Excerpt:
The New York imam leading efforts to build an Islamic centre near the World Trade Center site says plans by a small US church to burn Korans would have sparked "a disaster".
Feisal Abdul Rauf told ABC News that the event - now called off - would have "strengthened radicals".
Rallies for and against the proposed centre marred the 9/11 commemorations.
Meanwhile, two people died in eastern Afghanistan as protests sparked by the threatened book burning continued.