As riots continue to spread through Afghanistan, members of congress are debating whether to issue an official condemnation of Terry Jones, the Florida pastor who recently burned a copy of the Koran. Islamic leaders used the Koran-burning incident to incite the protests, which have already killed 22 UN workers:
U.S. lawmakers said Sunday they would consider a request by Afghan President Hamid Karzai to formally condemn a Florida pastor’s decision to burn the Koran, after the act triggered deadly riots in Afghanistan.
The protests entered their third day Sunday as demonstrators battled police in the southern city of Kandahar and, in the eastern city of Jalalabad, blocked a highway and burned an effigy of President Obama.
Burning the Koran is uninspired, disrespectful, and adds little to the public discourse. But it’s also a perfectly legitimate and legal form of expression–a reality that seems to have irked some lawmakers.
Sen. Harry Reid said that the incident might have to be investigated by the senate. “We’ll take a look at this of course. . . . As to whether we need hearings or not, I don’t know,” he said on Face the Nation yesterday.
