Petraeus Condemns U.S. Church's Plan to Burn Qurans

Wall Street Journal ^ | September 6, 2010 | JULIAN E. BARNES And MATTHEW ROSENBERG

[Kaslin]

KABUL—The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan said the planned burning of Qurans on Sept. 11 by a Florida church could put the lives of American troops in danger and damage the war effort.

Gen. David Petraeus said the Taliban would exploit the demonstration for propaganda purposes, drumming up anger toward the U.S. and making it harder for allied troops to carry out their mission of protecting Afghan civilians.

"It could endanger troops and it could endanger the overall effort," Gen. Petraeus said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. "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."

[1rudeboy]

Correct. I have nothing you haven’t ignored.

[Presbyterian Reporter]

Why is Petraeus wanting not to ‘offend’ our enemy?

---

Maybe for the same reason that Obama told the NASA Chief that his main mission was to make the Muzzies feel good about themselves.

Do not be misled. Petraeus may be the one opening his mouth, but the words coming out are from Obama.

[runninglips]

If Americans buy houses for Muslims, open doors of opportunity, put calls to prayer on city speakers, give hiring preference to them, they use that against us. If we given them the Koran printed on toilet paper, or burn the book, they use it against us. The problem is, we as a country are not trying to destroy Islam, which is what is called for. We should be undermining any and everything about their faith on a minute by minute basis. We should be bombing mosques, arresting those praying in public and just in general driving them underground. Then again, if I were CIC on 9-12, Mecca and Medina would have been smoking holes.

[ilovesarah2012]

We are better than that? And since we are, they won’t kill Americans? I am sick of worrying about what muslims think about Americans. It is still a free country - at least til the muzzies take over.

[runninglips]

Before reading your post, I wrote on post #84 the natural conclusion to yours. We must destroy the religion, not the people. It is the way we have fought wars for millenia. We did not seek to destroy the Japanese or German race, but to destroy for all time, the evil basis of their evil acts. No elected officials in this country have the cojones to confront the so called religion, therefore we cannot ever win....at least with the tactics being employed.

[Polybius]

This may not be a popular reply, and while I am NOT a fan of the Koran, I feel this church burning them is infantile at best. It’s a ‘why stoop to their level’ kind of thing.

I'll back you up.

Who is the enemy? The Taliban nut-job that is shooting at you or the Afghan villager that is sick of the extremism of the Taliban but still considers himself a Muslim?

Let's say that there is a patriotic Jewish veteran's group that is appalled at the nut-jobs of Fred Phelps Westboro Baptist Church and their protests at soldier's funerals. So, to protest against Phelps' nut-jobs, they decide to burn copies of the New Testament and pictures of Jesus.

Has that patriotic Jewish veteran's group done anything of value except to create more enemies for themselves that have nothing to do with the Westboro Baptist Church?

There may be Catholics that go to Mass once every 5 years but, once a non-Catholic starts insulting the beliefs of their parents and insulting the Virgin Mary, you have a pissed off ex-Catholic that suddenly became more Catholic than the Pope and a fight on your hands.

All the Church is going is providing a giant propaganda tool to the Taliban.

[jessduntno]

You’re referring to the major difference between COIN (counterinsurgency) and counterguerilla. The Army is fully invested in COIN, especially after Iraq.”

Not at all. We are not at war and we are not doing what we did in Iraq. We are in limbo. We are not clearing, holding, building forces or handing authority over to the government that doesn’t exist there. Nobody wants it. We are policing. Policing should be done by cops. If we win a war there, we can rebuild the country from scratch. We can not nation build with the existing structure and we all know it. What we are doing is insanity.

Petreaus knows this. Why not stand up and say so.

Worrying about bible burning in FL should say all that needs to be said about this situation.

[runninglips]

Can’t you just see Gen Patton excoriating his tank commanders for anti-Nazi rhetoric written on shells and tanks? Or Eisenhower telling a church in Florida that burning Mein Kampf would infuriate Germans, and not to do it?

[jessduntno]

Can’t you just see Gen Patton excoriating his tank commanders for anti-Nazi rhetoric written on shells and tanks? Or Eisenhower telling a church in Florida that burning Mein Kampf would infuriate Germans, and not to do it?”

