General Petraeus needs to be blunt: Idiots like the Florida preacher and his defenders are among Al-Qaeda’s best recruiters.

Per Terrorist Strategy 101:

Question 4: What is Bin Laden’s immediate goal?

If you’ve been paying attention, you should get this one right: His immediate goal is to radicalize the hundreds of millions of Muslims who sympathize with the vision of a restored Caliphate, but have better things to do with their lives than join the jihad. A particular problem for Bin Laden are all the Muslims who think that they can find an acceptable place for themselves in a world order dominated by the United States.

I won’t insult your intelligence by asking you who his best allies are in reaching this goal: President Bush, obviously, and all of the neo-conservatives in the Pentagon who push for the most aggressive response to the terrorist threat. Also the Christian leaders like Franklin (son of Billy) Graham, who regularly denounce Islam in terms that look fabulous on Al Qaeda’s equivalent of the locker-room bulletin board. John Ashcroft — and anyone else who mistreats assimilating Arabs and thereby convinces them that they will never really be welcome in America — is also an ally.

It doesn’t matter how much they hate him or denounce his deeds; anyone who radicalizes Muslims is doing Bin Laden’s work for him. President Bush may as well have been reading from an Al Qaeda script when he referred to the War on Terror as a “crusade”. Muslims know their history and know exactly what a crusade is: Christians invade and steal your land. People who didn’t believe this when they heard it from Bin Laden have now heard it from the Crusader-in-Chief.

Thinking things through ain’t their strong suit. In fact, “thinking” may not even exist as a concept for the American Taliban.

Wingnuts are like 5 year olds stamping their feet and screaming. And then they say “support the troops.” They’re simply not logical at all.

I’m curious as to why now, why this particular event – in light of his saying Nothing, Zip, Zero when his Afghan Commanders ordered Troops to “Hunt People for Jesus”

Maybe if they burned some Bibles instead of Korans the Islamists wouldn’t be so upset and the troops lives wouldn’t be in danger.

In a perfect world we wouldn’t be deliberately provocative to the Muslim world because it’s just bad manners, not because it might get the 150,000-odd troops we have occupying their countries killed.

[bold is mine]

I gave up on the idea of a perfect world some time ago… was it 1998 or maybe 2000?

Ya don’t say.

Al-Qaida and Taliban threat is exaggerated, says security thinktank [International Institute for Strategic Studies]
Strategy institute challenges idea that troops are needed in Afghanistan to stop export of terrorism to west

“The threat posed by al-Qaida and the Taliban is exaggerated and the western-led counter-insurgency campaign in Afghanistan risks becoming a “long, drawn-out disaster”, one of the world’s leading security thinktanks warned today.”

LINK.

Is it not highly problematic when a senior military officer warns American citizens against exercising their undoubted First Amendment rights?

Interesting. All I see is that some American citizens are being criticized for what they are saying not stopped from saying it. There is a huge difference.

If you cannot take criticism you are not an adult. Simple.

Or if you are going to play the race/religion card expect to be called out on it.

It sure is Alan…

“…in a perfect world we wouldn’t be deliberately provocative to the Muslim world because it’s just bad manners, not because it might get the 150,000-odd troops we have occupying their countries killed.”

No, no no. That’s exactly the point of the exercise. More dead soldiers leads to more empty suits talking about “getting the job done,” which in turn leads to the purchase of more drones and drone-upgrade kits (limited availibility, not all fake war profiteers may be participating) as well as keeping the wheels of hate greased for arial Sharon angle and the terror anchor baby dirty shoe-bomb warriors (like the sputtering wack job from Texas that got the Ed Murrow treatment from Cooper) when they’re collecting $100,000 per talk and walking into elected office despite the beheading of white babies in the desert by islamo-mexicans walk backs.

At least Yale had the balls to cancel the Tillman documentary because he’s on the pay roll.

Bravo Ivy League. The Kennedy School of Government is proud of you.

Playing(not) the race/religion card is a two way street.

Sounds like the Ground Zero Mosque issue in reverse to me.

No one is saying they don’t have the right to build, they are just American citizens are being criticized for what they say they want to build.

in a perfect world we wouldn’t be deliberately provocative to the Muslim world America because it’s just bad manners,

Unf**king believable question!

Petraeus: From Hero to Zero in One News Cycle

He had credible military judgement before and inserted himself into a political debate before, and now his military judgement is considered erroneous and divisive in a political debate.

Onward, Christian Soldiers, and martyr your own heroes.

“Aren’t these the same people who wanted to make flag-burning unconstitutional?”

Yes but surely you understand that the two cant be compared. The Koran is just paper with words printed on it. The American Flag is a living, consecrated representation of the manifested will of god. No one can burn a flag and not fall into mortal sin and heresey. not even a 5 yearl old Senegalese child who dosent know what it is.cant you see the difference?

Petraeus is right, but I’m nevertheless sick of looking to warmongering generals for approbation. There something (almost) worthy of respect about these right-wingers who turn on a general because they don’t like the politics in his political statements.

And what irony: the kind of right-winger who burns a Koran would have probably been an isolationist in the good old days, and may still be one latently. Meanwhile, the enlightened Petraeus is the one going all over the world to kill Muslims for inconceivable ends.

IOKIYAR

In the “olden days” during WWII, I’m given to understand that citizens were requested to be cautious about things they said and how they behaved. I think it falled loosely under the rubric “Loose lips sink ships.” And my understanding is that US citizens during WWII were more than happy to comply in order to not only support our & allied troops, but to secure our freedom. Ya know, it was a pretty simple concept.

