The following is an excerpt from OpinionJournal.com’s “Best of the Web” written by the editor, James Taranto.

News You Can Use

  • “Reading Arabic ‘Hard for Brain’ “–headline, BBC website, Sept. 3
  • “Forget What You Know About Good Study Habits”–headline, New York Times, Sept. 7
  • “Report: Money Can Buy You Happiness, to a Point”–headline, Associated Press, Sept. 7

A Job for George W. Bush
A news story in the New York Times unwittingly illustrates the hypocrisy of Ground Zero mosque proponents:

For nine years after the attacks of Sept. 11, many American Muslims made concerted efforts to build relationships with non-Muslims, to make it clear they abhor terrorism, to educate people about Islam and to participate in interfaith service projects. They took satisfaction in the observations by many scholars that Muslims in America were more successful and assimilated than Muslims in Europe.

Now, many of those same Muslims say that all of those years of work are being rapidly undone by the fierce opposition to a Muslim cultural center near ground zero that has unleashed a torrent of anti-Muslim sentiments and a spate of vandalism. . . .

Some American Muslims said they were especially on edge as the anniversary of 9/11 approaches. The pastor of a small church in Florida has promised to burn a pile of Korans that day. Muslim leaders are telling their followers that the stunt has been widely condemned by Christian and other religious groups and should be ignored. But they said some young American Muslims were questioning how they could simply sit by and watch the promised desecration.

Assuming that the Florida pastor complies with applicable fire codes, he has a perfect legal right to burn Korans that are his private property. That he has a right to do it, however, does not mean it is the right thing to do. In our view, he should call off the event for the same reason that the mosque developers should choose a site a respectful distance from Ground Zero: because the plan is obnoxious and (figuratively as well as literally) inflammatory.

The Koran-burning stunt is attracting attention across the world, the Associated Press reports from Kabul:

Hundreds of Afghans shouted anti-American slogans and called for President Obama’s death at a rally yesterday to denounce an American church’s plans to burn the Islamic holy book to mark the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

The crowd in Kabul, numbering as many as 500, chanted “long live Islam” and “death to America.”

There is a grain of truth in the protesters’ blaming Obama, whose limp leadership has had an incendiary effect. He escalated the Ground Zero mosque controversy by making a strong but unnecessary statement about religious freedom, but then abdicated his responsibility by voting “present” on the real question: whether it is wise and responsible to use freedom in this way.

CNN.com reports that Gen. David Petraeus has issued a statement that the Koran burning “could endanger troops and it could endanger the overall effort in Afghanistan.” But the commander in chief hasn’t said a word about it, and how could he? If the president of the United States is indifferent or hostile to his own countrymen’s sensitivities, his exhortations to respect the sensitivities of foreigners–although in this case they would be entirely justified–are sure to fall on deaf ears.

America needs a president with the moral authority to denounce the Florida church’s stupid, offensive, potentially dangerous stunt. This is a job for George W. Bush.

For more “Best of the Web” click here and look for the “Best of the Web Today” link in the middle column below “Today’s Columnists.