Al-Qaeda used the US atrocities in Afghansitan and in Iraq to expand it membership and widens its support throughout the Muslim world; since the war on terror turned out to be a war on Islam manifested by an acute Islamophobia.
People forgot that Palestine and the US-supported Israel Nazi-style atrocities were the main cause for all the trouble. The Israelis continue their occupation of Arab lands in defiance of UN resoulutions and America continue to arm, finance and encourage the Israelis to commit war crimes against Muslims. In the meantime, the US imposes sanctions mostly on Muslim countries, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Libya but never on Israel.
Taken the above into consideration, no-one should be surprised if another attack bigger than that of 9/11 may be carried out on USraeli interests before the tenth anniversary of the attacks on the Jewish Fiancial Mafia HQ in NY and the Penatgon that armed Israel..
The timing can't be worse for the US forces fighting and killing Muslims in Iraq and in Afghanistan when a Florida-based church announced plans to burn the holy Quraan during the holy month of Ramadan. While most Muslims consider the burning as an insult, I seriously believe it will be beneficial as it will help to end the on-going Jeudo-Christian crusades against Islam and Muslims.Because of its message of Justice and Equality for all mankind, Islam became the fastest growing religion on earth.
Islam also recognise Jeudaism and Christianity and consider Moses and Jesus as holy God prophets peace be upon all of them.
I dare the Dove World Reach Church to burn the holy Quraan.
Let us hope that the Turks will refuse to bend under heavy pressure from the US and from its European allies. If Erdogan gives the USraeli a finger he will definitely lose an arm. Turkey's significant interests are with Arab and Muslim countries. Thousands of Arabs and Muslims started to come to Tureky as tourists or tradesmen following Erdogan support for Palestinians.
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By KIMBERLY DOZIER, Associated Press Writer Kimberly Dozier, Associated Press Writer – 59 mins ago
http://www.bl.uk/collections/treasures/quran/quran_broadband.htm?top
KABUL, Afghanistan – The top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan warned Tuesday an American church's threat to burn copies of the Muslim holy book the Quran could endanger U.S. troops in the country and Americans worldwide.
"Images of the burning of a Quran would undoubtedly be used by extremists in Afghanistan — and around the world — to inflame public opinion and incite violence," Gen. David Petraeus said in an e-mail to The Associated Press.
His comments followed a protest Monday by hundreds of Afghans over the plans by Gainesville, Florida-based Dove World Outreach Center — a small evangelical Christian church that espouses anti-Islam philosophy — to burn copies of the Quran on church grounds to mark the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States that provoked the Afghan war.
Muslims consider the Quran to be the word of God and insist it be treated with the utmost respect, along with any printed material containing its verses or the name of Allah or the Prophet Muhammad. Any intentional damage or show of disrespect to the Quran is deeply offensive.
In 2005, 15 people died and scores were wounded in riots in Afghanistan sparked by a story in Newsweek magazine alleging interrogators at the U.S. detention center in Guantanamo Bay placed copies of the Quran in washrooms and flushed one down the toilet to get inmates to talk. Newsweek later retracted the story.
At Monday's protest, several hundred Afghans rallied outside a Kabul mosque, burning American flags and an effigy of Dove World's pastor and chanting "death to America." Members of the crowd briefly pelted a passing U.S. military convoy with stones, but were ordered to stop by rally organizers.
Two days earlier, thousands of Indonesian Muslims rallied outside the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta and in five other cities to protest the church's plans.
Petraeus warned images of burning Qurans could be used to incite anti-American sentiment similar to the pictures of prisoner abuse at Iraq's Abu Graib (ah-booh GRABE) prison.
"I am very concerned by the potential repercussions of the possible (Quran) burning. Even the rumor that it might take place has sparked demonstrations such as the one that took place in Kabul yesterday," Petraeus said in his message. "Were the actual burning to take place, the safety of our soldiers and civilians would be put in jeopardy and accomplishment of the mission would be made more difficult."
The U.S. Embassy in Kabul also issued a statement condemning the church's plans, saying Washington was "deeply concerned about deliberate attempts to offend members of religious or ethnic groups."
Dove World Outreach Center, which made headlines last year after distributing T-shirts that said "Islam is of the Devil," has been denied a permit to set a bonfire but has vowed to proceed with the burning. The congregation's website estimates it has about 50 members, but the church has leveraged the Internet with a Facebook page and blog devoted to its Quran-burning plans.
A surge in troop deployments has brought the number of U.S. forces battling the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan to about 100,000 and Petraeus is asking for 2,000 more soldiers to join the 140,000-strong international force here, NATO officials said Monday. It was unclear how many would be Americans.
