U.S. to mark 9/11 anniversary

The U.S. is preparing to mark nine years since 9/11 amid controversy over plans for an Islamic center nearby and a threat to burn the Koran. President Barack Obama urged respect for other religious faiths after the threat, now on hold, sparked protests across the Muslim world. U.S. to mark 9/11 anniversary The Florida pastor behind the threat has arrived in New York. This year's anniversary is likely to be the most contentious and fraught yet, says the BBC's Laura Trevelyan. Once the city's official commemorations are over, rallies will begin both for and against the proposed Islamic community center and mosque near Ground Zero. Both sides want to use the emotion of the day to highlight their causes, our correspondent says. Some relatives of the 9/11 victims says it is disrespectful to have a reminder of Islam by the place where so many died but other families support the project as an expression of America's commitment to freedom of religion. And there are still more relatives who believe this emotional day is not the one to be making a political point, our correspondent adds. About 3,000 people died in the attacks in 2001, in which four airliners were hijacked. Two were crashed into the towers of New York's World Trade Center (WTC) and one into the Pentagon, while the fourth crashed into a field in Pennsylvania, after passengers apparently fought back. U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden is to attend the official ceremony in New York at which the names of all the people who died at the WTC will be read out. President Obama will attend the ceremony at the Pentagon and his wife Michelle will attend the event in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, along with former first lady Laura Bush. The controversial pastor, Terry Jones, said he hoped to meet a leading imam to discuss the proposal for the Islamic center, to be located a short distance from Ground Zero, the WTC site. He said he had suspended the book-burning only because he had received a guarantee, from an imam in Florida, that the center would be moved. But the planners of the Islamic center have said they did not speak to the Florida imam, and would not be moving their project. Feisal Abdul Rauf, the imam behind the proposed center, said on Friday that he was "prepared to consider meeting with anyone who is seriously committed to pursuing peace" but added that he had no current plans to meet Jones. Jones is the pastor of the tiny and previously little-known Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Florida, and author of a book entitled Islam is of the Devil. He had planned to stage an International Burn a Koran Day on Saturday, saying the book was "evil". But pressure was put on the pastor to cancel the burning. The FBI visited Jones to urge him to reconsider his plans and he was telephoned by US Defence Secretary Robert Gates. In his remarks on Friday, Obama denied that his administration's intervention in the affair had elevated it to greater prominence. He appealed to Americans to respect the "inalienable" right of religious freedom and said he hoped the preacher would abandon his plan to burn the Koran, as it could add to the dangers facing U.S. soldiers serving abroad. "This is a way of endangering our troops, our sons and daughters... you don't play games with that," he told reporters.

U.S. to mark 9/11 anniversary

The Florida pastor behind the threat has arrived in New York.

This year's anniversary is likely to be the most contentious and fraught yet, says the BBC's Laura Trevelyan.

Once the city's official commemorations are over, rallies will begin both for and against the proposed Islamic community center and mosque near Ground Zero.

Both sides want to use the emotion of the day to highlight their causes, our correspondent says.

Some relatives of the 9/11 victims says it is disrespectful to have a reminder of Islam by the place where so many died but other families support the project as an expression of America's commitment to freedom of religion.

And there are still more relatives who believe this emotional day is not the one to be making a political point, our correspondent adds.

About 3,000 people died in the attacks in 2001, in which four airliners were hijacked. Two were crashed into the towers of New York's World Trade Center (WTC) and one into the Pentagon, while the fourth crashed into a field in Pennsylvania, after passengers apparently fought back.

U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden is to attend the official ceremony in New York at which the names of all the people who died at the WTC will be read out.

President Obama will attend the ceremony at the Pentagon and his wife Michelle will attend the event in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, along with former first lady Laura Bush.

The controversial pastor, Terry Jones, said he hoped to meet a leading imam to discuss the proposal for the Islamic center, to be located a short distance from Ground Zero, the WTC site.

He said he had suspended the book-burning only because he had received a guarantee, from an imam in Florida, that the center would be moved.

But the planners of the Islamic center have said they did not speak to the Florida imam, and would not be moving their project.

Feisal Abdul Rauf, the imam behind the proposed center, said on Friday that he was "prepared to consider meeting with anyone who is seriously committed to pursuing peace" but added that he had no current plans to meet Jones.

Jones is the pastor of the tiny and previously little-known Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Florida, and author of a book entitled Islam is of the Devil.

He had planned to stage an International Burn a Koran Day on Saturday, saying the book was "evil".

But pressure was put on the pastor to cancel the burning. The FBI visited Jones to urge him to reconsider his plans and he was telephoned by US Defence Secretary Robert Gates.

In his remarks on Friday, Obama denied that his administration's intervention in the affair had elevated it to greater prominence.

He appealed to Americans to respect the "inalienable" right of religious freedom and said he hoped the preacher would abandon his plan to burn the Koran, as it could add to the dangers facing U.S. soldiers serving abroad.

"This is a way of endangering our troops, our sons and daughters... you don't play games with that," he told reporters.