>>>
good evening from new
york
. this just in from
kerry sanders
in
florida
. we're a little back to square one he now quotes pastor
terry jones
of the dove church in that state. i'm praying, he tells sanders, to decide what to do next. two days before the ninth anniversary of 9/11,
48 hours
before the planned burning of korans by a small
florida
church and our fifth story on the countdown tonight. the pastor of the church said the burning was canceled. it is too late to call back no matter what happens next already rippling through afghanistan. we'll have that later in the hour. we begin with pastor
jones
of the dove world outreach center in gainesville,
florida
, decided months to go to burn korans to take a stand against
radical islam
and american accommodation of it. despite a direct appeal by
president obama
via abc news today on that program and despite a personal appeal in a
phone call
from
defense secretary
gates today because of the violence it could inspire against
u.s. troops
.
jones
continued to say only god's word would sway him. that word apparently came today from our guest or via our guest standing by from the
islamic society
of
central florida
who says he has arranged a meeting between
jones
and the imam of the
islamic center
planned for two blocks from
ground zero
in new
york city
.
jones
described this as a deal to move that
islamic center
in new
york
and said then that not only was he canceling his koran burning saturday but that no one should burn any korans. that was what he said then.
>>
we are of course now against any other group burning korans obviously. we have accomplished our goal. we have accomplished what we feel god wants us to do. we would right now ask no one to burn korans. we are very, very strong on that. as strong as we were that they shouldn't burn korans. it is not the time to do it.
>>
mr.
jones
was told, however, that new
york
organizers of that
islamic center
have not agreed to move it
jones
was asked whether he felt tricked in exactly what he was told.
>>
the imam would move the mosque from
ground zero
. i was told he cannot move it tomorrow. i said that is fine. it cannot be in ten years. those were exact words i said. the man said that's fine. i said now he has agreed to move the mosque away from the
ground zero
area. yes, he has. that's what i was told. do i feel tricked? yes, of course. i don't feel tricked. i was lied to. that's why at this time i'm not prepared to believe that. i'm not prepared to make that accusation. i want to just wait and see and i'm right now believing his word. i find it very hard to believe that he would lie to me.
>>
that was followed by
jones
'
associate pastor
coming out to reporters this evening and suggesting they might return to being just as for burning korans as they are currently against burning korans if the new
york city
islamic center
does not move.
>>
we have not canceled the burning on saturday. we've suspended it until we get a confirmation on the information we were given today in a meeting full of different members of the church on what was said.
>>
with us now as promised, an imam from
islamic society
of
central florida
. thank you for joining us today. we appreciate it sincerely.
>>
thank you, keith. glad to be here.
>>
where does this stand? do you know? pastor
jones
seem to think the leaders of the new
york center
agreed to move the center further away from the location of
ground zero
. do you know about that? what exactly do you know?
>>
prior to
going inside
to meet with him when i submitted a request to meet with him, i spent an hour in the sun and during that time i talked to the media and explained exactly what i came to do. and that's exactly what i went inside and did and that is i told him i arranged for a meeting between me, himself and the imam and that the imam in new
york
has through his office agreed for us to meet up in new
york
if he gives up the event on saturday. i told him clearly i am not in any way connected to the event in new
york
. i have no control over it. i cannot promise you that it will be moved but my position is for it to be relocated to a more ideal position some whewhere we can avoid the controversy on that side. i said i advocate for that prior to this incident here and i'm willing to go personally to new
york
to do that. he clearly understood that there were no cut deals over there in new
york
. neither him nor i spoke to the imam in new
york
and we were under no impression that a deal has been made. a deal where he gives up this and the imam in new
york
gives up that.
>>
if there was no deal, what's your reaction to him saying he was going to new
york
to arrange how quickly and
far away
the park 51 center was going to be moved?
>>
the main reason that we came out and he agreed to call off the event on saturday was not centered on what's happening in new
york
or not. it was based on the fact that today is the last day of ramadan and
tomorrow morning
in a few hours in the
middle east
and throughout the world, muslims will be celebrating one of the two holiest days and during that hundreds of millions of people will be heading to mosques where a message will be delivered by imams, some of whom are radical and may use his event on saturday to radicalize the use and to turn people against us in the
united states
so i told him
time is of the essence
. if you wait until friday or saturday, it will be too little too late any way. you have to make a decision now and so people across the world will hear your message that you canceled this so that
tomorrow morning
we would not see riots and see demonstrations in the streets of pakistan, afghanistan and elsewhere.
>>
imam musri, the premise of this as you left the first meeting with pastor
jones
as you understood it and as you understood him to understand it was you believe that it would be a good gesture if the new
york center
was moved further away from
ground zero
. you agreed with that. you were going join him in new
york
to talk about the prospect of doing and that perhaps to advocate for that as a gesture of good will as the stopping of the burning of korans would be. is that the way you thought it was when you left that meeting?
>>
precisely. i repeated that three or four times inside the building.
>>
let me ask you one question about that that equates -- essentially the burning of the korans and building of this islamic
community center
at new
york
at some distance from
ground zero
, these two things have somehow become equated or perhaps conflated. why are these things even remotely connected and why shouldn't there be an
islamic center
exactly where they have it planned at 51
park place
in manhattan?
>>
i did not think they were connected at all. i thought that he connected them clearly when he stepped out in front of the cameras but inside i told him those are two separate issues completely separate. and the issue of burning the koran is something that will trigger reaction across the
muslim world
and it is not concurrent with his
christian beliefs
but the project in new
york
is something totally different. it is not breaking any law. it is in the
constitutional rights
of the
muslim community
of new
york
to do it. i told him my personal take on it that respecting the wishes of large number of americans who feel the controversy could be avoided by relocating the mosque, i said i'm for that position at this point. and i wish to talk to the imam in new
york
on that but these two events are not linked at all in my opinion.
>>
i'll close where i began in trying to understand where it all stands right now. do you understand where it all stands right now? is this church going to go ahead with the latest pledge not to do anything on saturday? is that at least going to happen? will there be a meeting? are you going to new
york
?
>>
i believe that pastor
jones
would keep his words. that's what i urge of him. and otherwise all that we have done for two days in a row will go to waste. it wasn't just what i told him but it was the many christian leaders who called him and the messages from
president obama
to the secretary of defense, everybody talked to him. it wasn't me but i gave him a face to see a muslim in front of him and talk to him and direct his frustration and anger towards me rather than to something he never seen. and towards a book. so he feels that we have a deal, and he is going to give me the time to make the contact with new
york
and arrange for the meeting and followthrough with our planned event to meet with the imam and try to reach a deal there. but i do not believe at this time that pastor
jones
will go back to what he was planning to do on saturday.
>>
hopefully that is the truth. imam muhammad musri, thank you for your time tonight.
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