NEW YORK – They will read the names, of course, the names of every victim who died in the Sept. 11 attacks. The bells will ring. And then that moment of unity will give way to division as activists hoist signs and march, some for and some against a planned mosque two blocks from ground zero.
This 9/11 is more political and contentious than the eight before it, with grieving family members on opposite sides of the mosque battle.
The debate became so heated that President Barack Obama felt the need to remind Americans: "We are not at war against Islam."
It was uncertain Friday whether hushed tones would replace the harsh rhetoric that threatened to overshadow the commemoration of the terrorist attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people in New York, Washington and Shanksville, Pa.
The son of an anti-Muslim pastor in Florida confirmed that his father would not — at least for now — burn copies of the Quran, a plan that inflamed much of the Muslim world and drew a stern rebuke from Obama. But Terry Jones got on a plane and landed in New York on Friday night. Jones has said he wants to meet with the imam behind the proposed mosque.
Surrounded by a throng of police, Jones declined to comment to reporters who waited for him at LaGuardia Airport and followed him to a waiting cab.
"I'm talked out," he said.
