Political tensions mark 9/11 anniversary

The ninth anniversary of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, was observed with prayers and services of remembrance, but also with demonstrations and arguments over plans for an Islamic center near Ground Zero in New York. Adding to the tensions was uncertainty about the activities of a Florida pastor, who before changing his mind on September 9 planned to burn copies of the Qur'an on the 9/11 anniversary—a plan that sparked a media frenzy and criticism from around the world.

Terry Jones, pastor of the Dove World Outreach Center, a church of 50 members in Gainesville, postponed his bonfire plans, saying that a Florida Muslim leader had helped broker a deal with the man behind the proposed Islamic center, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf Rauf, to relocate the center farther from Ground Zero. But Rauf and Imam Muhammad Musri of the Islamic Society of Central Florida both said that no deal had been made.

Rauf said in a statement to the Associated Press said that he had no plans to meet with Jones. "Our plans for the community center have not changed." Rauf said he was open to meeting, however, "with anyone who is seriously committed to pursuing peace."