Barack Obama apology to Afghanistan over Koran burning

[Douglas Carpenter]

23. Gingrich blasts Obama’s apology to Afghan president

Republican White House hopeful Newt Gingrich has angrily denounced President Obama's apology to Afghan President Hamid Karzai over the burning of Korans at a U.S. military base.

The former speaker took to his Twitter feed to condemn Obama's letter to Karzai, saying: "It is an outrage that on the day an Afghan soldier murders two American troops, Pres. Obama is the one apologizing."

The incident at Bagram Air Base triggered a violent response from Afghans, with 14 dead over three days of protests. Two American soldiers were shot dead when an Afghan soldier turned his weapon on them at their base in Khogyani in eastern Nangarhar province, district governor Mohammad Hassan told AFP.

Obama's apology mirrored that given by then-President George W. Bush in April after an American sniper in Afghanistan shot a Koran, peppering the Muslim holy book with bullet holes. At the time, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino had emphasized that it was important to show that the US president "knew that this was wrong."


Ahead of Gingrich's vitriolic comment, Obama spokesman Jay Carney told reporters aboard Air Force One that the apology was "wholly appropriate, given the sensitivities to this issue, the understandable sensitivities."

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/gingrich-blasts-obama-apology-karzai-230630584.html

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