Aside from being a monumentally stupid idea and un-American to boot, Petreaus makes the case that such a high profile stunt endangers American lives in Afghanistan:

"It could endanger troops and it could endanger the overall effort," Gen. Petraeus said in an interview. "It is precisely the kind of action the Taliban uses and could cause significant problems. Not just here, but everywhere in the world we are engaged with the Islamic community."

Hundreds of Afghans attended a demonstration in Kabul on Monday to protest the plans of Florida pastor Terry Jones, who has said he will burn copies of Islam's holy book to mark the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Afghan protesters chanted "death to America," and speakers called on the U.S. to withdraw its troops. Some protesters threw rocks at a passing military convoy.

Pretty mild stuff that will almost certainly escalate once the world press splashes pictures of burning Korans all over the Muslim world.

This despite the fact that this pastor heads up a ridiculously small church (50 members) and is obviously a glory seeking charlatan.

Any mindless boob can apparently raise the hackles of the ignorant, 7th century peasants who are stirred up by their holy men. We saw this with the Mohammad cartoons, the false "flushing the Koran down the toilet" story spread by Newsweek, and just about anything that Muslims don't like said about them. But why this small potatoes preacher is getting headlines around the world can only be because the world media wants to see riots, bloodshed, and ant-American fervor. That kind of stuff sells papers so why not pluck this benighted nobody out from underneath the rock where he has crawled out and make a big deal out of him?

Burning books is un-American, period. To those who believe that the devil resides in books, I would only say that it is in your own mind and heart where Lucifer lurks, and that any book - no matter how objectionable the content - should be protected from those who would put an "Except" after the first amendment.