Petraeus Condemns U.S. Church's Plan to Burn Qurans.posted by ericb at 3:09 PM on September 8, 2010 [3 favorites]
Church is 'praying' about plan to burn Quran, pastor says, after general's warning.
Top Republicans Silent On Hate Pastor’s Planned Quran Burning Event.
Vatican, Anti-Defamation League join forces to blast Pastor Terry Jones' Sept. 11 Koran burning.
'Burn a Quran Day' Sparks Protests in Afghanistan.
"The pastor planning to burn Qurans on the Sept. 11 anniversary said Thursday that he had called off the event after being given assurances that the Muslim group seeking to build an Islamic center near the World Trade Center site would move the project.posted by ericb at 2:19 PM on September 9, 2010
'We would consider that a sign from God,' the Rev. Terry Jones told reporters.
It was unclear whether such a commitment from the Muslim group was forthcoming, though some reports said Jones and the leader of the mosque project had spoken earlier Thursday.
'I have his word that he will move the mosque to a different location,' Jones said.
Jones also said he would travel to New York on Saturday to meet with officials of the mosque project.
President Barack Obama earlier implored Jones to call off his Quran-burning 'stunt,' saying it would jeopardize U.S. troops abroad.
Obama told ABC's 'Good Morning America' in an interview aired Thursday that he hopes the Jones listens to "those better angels.'"
"Donald Trump's offer to buy an investor's stake where a mosque is planned near ground zero is falling flat.posted by ericb at 2:57 PM on September 9, 2010
Wolodymyr Starosolsky is a lawyer for the investor in the real estate partnership that controls the site. He says Trump's offer is 'just a cheap attempt to get publicity and get in the limelight.'
In a letter released Thursday by Trump's publicist, Trump told Hisham Elzanaty he would buy his stake in the lower Manhattan building for 25 percent more than whatever he paid.
Trump says he's making the offer not because he thinks the location is spectacular, but because it would end 'a very serious, inflammatory, and highly divisive situation.'
Critics say building a mosque so close to where Islamic extremists brought down the World Trade Center would be an insult.
Trump had also attached a condition to his offer: He said that as part of the deal, the backers of the mosque project would need to promise that any new mosque they constructed would be at least five blocks farther away from the World Trade Center site.
... It's unclear how much control Elzanaty has over the property, which is owned by an eight-member investment group led by Soho Properties.
A spokesman for Soho Properties general manager Sharif El-Gamal and his nonprofit group, Park51, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday. Earlier in the day, the organization sent a statement to The Associated Press affirming that Soho Properties controlled the real estate and that Elzanaty was one of several investors.
El-Gamal and other people associated with the Islamic center have refused to detail the ownership structure of the real estate partnership that holds the site.
Elzanaty's lawyer did not immediately return a phone message Thursday. But in a pair of interviews with the AP this week, Elzanaty said he had invested in the site with an intention of making a profit and was willing to sell some of it for private development. He also said he supported building a mosque on at least part of the property."
« Older My Rat, My Banana-Huffing Landmine Detector: A lus... | If you loved Stanley Kubrick's... Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by phunniemee at 2:54 PM on September 8, 2010