A Florida minister announced Thursday that he would not go forward with a controversial plan to burn copies of the Quran on the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks Saturday – shortly after a call from Defense Secretary Robert Gates asking him to cancel the event or risk the lives of U.S. troops overseas.
But if the White House hoped they had put the Quran-burning controversy behind them by day’s end Thursday, that was not at all clear.
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A supposed meeting between Rauf and Jones set for Saturday – which Jones touted in his remarks to reporters – also seemed unlikely to occur.
About the only thing clear by day’s end was that the White House had once again found itself dragged into a controversy over Islam, just days before the ninth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. The lower Manhattan mosque issue has dogged Democrats for weeks, and now Obama seems sure to face questions about both that and the Quran controversy at his news conference Friday – one in which he hoped to keep a sharp focus on his economic recovery plans.
Though his church has less than 50 members, Jones drew international attention with his plan to sponsor a “Burn the Koran” day to protest violent Muslim extremism and honor the victims of the 9/11 terror attacks. The planned event drew worldwide coverage – and controversy — drawing the condemnation of political leaders from both sides of the aisle, with Obama himself calling it a “stunt” and a “recruitment bonanza for al-Qaida.”
The high-level attention devoted to Jones showed the level of concern inside the White House and the Pentagon over the potential blowback in the Middle East should his Quran-burning event go forward. Obama administration officials – feeling the need to reach out to Jones after a week in which the controversy built – decided a request to cancel the event would best come from Gates.
"Secretary Gates reached out to Pastor Jones this afternoon,” Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said. “They had a very brief phone conversation during which the Secretary expressed his grave concern that going forward with the Quran burning would put at risk the lives of our forces around the world, especially those in Iraq and Afghanistan, and he urged the Pastor not to proceed with it.”
But if the White House hoped they had put the Quran-burning controversy behind them by day’s end Thursday, that was not at all clear.
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The Rev. Terry Jones of Gainesville, Fla., and his associates offered a series of confusing statements about the decision – with Jones saying at one point he decided to cancel the Quran burning after securing a promise that the controversial proposed mosque near Ground Zero would be moved.
But the mosque’s leader, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, said there was no such deal. And Jones, in turn, said he’d been “tricked” and left open the chance the Quran-burning might still go forward.A supposed meeting between Rauf and Jones set for Saturday – which Jones touted in his remarks to reporters – also seemed unlikely to occur.
About the only thing clear by day’s end was that the White House had once again found itself dragged into a controversy over Islam, just days before the ninth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. The lower Manhattan mosque issue has dogged Democrats for weeks, and now Obama seems sure to face questions about both that and the Quran controversy at his news conference Friday – one in which he hoped to keep a sharp focus on his economic recovery plans.
Though his church has less than 50 members, Jones drew international attention with his plan to sponsor a “Burn the Koran” day to protest violent Muslim extremism and honor the victims of the 9/11 terror attacks. The planned event drew worldwide coverage – and controversy — drawing the condemnation of political leaders from both sides of the aisle, with Obama himself calling it a “stunt” and a “recruitment bonanza for al-Qaida.”
The high-level attention devoted to Jones showed the level of concern inside the White House and the Pentagon over the potential blowback in the Middle East should his Quran-burning event go forward. Obama administration officials – feeling the need to reach out to Jones after a week in which the controversy built – decided a request to cancel the event would best come from Gates.
"Secretary Gates reached out to Pastor Jones this afternoon,” Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said. “They had a very brief phone conversation during which the Secretary expressed his grave concern that going forward with the Quran burning would put at risk the lives of our forces around the world, especially those in Iraq and Afghanistan, and he urged the Pastor not to proceed with it.”
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