Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) released a statement today asking those planning to burn copies of the Koran on September 11th to “reconsider and drop their plans because they are inconsistent with American values.”
“I appeal to people who are planning to burn the Quran to reconsider and drop their plans because they are inconsistent with American values and, as General Petraeus has warned, threatening to America’s military,” Lieberman wrote.
He continued:
We are at war against violent Islamist extremism, as propagated by al Qaeda, its ideological affiliates, and radicalized individuals, who justify their wanton violence based on a corrupted interpretation of Islam. Let us concentrate on working with the moderate Muslim majority to defeat the Islamist extremist minority in Afghanistan, and wherever else it may establish sanctuary, and to discredit this violent ideology that propagates the hateful lie that the Islamic world and the Western World are engaged in a clash of civilizations. We will never defeat this brutally repressive enemy by discarding America’s historic respect for religious diversity.
Lieberman is the latest politician to speak out about the plans, following Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) who said earlier today that the plans are “unwise,” but stopped short of asking for the event to be stopped.
Full coverage of the planned Koran-burning here.
Jillian Rayfield
Jillian Rayfield is a Reporter/Blogger for TPM, and started as a News Intern in May 2009. She graduated from Cornell University in May 2008 with a degree in Film, and worked as a Research Assistant for a market research firm in London in between.
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