NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen Condemns Planned Quran Burning

WASHINGTON (Sept. 7) -- NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who once defended the publication of cartoons mocking the Prophet Muhammad, is condemning a Florida pastor's plan to burn Qurans on the ninth anniversary of 9/11, saying it could "have a negative impact on the security for our troops" fighting in Afghanistan.

Rasmussen agreed with Gen. David Petraeus, the commander of U.S. forces there, who said the spectacle of Islam's holy book going up in flames could "endanger troops and it could endanger the overall effort" to defeat the Taliban.

"I think it's a disrespectful action," Rasmussen told reporters today before heading to the White House for a meeting about the NATO mission in Afghanistan with President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. "I urge people to respect other people's faith and behave respectfully. I think such actions are a strong contradiction with all the values we stand for and fight for."

Rev. Terry Jones at the Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Fla., Monday, Aug. 30, 2010. Jones plans 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.

John Raoux, AP

The Rev. Terry Jones plans to burn copies of the Quran at the Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Fla., on Sept. 11.

Rasmussen took a different approach five years ago when, as prime minister of Denmark, he defended the publication of the cartoons as a matter of freedom of speech. The cartoons in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten set off violent protests in the Muslim world like those threatened if Qurans are burned this week. Yet, one year later, Rasmussen stuck to the conclusion "that freedom of speech is the most valuable right of liberty. We must defend it to the very last."

That view almost derailed Rasmussen's bid to lead the military alliance, whose 28 member countries recently sent 7,000 reinforcements to fight alongside 30,000 U.S. surge troops sent to Afghanistan. Turkey, the only Muslim country -- other than tiny Albania -- in the European organization, initially objected to Rasmussen's appointment, citing the controversy over the Danish cartoons. It eventually dropped its threatened veto after assurances from Washington.

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While it's unclear what impact, if any, the former Danish leader will have on the planned Quran burning, the Gainesville, Fla., pastor behind it indicated Petraeus' warning has caused him to rethink the event.

The Rev. Terry Jones, who plans the burning "as a warning" to Muslims, whose religion he dismisses as a blood-thirsty cult, said on CNN today that he was concerned about possibly having the blood of U.S. soldiers on his hands, although he refused to back down.

"We have firmly made up our mind, but at the same time we are definitely praying about it," the leader of the Dove World Outreach Center said, But, he added, "how long, when does America stand for truth? I mean, instead of us being blamed for what other people will do or might do, why don't we send a warning to them? Why don't we send a warning to radical Islam and say, 'Look, don't do it!'?"