Friday, September 10, 2010
The Rev. Terry Jones told CBS' "The Early Show" that "we have called the event off." Soon afterward, however, he told reporters in Florida the burning is still being contemplated.
"We are seriously, seriously, seriously considering not burning the Qurans. That is absolutely right," Jones said.
Challenged by a reporter, Jones then said, "Well, we are hoping that we can come to a conclusion."
"Are you or aren't you?" a reporter asked, to which Jones replied, "We're actually not prepared to answer that right now."
Jones also said he is scheduled to travel to New York on Friday night for a still unscheduled meeting with the imam in charge of the Islamic center planned near ground zero. The meeting, Jones had said, was part of what convinced him to halt the planned burning.
Jones said the meeting was promised Thursday by local Florida imam Mohammad Musri, who also told him the Islamic center would be moved in exchange for the burning being called off.
Musri said Friday he made no such promise, however, and both Musri and the imam in charge of the center, Feisal Abdul Rauf, said there was no agreement on a meeting or relocation of the mosque.
Asked who is telling the truth about what Musri may or may not have promised, the imam told CNN on Friday, "Of course, I am."
"I made it very clear to him: I have no control over the project in New York," Musri told CNN. "I am just a mediator here. I promised to set up the meeting and take him along, pay for it, but no guarantee that I can move that mosque. It's not my decision."
Musri said Jones "stretched it and exaggerated" the outcome of their Thursday afternoon meeting once he went before the cameras, telling reporters that Musri promised the meeting in New York and that the Islamic center would be moved.
"That's not what I offered him," Musri insisted Friday.
The imam said he feels Jones is a "good person at heart" who simply got himself into a difficult position and could not back down, despite calls from Christian and world leaders.
"He could not back down, and I felt that it's my responsibility, as the Muslim leader in central Florida, to go up to him and speak one on one with him and explain that he's putting American lives in danger and he should reconsider."
Jones' plan to burn Qurans had set off a worldwide firestorm of concern, including from U.S. military leaders who said the event -- timed for the ninth anniversary of the September 11, 2001, attacks -- would imperil the lives of troops abroad.
President Obama and Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Thursday urged Jones to call off the burning. The Vatican made a similar plea, and Interpol issued a worldwide alert that the act could spark violence.
Sporadic demonstrations broke out in Afghanistan on Friday, with hundreds gathering to protest the planned burning. The largest demonstration was in the northern province of Badakhshan, where about 500 Afghans protested outside of a NATO base in the area, the International Security Assistance Force said.
ISAF said two people were hurt in the protests. However, the deputy governor of the province said thousands of people turned out, one protester was killed and three wounded.
Asked for his reaction to the Afghan casualties, Jones said it was "absolutely terrible" but said he is not to blame.
"We're pointing the finger at the wrong person," Jones said. "I haven't even done anything. I think it reveals ... the violence in Islam. Just the mere mentioning of it, just the threat, causes them to kill people, to protest, to say they are going to kill the president. I think it is quite obvious that what we are saying is definitely, definitely true."
The FBI visited Jones at the Gainesville, Florida-based Dove World Outreach Center on Thursday, according to Jeffrey Westcott, special agent in charge of the Jacksonville, Florida, bureau. The FBI also visited him a few weeks ago, he said, but would not say what was discussed.
Earlier this week, the top U.S. military commander in Afghanistan, Gen. David Petraeus, warned that the plan "could cause significant problems" for American troops overseas.
Jones had rejected the pleas. The church had said the event is "neither an act of love nor of hate," but a warning against what it calls the threats posed by Islam.
Separately Thursday, real estate mogul Donald Trump offered to buy the lower Manhattan site where the Muslim group plans to build the Islamic center. Trump wrote a letter to Hisham Elzanaty, an investor in the site, offering 25 percent more than the current owners paid for it.
"I am making this offer as a resident of New York and citizen of the United States, not because I think the location is a spectacular one (because it is not), but because it will end a very serious, inflammatory, and highly divisive situation that is destined, in my opinion, to only get worse," Trump wrote.
Elzanaty told CNN on Thursday that he is the majority owner of the two properties slated to become the Islamic center and would consider selling his stake for the right price.
CNN's Rich Phillips in Gainesville, Florida; Mark J. Norman in New York; and Atia Abawi and Matiullah Mati in Kabul, Afghanistan, contributed to this report.