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Blood on his hands

A couple of weeks ago, Terry Jones, the Florida man who styles himself as a preacher, presided over a mock-trial at the church where he is the pastor. On trial was not a person or a philosophy but a book, the holy book of the religion of Islam, the Quran.

I don't have any details of this so-called trial so I'm not sure who was present to speak in behalf of the "defendant". Since the whole thing was not only a mock-trial but a mockery, I don't imagine anyone defended the Quran, and when the trial was over, Jones pronounced the book guilty and set fire to it.

In these days of the Internet and instant access to news from every corner of the world, even in the most out-of-the-way places, it didn't take long for this bit of theater to become known throughout the Islamic world. The reaction was only too predictable.

In the tinderbox that is Afghanistan where our troops are engaged in trying to push back the Taliban and give the country a chance at peace and stability, mass protests broke out immediately. Taliban operatives took advantage of Jones' stupid actions to stir up people and incite violence against foreigners. So far, more than 20 people have been killed, including several United Nations officials, non-combatants who were simply there doing their jobs, trying to help the Afghani people.

So our troops and our diplomats in that country and in other Islamic countries have been put in further danger and at further disadvantage by this idiot from Florida who just wanted to make a big splash for himself and get his name in the paper. He's made a splash all right - a splash of blood. He now has the blood of more than 20 innocent people on his hands. He is complicit in mass murder. He must be so proud.
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  1. AnonymousApril 5, 2011 at 7:32 PM

    How could one do this? What good could possibly come from his actions? How do you proclaim to be a man of God and risk the lives of the innocent? This man is a coward if he felt compelled to take this action then why hide in the United States? I personally will start a fund for him to travel to Afghanistan where he can answer for his actions! I doubt he would have the calling to do this if it was his life at stake. Yes his hands are bloody and his back is yellow.

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  2. Dorothy BordersApril 5, 2011 at 9:30 PM

    Although his actions may be protected by the First Amendment, he is a contemptible person and no man of God, Anonymous. I don't believe in burning books of any kind - I wouldn't even burn one written by Glenn Beck or Bill O'Reilly - and besides, you don't stop ideas by burning the books that contain them. This man has just made the most extreme factions of Islam that much stronger because he has played along with their mythology of the Islamophobic American. Utter stupidity!

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