Pastor Terry Jones; Quran-Burning; Human Stupidity vs National Security

When I first heard about the breathtakingly bigoted, jaw-droppingly ignorant twonk in Gainesville, Florida - You know the one: Ev(il)angelical pastor Terry Jones - and his announced plan to hold a "Koran Burning Day" on the ninth anniversary of the terror attacks which shook the nation to its core on September 11, 2001...

I was stunned - initially, anyway - at this otherwise unremarkable little man's utterly remarkable level of religious-intolerance, cultural incompetence and militant disregard for the potentially serious - if not deadly - effects of his proposed actions.

I've also been rather non-plussed at the expanding and exploding coverage of this small-minded man's misdirected hatred/ignorance as it grew from a "can you believe this stupidity" brief aside in a few news broadcasts into what it has now become: one of the main stories covered not only in national newscasts, but now global news.

Not only that...

In our most modern world of instantaneous global communication, as reports of the asinine intentions of this Southern pastor of a congregation of no more than 50 people have traveled across the globe and fanned the fanatical fires of the Christian vs Muslim religious war rhetoric of Muslim extremists into a growing firestorm, the story has now blossomed into a genuine national security issue for America and has increased the potential harm which threatens our men and women serving overseas - particularly in Iraq and Afghanistan - in the various branches of our military.

American officials have taken the significant increase in the level of such threats which would undoubtedly result in the wake of Jones' intended Quran-burning very seriously.

In public statements, "... President Obama, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and General David Petraeus, the U.S. commander in Afghanistan, have warned that the burning of any Qurans could put at risk American soldiers fighting wars in predominantly Muslim countries." (From: npr.org.)

On Thursday, President Obama, in an interview broadcast on ABC, described the pastor's proposed stunt as a "recruitment bonanza for al-Qaida."

A recently revealed sidenote: it has been revealed that the pea-brained pastor wrote something with the title Islam Is of the Devil - published last month.

Perhaps - in Jones' myopic mind, anyway - the planned Quran-burning was his idea of a "Shock-and-Awe" method of promoting his book.

I must admit... I was shocked... not only by the pastor's superior stupidity, but also by his unwavering resoluteness to - damn the torpedoes and everything/everyone else - show just how stupid one person can be... if they work really hard on it.

And, I'm even kinda awed that, in the wake of the growing international condemnation of his plans as well as reports on anti-Christian and Anti-American protests he's inspired, the pastor hasn't simply disappeared... although the media circus which now encircles him would definitely make that a bit of a challenge.

NPR.org provides an informative and detailed account of exactly how this excruciatingly-painful example of human stupidity was able to achieve the infinitely-undeserved (and, hopefully, soon to be ended) status of: Global News Story... whilst simultaneously (and quite militantly) shaping himself into the ideal "Anti-American Poster-Boy" For al-Qaida.... and becoming a One-Man Menace to American National Security...

Quran-Burning Is Off; Red-Hot Story Remains
by Liz Halloran NPR.org

(Hint... Hint... Believe it or not, this whole carnival actually started with NPR... I kid you not.)

So, it's a very good read.

Enjoy!