Koran Burning: Obama Fails Again

Koran burning isn’t new. Here’s a video on Youtube from 2007 of a Koran burning. There were no riots or mass killings. Why? Obviously Muslims know that they can’t intimidate anonymous individuals on the internet. Everyday there are thousands and thousands of individuals insulting the founder of Islam. It is ubiquitous and can be found on major websites, for example, in the comments section on yahoo.com. No riots result.

Why are there riots now? Karzai deliberately brought attention to Terry Jones’ burning of the Koran. He knew that imams would incite violence. Obviously this is a case where they believe they can intimidate. Who do they wish to intimidate? Terry Jones, of course, but more than that they wish to intimidate Western leaders. Sadly, our political and intellectual leaders can be easily manipulated.

It may appear to the average American that Obama has acted properly by condemning the violence in Afghanistan. Obama failed. He gave them what they wanted: respect for Islam. He acknowledged the validity of their complaint; by reiterating his respect for Islam he has given them a motivation for more “protests” of that nature. His message boiled down to “that’s not the right response but you are right to be angry.”

A president should never criticize a private citizen for exercising their right of free expression. When George W. Bush was president, some on the right condemned the critics of the Afghan and Iraq wars for putting our troops in danger by aiding and abetting the enemy. Ann Coulter wrote a whole book on the topic: Treason. President Bush responded correctly by saying only one thing: these are the freedoms we are fighting for. That’s all Obama was required to say.

If he wanted to fight an intellectual war he could have gone further. He could have condemned the violence in Afghanistan and add: “This will only make more people hate Islam and burn the Koran.” Muslims understand this language. Of course, he could add “I believe these people unfairly blame all of Islam for the acts of a few.” However, our presidents seldom wage an intellectual war. They generally leave that to their staff and private opinion writers. Sadly the intellectuals don’t have the courage to face evil without apologizing and undercutting their criticism.

At the very least Obama was required to say only one thing in response to the Koran burning: “these are the freedoms we are fighting for” and say it with the tone of a fait accompli: get used to it.