Santorum and Romney: US should not apologize for Quran burnings

On the Sunday morning talk shows, GOP presidential candidates Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum criticized President Barack Obama for apologizing to Afghans for the burning of Qurans at a US military base in Afghanistan.

Five days of violent protests in Afghanistan and Pakistan followed the burnings, leaving at least two dozen people dead, the New York Times reported.

Obama apologized for the incident in a letter delivered to Afghan President Hamid Kharzai on Feb. 23, USA Today reported. "The error was inadvertent,” he wrote. “I assure you that we will take the appropriate steps to avoid any recurrence, to include holding accountable those responsible."

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“There was nothing deliberately done wrong here. This was something that happened as a mistake,” Santorum said on ABC’s This Week, according to ABC News. “Killing Americans in uniform is not a mistake. Say it’s unfortunate…but to apologize for something that was not an intentional act is something that the president of the United States in my opinion should not have done.”

He added: “I think it shows weakness.”

On Fox News Sunday, Romney said: "We've made an enormous contribution to help the people there achieve freedom, and for us to be apologizing at a time like this is something which is very difficult for the American people to countenance.”

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton offered an opposite view on CNN's State of the Union this morning, USA Today reported. She said the Republicans’ criticism was not helpful, adding, "I find it somewhat troubling that our politics would inflame such a dangerous situation in Afghanistan."

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