Burning Books

Robert Mackey and Damen Cave give us this update on the planned Gainesville Koran-burning extravaganza:

Terry Jones, the pastor of a tiny Florida church that has garnered worldwide attention for its plan to burn more than 200 copies of the Koran, told reporters on Wednesday that, “as of this time, we have no intention of canceling.” He added, “we are not convinced that backing down is the right thing, so on Sept. 11 we will continue with our planned event.”

As The Lede explained earlier today, there has been widespread opposition to the church’s plans from American officials, including the American commander in Afghanistan, Gen. David Petraeus, who warned, “It could endanger troops and it could endanger the overall effort in Afghanistan. … It is precisely the kind of action the Taliban uses and could cause significant problems. Not just here, but everywhere in the world we are engaged with the Islamic community.”

Speaking to television crews assembled on the church’s lawn in Gainesville, Fla., Mr. Jones said, “we understand the general’s concerns and we are still considering” what he said. The pastor, who has been highly successful at using the media to spread his message, then attacked the news media for what he said was a failure to accurately report what he called “quite a bit of support” for the book-burning event, even within the American military.

By way of example, Mr. Jones cited a phone call he said he had received on Tuesday from a former American solider who claimed that “the people that are on the field, the Special Forces … are 100 percent behind us.”

Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of this whole situation is how little self-criticism has been provoked within the media. None of the blowhards (at Fox and elsewhere), who have been cheer-leading the increasingly dangerous anti-Muslim hysteria in recent months, show any remorse. They act as if this Terry Jones had no reason to expect that his demonstration of intolerance and ignorance would find any support. Indeed, some of the most shameless anti-Islamic fear-mongers are now making a point of publicly asking pastor Jones to refrain from his planned Koran-burning. Even Pamela Geller, who lobbied hard against the Cordoba House long before her opposition was taken up by well-known pundits and politicians, tried to assume a posture of moderation. We'll have to wait and see how this whole sorry episode plays out.