Now conservatives have been taught by rightwing hate media to behave like school yard bullies and/or temper-tantrum throwing toddlers, and the media and Republican pols clap and cheer them onwards.

When Gen Petraeus steps up to make a common sense argument to moderate citizens’ behavior in a time of war, conservatives are enraged beyond belief that anyone – anyone! – would dare to comment on their execrable, bigoted behavior.

And the “support the troops” meme? Geez, that’s so last decade. That notion went out of style on November 5, 2008. Once a black Democrat was elected POTUS any notion of supporting the troops during wartime, esp in terms of not dissing the Commander in Chief, went out the window, was off the table, and no longer was a topic for consideration.

Biggest hypocrits ever. This isn’t a 1st Amendment rights issue. It’s nonsense ginned up by rightwing zillionaires like the Kochs and the C Streeters to distract the rubes from how badly ripped off we all are. Too bad for the troops; the conservatives just aren’t into them anymore, and that’s for d*mn sure (not that conservatives ever really supported the troops beyond pasting yellow ribbon decals on their cars ‘n trucks).

Buncha phonies. Buncha hypocrits. Buncha bigots.

You do have a point, and I do also agree with you. Just sick of the endless whining and complaining on the right. Sheesh.

How can wingnuts who willfully and proudly wallow in their own acknowledged ignorance, be taken as having anything worthwhile to say or think?

This is not a First Amendment issue.

Only fear driven and repressed stupid people burn books.

but it takes a very special fear driven and repressed stupid person to burn a holy book…

this whole thing would be funny if it weren’t so friggin’ scary.

I mean, I guess I could exercise my free speech rights and walk into Watts and shout the N word. I have that right…but just because I can, doesn’t mean I should!

Although I detest vile, ignorant, bigoted, hateful statements or actions, I would support a person’s right to say or do those things, provided that it is not intended to incite violence or cause a panic. However, I think the case can be made that publicly burning the Koran could very well lead to violence on a grand scale, not to mention harming diplomatic relations with Muslim nations and hampering the “war” effort.

There are sensible limitations to the freedom of speech. Shenck v. U.S. (1919) defines what those limitations are, such as shouting fire in a public theater, which would then lead to a panic. “The question in every case is whether the words used are used in such circumstances and are of such a nature as to CREATE A CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER that they will bring about the substantive evils that Congress has a right to prevent.” I could see how a “clear and present danger” to our troops and our national security could develop as a result of all this.

And just from a common sense standpoint, what goal would anyone be trying to accomplish by burning the Koran? Does it somehow help us achieve anything positive? I guess they get the idea from politicians who, rather than making their case about issue X or bill Y by backing it up with facts, would instead call their political opponents “traitors” or “spend-o-crats” or “Muslims.” Monkey see, monkey do…no constructive ideas, just the middle finger.

Well, it’s just not surprising that this happens. Conservative “leaders” like Limbaugh and Beck and others either subtely or not so subtley push this “War on Islam” meme to some braindead robots more than willing to follow. It grows in their head and manifests in these defiant little acts with potentially harmful consequences.

If there is any sort of retalliation by the nuts on the other side–these nuts will use it to further push for their war.

It’s like the wackos waiting and praying for the end times so they can be with Jesus. They’d set off a nuke if they knew it would get them to Jesus sooner.

This country is suffering from mass mental illness.

Don’t forget, back in the late 1970s, our CIA created the forerunners to both al Queda and the Taliban in Afghanistan. The CIA armed, trained and supported poor right-wing peasants to fight against the Soviet-backed government of Afghanistan; I guess that the USA powers that be thought that the government of Afghanistan was doing a little too much for the Afghans…

If only we could recover the vast knowledge of the ancient world that was collected and preserved by the Greeks in books and stored in the two great libraries in Alexandria, Egypt.

To our considerable misfortune, Christian armies torched and destroyed those libraries and their contents during the Christian Crusades.

I don’t know who is responsible for this remarkably stupid, juvenile, and evil symbolic exercise in human folly, but whomever it is should be ridiculed by everyone and banished to the netherworld of human shame sitting in a far flung corner of the universe wearing the cone of silence with the word DUNCE glittering across its visage until the end of time or when they genuinely apologize and seek forgiveness, whichever happens first.

Nothing will change a single mind there.
Pacifying does not work on bullies not even on schoolyard bullies and certainly not on terrorists. And bribery hasn’t worked either so stop pumping money where it will be turned around and used against the troops.

I have an idea, but it is going to take someone on the inside of his church (or with keys) to make it work.

Replace his supply of Korans (or treat the ones he has) with fire retarded copies – so they Will Not Burn. This has to be done on the hush hush so he doesn’t know and the books have to be saturated enough for it to be totally effective, no matter how much lighter fluid he pours on to them.

The look on his face when the Korans just won’t burn would be priceless.

It would also be a really nice ‘miracle’ to do as a good will gesture for the Islamic world. I wish somebody could pull off this trick on him with fire proof Korans. Since he is dead set on burning them anyway, it would be great to see his effort fail dramatically.

What makes paper nonflammable? Anybody know?

May 21, 2011.

Bong hits for Jesus!

It is not problematic when he offers a truthful warning; it would be much more problematic to remain silent and watch more carnage.

Something everybody seems to overlooked here – the comment or request by General Petraeus that burning the Koran will endanger our troops in Afghanistan. I’m thinking back to WW II and I don’t recall General Eisenhower or General McArthur sending a message to American civilians not to offend Germans or Japanese because that would endanger our troops in Europe or the Pacific. Of course, McArthur and Eisenhower had presidents Roosevelt and Truman who would never ask a general to make ridiculous statements such as Petraeus has.