the state of new jersey as a transit worker, married, father of two, inspired by that florida pastor who never did burn the koran, this guy shows up at ground zero. burns a couple of pages. he s not in uniform. he s on his own time. he s recognized in the media photographs, and subsequently he s fired. governor christi stands behind the firing. one, is it proekted speech? that s a legal question. the answer is probably yes. in the same way the supreme court recognized that you have a right to burn the american flak, i m sure they would regard this in similar circumstance. the second question, does that mean he should keep his jop? probably not. he s an at will employee and could be fired for just about anything. also, let s keep in mind, part of what the daily news reported is the new jersey transit said we have a code of ethics by which our employee must stand. enwhat their quote is that his
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 congruent 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.
keith? are you concerned about the risk that s been increased no matter what happens or doesn t happen in florida over the weekend? like i said, to a certain extent, yes. the reason being, you know, my son is over in afghanistan fighting to defend this country and defend our freedoms and defend the constitution and so this gentleman in florida that wants to burn the constitution i mean, burn the koran, you know, that s his choice under the first amendment. we re kind of conflicted here. we re fighting to defend the constitution yet people are upset about his right to burn the constitution. kind of conflicted there. as a former police officer, i ve operated under the concept of reasonableness and you know is this a reasonable thing at this time? no, i don t think so. has your son expressed to you either before this became an issue or since it s become an issue how fragile the sentiment is among afghans about
not how i would pimp my ride, no. good morning. thanks for being with us. i m vinita nair. i m rob nelson. the question this morning is will pastor terry jones burn the koran tomorrow to mark the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks or will he not? after announcing he would cancel his plans, pastor jones says he feels betrayed and is reconsidering. jones speaks to our terry moran in this nightline exclusive. you may still go ahead and burn the koran, correct? i really do not know. reporter: the day began with the president himself weighing in on the controversy and speaking directly to pastor jones. if he s listening, i just hope he understands that what he is proposing to do is completely contrary to our values as americans. reporter: then, just before 5:00 p.m., jones emerged with a startling announcement. i will be flying up there on saturday to meet with the imam at the ground zero mosque. he has agreed to move the location.
to anything other than meeting with the pastor at a future point down the road when cooler heads prevailed. she also said we reject any comparison to what we were prepared to build in new york and what the pastor was ready to destroy in florida. again, she said that she emphasized that the meeting was not planned for saturday but rather at a point in the future when people have had time to reflect on it. the last point she made was we do not want to take away from the solemn day of 9/11. she said our center is not about 9/11. the koran is not about 9/11. we wish to commemorate 9/11 with prayers for the families of the victims. did the imam in orlando, did he call with an offer basically or how did this transpire? do you know the nature of the transaction supposedly involved here and how that happened? from what we understand imam musri called saying i m here