Obama, Karzai Decry Koran Burning, Ensuing Attack

Associated Press

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President Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai have decried the Koran burning by a Florida minister last month and condemned the riot that ensued and left seven U.N. workers dead in the city of Mazar-i-Sharif.

In a teleconference Wednesday, the two leaders said the attack was an affront to human decency and dignity.

During the one one-hour call, Obama also welcomed Karzai's announcement last month that his nation's security forces would begin taking over from the U.S.-led coalition in seven parts of the country. Such Afghan lead is a first step toward his goal of having Afghan police and soldiers in charge by the end of 2014 so foreign combat troops can go home.

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Senators decry anti-Muslim violence

By Saul Loeb, AFP/Getty Images

Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois questions a witness at a hearing Tuesday on anti-Muslim discrimination.

EnlargeCloseBy Saul Loeb, AFP/Getty Images

Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois questions a witness at a hearing Tuesday on anti-Muslim discrimination.

"Those who use this type of rhetoric, who burn Qurans and who engage in other forms of bigotry and discrimination may be few in number, but their bigoted conduct and remarks violate the spirit of our Bill of Rights," said Senate Majority Leader Dick Durbin, D-Ill., chairman of the Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights.

While subcommittee Democrats said special attention should be paid to hate crimes committed against Muslims in the USA, Republicans argued that Muslim Americans have not done enough to fight radicalism in their own communities.

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