Heh heh heh .... trying to picture it ... nope ... can’t.

[rollo tomasi]

In defense of Petraeus and all higher ups: They really are just puppets on the civilian military leader’s strings (Of course Obama being the Commander-in-Chief-Idiot). Generals who wish to stay active should not be totally restricted to a special sort of serfdom mentality in order to promote/keep their position. The whole political/military structure needs a little tweaking IMHO, especially with corrupt leadership/Congress often in place. Too heavily unbalanced on the civilian DOD/State (Utopians) Department side. Military politics easily leads to unnecessary deaths, which creates poor moral. Quit nation building using the military and let the Peacecorps do the “arranging”/appeasing.

[Tribune7]

If that’s the case, I wouldn’t try to rationalize the church’s action.

[Presbyterian Reporter]

“””We are in limbo. We are not clearing, holding, building forces or handing authority over to the government that doesn’t exist there. Nobody wants it. We are policing. Policing should be done by cops. If we win a war there, we can rebuild the country from scratch. We can not nation build with the existing structure and we all know it. What we are doing is insanity.Petreaus knows this. Why not stand up and say so.Worrying about bible burning in FL should say all that needs to be said about this situation”””
________

Well stated. Obama made Afghan his war and now we are witnessing Obama’s incompetence as Commander in Chief.

First Obama screws up the economy with his stimulus, healthcare, and other socialist programs.

Now Obama is on the verge of screwing up our foreign relations big time.

[Colonel_Flagg]

With all due respect, General, keep your eyes on your own bobber.

[kabar]

I suspect that Obama put Petraeus up to making the statement. Obama should be taking the lead on this as CIC, but he has delegated Petraeus to be the point man. The reason is purely political. Obama has no credibility and it would just muddy the waters further as to what is his religion and where his sympathies lie. We should stop blaming Petraeus and focus on the CIC.

[dfwgator]

True, I suppose many here would prefer to see Petraeus pull a “MacArthur” on Barry.

[Future Snake Eater]

Where do you clear? Most of the country is mountainous or at least uninhabited. Where do you hold? Everywhere seems to be hours away from everywhere else due to the size of the AOs. There is no real government to hand things over to. We policed in Iraq, that’s what COIN is. I agree that GEN Petraeus’ comments are pointless, but Afghanistan as a war/police action/whatever is NOT a simple fight.

[Polybius]

I guess you are appalled at all that WWI and WWII government backed propaganda which cast the German Empire in WWI and the Japanese/Hitler led Nazis in a constant state of ridicule.

The point seems to be lost that our Afghan allies have the same Muslim religion as the Taliban nutjobs. The difference is that the Taliban are taking the religion to the violent extreme.

Think of the Taliban as Westboro Baptist Church nutjobs

Think of your average Afghan villager as your average Southern Baptist.

Both have the same basic religion but only one takes it to an extreme.

Our enemy is the Taliban .... not the entire population of Afghanistan that also happens to be Muslim.

In both World War I and World War II, the German belt buckles had the same motto: "Gott Mit Uns" .... "God Is With Us". By that, the German Government meant the Christian God.

Let's say a Jewish group during World War II wanted to protest the Nazis. What should they do? Attack the Nazis specifically or attack the Christian God that both the Nazis and majority of the Allies claim?

If they had decided to indesriminately attack the claimed religion of the Nazis by burning New Testaments and insulting Jesus Christ, the Jewish group would have ended up being hated by both the Nazis and by the Chriastian Allied population.

During World War II, the U.S. Government ridiculed Hitler. The U.S. Government did not ridicule Catholics because Hitler's mother raised him as a Catholic.

The bottom line is that you are using a cluster bomb when a sniper rifle is the weapon of choice. When you attack the enemy, you also have to consider the friendly fire implications of your weapon of choice.

[Presbyterian Reporter]

I just did a look up to see when this Florida Church plans to burn the Koran broke. It was on August 10, 2010.

I find it amazing that Obama has been fretting about this preacher and 50 member church for a month.

Methinks Obama’s priorities are misguided.

[AliVeritas]

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