General Petraeus was not right in saying what he said.
It is certainly true that our freedom puts our troops in harm’s way. But that’s the whole point of having troops.
Government officials shouldn’t be saying things that put our troops at greater risk. But citizens? Citizens have no responsibility to silence themselves to keep our enemies placated.
And it is dead wrong for a General, or for the Commander-In-Chief, to ever suggest that a citizen should self-censor, or take other actions against their own freedom and liberty, simply because their actions upset our enemies.
It’s like having President Roosevelt attacking Americans for saying bad things about Germans during WW2 since it would just make the German people madder at us.
It’s stupid to burn a Koran. Doing so gives Muslims more attention than they deserve. Doing so gives the Koran more value than it should have.
But General Petraeus was WRONG to attack a citizen for exercising their freedom, or to complain that a citizen’s free speech was putting troops in greater danger.
“I’ll defend to the death your right to say it”, has now become, in the Obama administration “I’ll be damned if I’ll lift a finger to defend you”.
I'm done with all of you for tonight.
I have a life and I need away from this crap.
Damn! On this topic, that’s the best post I’ve seen around here in a long time.
Petraus was out of line
This man did something important...in the national conversation. He said that American Freedom of speech was more important than anyone else’s issues, nationally or internationally.