Petraeus and Allen knew that if this happened, Muslims in Afghanistan and elsewhere would like start rioting and killing innocent people. And rather than stand up and say that it was madness to rampage and kill over a stunt by a man named Bubba the Love Sponge (or anyone else), they tried instead to stop the stunt from happening. Petraeus and Allen thereby reinforced (yet again) the principle that violent intimidation and terrorism work, signaling to Islamic supremacists and jihadists that if they were willing to kill people to shut Americans up, rather than stand up for the freedom of expression they would work to shut Americans up as well.
“Petraeus asked socialite to avert anti-Islam stunt,” from AFP, November 17:
WASHINGTON “” A Florida socialite at the heart of a scandal that brought down the CIA chief was once asked by him to stop a radio talk show host who was threatening to “deep fat fry” the Koran, US media reported early on Saturday.
That account, which comes from emails sent by socialite Jill Kelley, offers a new glimpse at her relationship with Petraeus and other senior military officials.
In March, a Florida radio talk show host named Todd Alan Clem but known as Bubba the Love Sponge said he was going to “deep fat fry” a copy of the Koran as a stunt, the reports said.
Gen. John Allen, commander of US and NATO troops in Afghanistan, and CIA director David Petraeus, both asked Kelley, who lives in Tampa, to try to intervene and stop the radio host by contacting the city’s mayor, Bob Buckhorn.
“I have Petraeus and Allen both emailing me about getting this dealt with,” Kelley wrote to the mayor, according to NBC News.
The generals saw the “Bubba” announcement as a potential threat to the safety of US troops stationed in Islamic countries.
Defacing the Koran is forbidden in Islam and in the past plans to burn the Muslim holy book by a controversial Christian pastor in Florida sparked deadly protests across the Muslim world….