US hopes to avoid another Abu Ghraib (News Feature)

By Mike McCarthy Sep 9, 2010, 2:05 GMT

Washington - The United States is striving to avoid another public relations disaster with the Islamic world, condemning at the highest levels plans by a Florida pastor to burn copies of the Koran and comparing the potential fallout to the Abu Ghraib prison scandal.

The pastor's plans have come amid worries of a growing anti-Islam mood in the country that has put the Obama administration on the defensive as it tries to reach out and improve US standing in the global Muslim community.

The Koran burning scheduled for Saturday has drawn sharp rebukes from across the country, be it US officials, church leaders or citizens. But State Department officials are still worried it could produce a backlash against the United States or soldiers, diplomats and citizens residing overseas.

US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton was the latest official to go on the offensive, offering up some harsh words Wednesday for the pastor, Terry Jones, and his small congregation at the Dove World Outreach Centre in Gainesville.

'It's regrettable that a pastor in Gainesville, Florida with a church of no more than 50 people can make this outrageous and distressful, disgraceful plan and get the world's attention,' Clinton said.

Concerns about the impact Jones could have on US-Muslim relations have prompted the top US commander in Afghanistan, General David Petraeus, to cite the painful 2004 Abu Ghraib prison scandal in Iraq. The images that surfaced of US soldiers abusing prisoners sparked worldwide outrage and helped fuel anti-American extremism.

'We're concerned that the images from the burning of a Koran would be used in the same way that extremists used images from Abu Ghraib that they would in a sense be indelible,' Petraeus said in an interview with NBC on Wednesday.

They would be used by those who wish us ill, to incite violence and to inflame public opinion against us and against our mission here in Afghanistan, as well as our missions undoubtedly around the world,' he added.

Jones, for his part, has said he is taking the public criticism into consideration, but also vowed to follow through on the plans intended to commemorate the ninth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks by sending a signal to Islamic extremism.

Under law the US government has virtually no legal options to stop Jones. The freedoms of religion and speech or expression are guaranteed rights under the US Constitution, regardless of how appalling. And Jones has not backed down even though Gainesville city officials have rejected his request for the permit required to hold a public bonfire.

In the meantime, US officials have publicly called on Jones to abandon the plans. If not, Clinton said the United States will be left to the mercy of the mass media and internet technology that can quickly spread volatile images around the world.

'We are hoping that the pastor decides not to do this,' she said. 'We're hoping against hope that if he does, it won't be covered' by the media.