Petraeus condemns Fla. church's plan to burn Korans

By David Nakamura and Javed Hamdard
Tuesday, September 7, 2010; 3:16 PM

KABUL - Gen. David H. Petraeus on Tuesday denounced plans by a Florida
church to burn copies of the Koran this weekend, saying the
demonstration could "endanger troops" and damage the U.S. war effort in
Afghanistan.

"It is precisely the kind of action the Taliban uses and could cause
significant problems," Petraeus, the top U.S. and NATO commander in
Afghanistan, said in a statement. "Not just here, but everywhere in the
world we are engaged with the Islamic community."

The White House also condemned the Florida church's plan, with press
secretary Robert Gibbs reiterating Petraeus's contention that U.S.
forces could be put in harm's way as a result. State Department
spokesman P.J. Crowley called the proposed demonstration "un-American"
and said it was "inconsistent with the values of religious tolerance and
religious freedom."

Habibullah, a religious leader who organized a protest Monday morning in
eastern Kabul to decry the Florida church's plan, said throngs of angry
men chanted, "Death to America!" and "Death to Obama!"

He said some of the protesters pelted a passing U.S. military convoy
with stones.

"I stopped them," said Habibullah, who uses one name. "Otherwise they
would have burned the convoy."

The Dove World Outreach Center, a 50-member evangelical Christian church
in Gainesville, Fla., announced plans to burn the Islamic holy books on
Saturday, the ninth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks
on the United States. At the Kabul protest, residents burned an effigy
of Dove World pastor Terry Jones.


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Krazy Kristian Konservative - right in Gainesville, Florida.