Terry Jones, the minister planning to set on fire hundreds of copies of the Koran on 9/11, says he will defy the wishes of the White House and top military brass and go ahead with his plan to build a bonfire of Islam's holy book.
"As you can imagine we have received very much pressure in the direction of cancelling the event," Jones told reporters today outside his Dove Outreach Center in Gainesveille, Fla.
"As of this time have no intention of cancelling... On Sept. 11, we shall continue with our planned event," he said.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton today called Jones' "International Burn a Koran Day" "disgraceful."
But her comments, as well those of Attorney General Eric Holder, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Gen. David Petreaus and the White House did little to sway the preacher.
"We're a country of what, 310 million plus right now? And, I mean, it's regrettable that a pastor in Gainesville, Fla., with a church of no more than 50 people can make this outrageous and distressful, disgraceful plan and get, you know, the world's attention," Clinton said.
Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, warned that Jones' plan would "endanger troops and it could endanger the overall effort here."
Several politicians and administration officials have echoed the general's sentiment.
"Any type of activity like that that puts our troops in harm's way would be a concern to this administration," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters Tuesday.
Holder and Clinton also condemned the planned bonfire.
New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has supported plans for a controversial Islamic center to be built near Ground Zero, criticized Jones' plans, but defended his right to burn the books on "Good Morning America."
As far as Jones is concerned, he's just supplying the kindling -- several hundred copies of the Koran, Islam's holiest book.
He said the spark was ignited nine years ago when Muslim terrorists flew U.S. jetliners into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
"International Burn a Koran Day" has become a flashpoint. What was seen for weeks as a strange front in the culture wars, became a front in America's real war when Petraeus weighed in to say he believed the display would be dangerous to U.S. troops fighting in Afghanistan.
Despite weeks of complaints -- and also, he claims, several death threats -- Jones has shown no signs of relenting.
When ABC News' "Nightline" caught up with the controversial preacher, who always keeps a pistol close at hand, he said he and his flock would consider Petraeus' advice and continue to pray about whether to go ahead with the book burning.
But, all the signs point to an inferno. There is panel truck full of wood on the church's 20-acre campus, as well as a clearing set aside for the fire pit.
And there's the rhetoric.
"Of course it's insulting. Of course it's not a nice thing to do," Jones, a former hotel manager, told ABC News' "Nightline." "But this is a very dangerous religion. If we don't do it, when do we stop backing down?"
On the road leading up to the church are a series of signs that read, "Islam is of the Devil."
That also happens to be the title of Jones' book, a screed on Islam's violent history and the dangers Jones said it presents to the U.S.
Vote Result
Score: 0.0, Votes: 0
