Brian Williams Interviews General Petraeus on Church Koran Burning

NBC Nightly News anchor and managing editor Brian Williams spoke with General David Petraeus, the top U.S. and NATO Commander in Afghanistan, about a Gainesville, Florida-based church’s plans to burn Qurans.

Portions of the interview aired last night on NBC Nightly News and also on MSNBC. The full interview is available as a stream on msnbc.com.

Below is a transcript from a portion of the interview;

BRIAN WILLIAMS: General, thank you for your patience. Thank you most of all for making time to be with us. I know you have an upcoming either battle circulation or one that has just ended. What is your fear here if this man goes ahead with his plans to burn a Quran and if perhaps others do? What is your fear as to what will happen?

GENERAL DAVID PETRAEUS: Well our concern, Brian, is that such an act would jeopardize the safety of our soldiers and our civilians, even of our Afghan partners because it's the police and soldiers of the Afghan forces who would have to confront the kind of demonstrations that we're afraid would erupt in the wake of such an action. We're concerned that the images from the burning of a Koran would be used in the same way that extremists used images from Abu Ghraib, that they would in a sense be indelible. They would be in cyberspace forever. They'd be non-biodegradable and they would be used by those who wish us ill, to incite violence and to enflame public opinion against us and against our mission here in Afghanistan as well as our missions undoubtedly around the world.