Coalition officials said nearly half will be trainers for the rapidly expanding Afghan security forces and will include troops trained to neutralize roadside bombs that have been responsible for about 60 percent of the 2,000 allied deaths in the nearly 9-year war.
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not supposed to talk about the issue with media, said the NATO-led command had been asking for the troops even before Gen. David Petraeus assumed command here in July.
Petraeus recently renewed that request with the NATO command in Brussels. The alliance has had trouble raising more troops for the war effort, with at least 450 training slots still unfilled after more than a year.
With casualties rising, the war has become deeply unpopular in many of NATO's 28-member countries, suggesting the additional forces will have to come from the United States. In Europe, polls show the majority of voters consider it an unnecessary drain on finances at a time of sharp cuts in public spending and other austerity measures.
Also Tuesday, authorities confirmed the ambush killing of a district chief by suspected insurgents in the northern province of Baghlan on Monday afternoon. Nahrin district chief Rahmad Sror Joshan Pool was on his way home after a memorial service for slain anti-Soviet guerrilla leader Ahmad Shah Massoud when rocket-propelled grenades hit his vehicle, setting it on fire, said provincial spokesman Mahmood Haqmal.
Pool's bodyguard was also killed in the attack, and one militant died and two were wounded in the ensuing firefight with police, Haqmal said.
___
Associated Press writer Slobodan Lekic in Brussels contributed to this report.
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Pastor puts Quran-burning on hold, eyes NY mosque deal
Dove World Outreach Center pastor Terry Jones (L) shakes hands with Imam Muhammad Musri, president of the Islamic Society of Central Florida in Orlando, after a joint press conference on September 9, 2010 in Gainesville, Florida. PHOTO: AFP
GAINESVILLE: A Florida pastor put on hold Thursday plans to burn hundreds of Qurans and said he would cancel the event if a controversial mosque project near Ground Zero in New York is relocated.
In a day of high-stakes religious brinkmanship, radical evangelist Terry Jones at first announced he had cancelled Saturday’s ceremony, which world leaders fear could ignite a fierce Muslim backlash around the globe. But when his claims of a deal over a proposed Islamic cultural center in New York dissolved in acrimony, he threatened to go ahead with the incendiary ceremony to mark the anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks.
“I will be flying up there on Saturday to meet with the imam at the Ground Zero mosque,” Jones said initially. “The American people do not want the mosque there, and, of course, Muslims do not want us to burn the Quran.”
But the imam leading the New York project quickly denied any agreement to move the planned mosque, which is slated for a building two and half blocks from the site of former World Trade Center which was struck by 9/11 hijackers. “I am glad that Pastor Jones has decided not to burn any Qurans,” Feisal Abdul Rauf said in a statement to CNN, but added: “We are not going to toy with our religion or any other. Nor are we going to barter.”
Jones, head of the tiny Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Florida, has threatened an international crisis with his promise to immolate the Muslim holy book on Saturday, the ninth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Concern is so high that US Defense Secretary Robert Gates put in a personal phone call to Jones to try and get him to change him mind, warning that the Quran burning would put US soldiers’ lives at risk. This rare decision by President Barack Obama’s administration to cede to Jones’s demand for direct contact followed growing worries of a disaster for US interests worldwide.
The State Department warned citizens of “the potential for anti-US demonstrations in many countries… some of which may turn violent.” Global police agency Interpol predicted “tragic consequences,” with experts fearing riots in Muslim countries similar to those in response to the 2005 publication of cartoons blaspheming the Prophet Mohammed (pbuh).
Initial relief at Jones’s apparent retreat turned to dismay when he renewed his threat to go ahead with the ceremony and the supposed deal with Rauf unraveled.
Orlando-based imam Mohammed Musri, who played the crucial role of go-between in Saturday’s proceedings, said he had made it abundantly clear to Jones he could provide no assurances about the mosque project. “What we agreed is, we had a commitment from the office of the imam in New York to set up a meeting and to invite pastor Jones to present this proposal,” Musri told CNN. “We did not have an agreement from them, from the imam himself or anyone in his office, that the project will be moved or canceled in New York,” he said. “But when we stepped out in front of the cameras, he stretched that to say that I gave him a commitment or assurances, or as he puts it, guarantees, that that would happen. I did not. I have no control over the project in New York.”
Rauf, a cleric who travels the world on behalf of the State Department to improve US-Muslim relations, says the center — two blocks from Ground Zero — would be used to promote inter-faith peace. But the plan has become a major controversy ahead of midterm Congressional elections on November 2.
More radical opponents accuse the site of amounting to a monument honouring the terrorists who carried out the September 11 attacks.
Jones had cast himself as having single-handedly resolved the standoff thanks to his threat to desecrate the Quran.
