story that has drawn attention from all over the world.
The plan to burn 200 Qur’ans by the Pastor of a small church in Florida to commemorate the anniversary of Sept. 11, has sparked worldwide outrage and condemnation.
In an interview with ABC’s Good Morning America which aired this morning, Obama called Rev. Terry Jones’ planned bonfire a “stunt” and he cautioned that burning the Qur’ans would prove a bonanza for al-Qaeda recruitment.
Obama reiterated the statements of Gen. David Petraeus, the top US commander in Afghanistan, who earlier this week said the planned burnings would endanger the 120,000 U.S. and NATO-led troops still fighting in afghanistan, and it would give the Taliban more fuel for propaganda purposes.
But New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has joined a small group of public officials who uphold Pastor Jones’ Constitutional rights to burn the Qur’ans.
“I don’t think he would like if somebody burned a book that in his religion he thinks is holy. … But the First Amendment protects everybody, and you can’t say that we are going to apply the First Amendment to only those cases where we are in agreement,” Bloomberg said, citing the section of the Constitution that promises freedom of speech. [link]
In an interview with CNN’s AC360, Pastor Jones dismissed the criticism from politicians and religious leaders, saying his message targets the radical Islamists who continue to plot terror against the United States.
Referring to the absurd threats of violence from radical Islamists over the burning of a book, Jones said, “The general needs to point his finger to radical Islam and tell them to shut up, tell them to stop, tell them that we will not bow our knees to them.”
It seems that the same people who shrugged off pleas for sensitivity in connection with the planned NY Mosque now plead for sensitivity in the case of the Qur’an.
