Iranians chant "U.S. pastor must be killed"
"This incident and previous incidents clearly show that what the global arrogance is attacking today is the foundation of Islam and the Holy Koran." And yet the global arrogance has bent over backwards to make sure that no one got the idea that it is attacking Islam or the Qur'an. Khamenei assumes that the global arrogance is behind Terry Jones because in his country, no Terry Jones-like figure could arise without government backing.
Here again, the American government has a chance to condemn the madness of murdering and threatening murder over someone saying he was going to burn the Qur'an, and to stand for the freedom of expression. But it will once again squander this opportunity.
"Ayatollah Speaks of Plot to Abuse Koran," by Robert F. Worth in the New York Times, September 13 (thanks to Benedict):
DAMASCUS, Syria -- Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, delivered a fiery address on Monday accusing the United States government of orchestrating desecrations of the Koran by right-wing American Christian groups last weekend, Iranian state news agencies reported.
The speech appeared to be part of an effort by Iran's hard-line leaders to amplify Muslim outrage over scattered gestures to burn or tear pages of the Koran, in the wake of the threat -- later withdrawn -- by Terry Jones, a Florida pastor, to burn the Koran on the anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
In Tehran, about 1,000 protesters chanting "Death to America" and "U.S. pastor must be killed" clashed with the police and threw stones at the Swiss Embassy, Reuters reported. The Swiss have handled American interests in Iran ever since the United States severed diplomatic relations with Tehran after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
After Iran's state-owned Press TV ran reports about Koran desecrations in the United States, India blocked local cable operators from broadcasting the station in Indian-controlled Kashmir, where angry anti-American protests have taken place in recent days.
In his speech, Ayatollah Khamenei said "the leaders of the global arrogance" -- a code for the United States among Iranian conservatives -- had engineered the plot to desecrate the Koran, Press TV and other agencies reported. He added that "Zionist think tanks which hold the most influence in the United States government and its security and military organizations" were also involved.
Ayatollah Khamenei warned people not to believe that isolated right-wing American Christians were to blame, calling them "puppets" of the government. "This incident and previous incidents clearly show that what the global arrogance is attacking today is the foundation of Islam and the Holy Koran," he said....
http://www.jihadwatch.org/--
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