“The imam has agreed to move the mosque. We have agreed to cancel our event on Saturday, and on Saturday I will be flying up there to meet with him.”
Later, once the organisers denied any bargain, Jones, expressing disappointment and shock that Musri had perhaps lied to him, resurrected the specter of the Quran-burning if no deal is done. “We would be forced to rethink our decision, because we cancelled it based upon his (Musri’s) word.”
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Pastor Terry Jones has now indicated that he may yet go through with the planned Koran burning. Photo: AP
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By Alex Spillius and Toby Harnden
Friday September 10 2010
A US pastor has said he may press ahead with plans to burns copies of the Koran on September 11 – just hours after announcing that the stunt had been cancelled.
Pastor Terry Jones, from the Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Florida, last night said that he had abandoned the event after receiving assurance that the planned Islamic centre and mosque near Ground Zero, the site of the attacks, in New York, would be relocated.
His announcement followed worldwide condemnation and warnings of a deadly Islamic backlash.
But Mr Jones later indicated that the burning may go ahead as planned, after the Muslim group behind the New York mosque said they had not agreed to any deal.
The pastor said: "Given what we are now hearing, we are forced to rethink our decision. So as of right now, we are not cancelling the event, but we are suspending it."
Mr Jones claimed he was "lied to" after Imam Muhammad Musri, the president of the Islamic Society of Central Florida, and the leader of the New York mosque said that no agreement had been struck.
Mr Musri said there was only an agreement for him and Mr Jones to travel to New York tomorrow to meet the imam overseeing plans to build the mosque.
Earlier, Mr Jones had been telephoned by Robert Gates, the US Defence Secretary, who asked him to reconsider his plans to burn Korans on Saturday, the ninth anniversary of the September 11th attacks, because it could have endangered the lives of American troops.
Mr Jones had said he would reconsider his plans if he received a call from the White House or the Pentagon.
In his initial statement, the pastor said he had received assurances that the mosque planned near the Ground Zero site would be built elsewhere.
“I have his word that he will move the mosque,” Mr Jones said, referring to Imam Musri.
“We are now against any other group burning Korans. We would right now ask no one to burn Korans. We are absolutely strong on that. It is not the time to do it,” he said. But Imam Musri played down the claims, saying: “We do not have a commitment as of now to move [the Ground Zero mosque]. We have a commitment to meet.”
Mr Jones’ comments were contradicted altogether when Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, the man behind the controversial mosque, issued a statement saying there had been no negotiations of the sort.
Mr Jones, who said he was close to tears, called the supposed agreement a “sign from God”. He said he had “no regrets” about deciding to burn the Korans but was glad the situation had been resolved.
The pastor later said he would be “very, very disappointed” if the mosque was not moved, insisting that Imam Musri had told him four times that the New York leaders promised to move it.
Imam Musri said: “We are committed to resolving the situation here [in Florida] and there [in New York]. I want to thank Pastor Jones for his courage and willingness to take into consideration the safety of our troops across the world and the safety of all Americans travelling and doing business abroad.” The planned book burning has provoked criticism from both the US government and the international community.
President Barack Obama had warned that the plans served as a “recruitment bonanza for al-Qaeda”, and were “completely contrary to our values”. Burning the Koran could provoke a wave of terrorist attacks on the West.
In a televised interview, Mr Obama said: “This could increase the recruitment of individuals who’d be willing to blow themselves up in American cities, or European cities. You know, you could have serious violence in places like Pakistan or Afghanistan. This is a recruitment bonanza for al-Qaeda. As a very practical matter, as commander in chief of the armed forces of the United States, I just want him to understand that this stunt that he is pulling could greatly endanger our young men and women in uniform who are in Iraq, who are in Afghanistan.”
Interpol said the burning would probably provoke terrorist attacks. Ronald Noble, the global police agency’s secretary-general, said: “Although there are currently no specific details as to what form of terror attacks would follow, what is clear is – if the Koran burning goes ahead – there will be tragic consequences.”
A confidential FBI report said that police should be prepared for revenge attacks in the United States. Earlier yesterday, the State Department warned any Americans travelling overseas to be prepared for anti-US demonstrations.
World leaders had encouraged Mr Obama to intervene. Asif Ali Zardari, the Pakistani president, condemned the plan as “despicable”. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the president of Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation, said it would damage attempts to reconcile Muslims and the West.
Protesters in Pakistan, burned the Stars and Stripes, chanted “Down with America” and marched with banners carrying English language slogans such as “If Koran is burned, it would be beginning of destruction of America”.
Protesters also marched in Afghanistan’s Kapisa province. Nouri al-Maliki, Iraq’s prime minister, said the burning “might be taken as a pretext by the extremists to carry out more killings”.
- Alex Spillius and Toby Harnden
© Telegraph.co.uk
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