For the third time, the US military has taken the unusual step of officially addressing the liberties of a private American citizen — over his public treatment of Islam.

In 2011, General David Petraeus “condemned the action” of Pastors Wayne Sapp and Terry Jones, who burned what General Petraeus called “a copy of the holy Quran.”

In 2012, General Marty Dempsey called Jones personally and asked him not to support the “pornographic” anti-Islam film that was initially blamed for the attack on the consulate in Benghazi. (General Dempsey needn’t have worried; the film apparently never existed.)

This week, US Army General Lloyd Austin (now in Petraeus’ old job) called Jones and asked him not to burn books — 3,000 copies of the Qu’ran, to be specific:

Army Gen. Lloyd Austin III, commander of U.S. Central Command, on Monday asked Rev. Terry Jones to rethink his plan to burn the Muslim holy books…

“He relayed to Mr. Jones that he was very concerned that such activity is disrespectful to Muslims and needlessly puts innocent civilians and U.S. military members in the CENTCOM area of responsibility at greater risk.”

Jones rebuffed the request.  He was apparently arrested on his way to burn the books.

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