Radical US Pastor Defiant Over Quran Burning, Despite Afghanistan Murders
By Ria Novosti
U.S. radical Pastor Terry Jones who inflamed bloody protests in Afghanistan by burning a Quran copy, on Saturday told the ABC TV channel he does not consider himself guilty.
Earlier in the day, ten people were killed and 78 received injuries in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar in protests against the burning of Quran by Pastor Jones. This burst of hatred follows a similar one in the Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif on Friday; 14 people were killed in it.
“We [Pastor Jones and his supporters] do not feel responsible – no. We feel more that the Muslims and radical Islam uses that as an excuse. If they didn’t use us as an excuse, they would use a different excuse,” Jones said.
Jones wanted to burn copy of the Islam’s holy book on the last year’s anniversary of the September 11 attacks. But he backed down under intense pressure, including interventions from President Barack Obama, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Gen David Petraeus, the commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, who warned that such a stunt would endanger American lives.
However, on March 21 Jones burned a Quran in his church.
