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Pastor cancels Koran burning


But confusion about talk with imam may make him reconsider


BY KRISSAH THOMPSON AND TARA BAHRAMPOUR


The pastor of a small Florida


church who had planned to burn copies of the Koran on the ninth anniversary of the Sept. 11 at- tacks said Thursday that he would cancel the event—at least for now — hours after President Obama condemned it as a “re- cruitment bonanza for al-Qaeda” andDefense Secretary RobertM. Gates telephoned theminister as a worldwide fury grew. At a chaotic news conference


in Gainesville, the Rev. Terry Jones said he gave up his plans after reaching a deal to stop the construction of an Islamic center near Ground Zero. But Jones appeared to have


misunderstood or mischaracter- ized discussions, if there were any, about the center. Later, he said hewasmisled by an imamin Florida who “clearly, clearly lied to us” and that hewould “rethink our decision.” Muhammad Musri, a Florida


imam who was working with Jones to try to persuade him to call off the event, said at the news conference that he had brokered ameeting with the project devel- opers in New York, not an agree- ment to terminate their plans. A short time later, New York


Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf and his partner in the project, Manhat- tan real estate developer Sharif el-Gamal, said in a statement earlier Thursday evening that they had made no deal to stop their plans and had not, in fact, spoken to Jones orMusri. “I am surprised by their an-


nouncement,” Rauf ’s statement said. “We are not going to toy with our religion or any other. Nor are we going to barter. We are here to extend our hands to build peace and harmony.” The parties did, however, ap-


parently agree to meet Saturday in New York. Musri told the Associated


koran continued on A22 MUHAMMED MUHEISEN/ASSOCIATED PRESS A


Phillips is used to being away from her husband during Satur- day afternoons in the fall. When watching games often thousands of miles apart, text messages are often the best way to stay in close touch. So when Colter Phillips, a sophomore tight end at Virginia, appeared to score a touchdown in last Saturday’s season opener in Charlottesville, Janet reached for her cellphone to text Bill, who typically watched their oldest son Andrew’s games with Stanford. That’s when Janet was again confronted with the fact that no onewouldbeonthe receivingend of her message. William D. “Bill” Phillips, a lawyer, lobbyist and


W


Debate onmarijuana extends across border


Wracked by violence, Mexico is wary as Calif. legalization vote nears


BY NICKMIROFF ANDWILLIAM BOOTH


tijuana, mexico — To embat- tledauthoritieshere,whereheavi- ly armed soldiers patrol the streets andmore than 500 people have been killed this year, mari- juana is a poisonous weed that enriches death-dealing cartel bosses who earn huge profits smuggling the product north. “Marijuana arrives in the Unit-


ed States soakedwith the blood of Tijuana residents,” said Mayor Jorge Ramos, whose police de-


partment has lost 45 officers to drug violence in the past three years. But just over the border inCali-


fornia, cannabis is considered by law a healing herb. After the Obama administration an- nounced that it would not prose- cute the purveyors, about 100 medical marijuana dispensaries haveopenedinSanDiegoalone in the past year, selling vast quanti- ties of Purple Goo, Green Crack and other varieties of super- charged pot to virtually any adult willing to pay $59 for a doctor’s prescription and $10 for a joint. The marijuana divide between


these sister cities points to major disparities between the fight against drugs inMexico and their acceptance in theUnited States. As the Obama administration


n elderly Palestinian reads verses of the Koran during the last day of Ramadan at a mosque in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Thursday.Muslims around the world are concluding the celebration of the holy fasting month of Ramadan.


A family’s tribute through football Virginia’s Colter Phillips keeps playing after his father’s death in recent Alaska plane crash


BY STEVE YANDA IN CHARLOTTESVILLE


ith three sons playing major college football at different schools, Janet


former Senate stafferwholived in Germantown, died in an Aug. 9 plane crash in Alaska that also killed former senator Ted Ste- vens. “That was a very emotional


time for me just to have to close my phone back up,” Janet Phillips said. “But I do take some comfort in the fact that Bill probably saw the play from a much better place than I did. Bill knows if it was a


touchdown or not.” On Saturday night, Colter and


the Cavaliers will take the field against Southern California at Los Angeles Coliseum. At the same time about 17 miles away, his brother will join his Stanford teammates at the Rose Bowl to play UCLA. Janet and her young- est son, 13-year-old Willy, who survived the plane crash, will race from one venue to the other at halftime in order to see parts of both games. This is how the Phillips clan


has learned to cope: by continu- ing to embrace the activities they love. “I feel like I’m 10 years older


TRACY A WOODWARD/THE WASHINGTON POST


University of Virginia tight end Colter Phillips (89) nearly scored a touchdown on this play in his team’s season-opening win Saturday.


State at center of drug debate


Polls show California voters split over Proposition 19, which would take away criminal penalties for people 21 and older for possession of an ounce or less of marijuana. A12


presses Mexican President Felipe Calderon to stand firmin his cost- ly, bloody military campaign against drug mafias, Mexican leaders are increasingly asking why their country should contin- ue to attack cannabis traffickers andpeasantpot farmers if theU.S. government is barely enforcing federal marijuana laws in the most populous state. This debate growsmore urgent


as California prepares to vote in November on Proposition 19, a game-changingballot initiative to legalize the recreational con- sumption of marijuana. Accord-


marijuana continued on A13 D.C.MAYOR’SRACE


Nickles thrives in role as protector and enforcer


Attorney general has been close to Fenty’s family for 40 years


BY MIKE DEBONIS AND NIKITA STEWART


Whena young Adrian M. Fenty


and his brothers were forbidden bytheir parents toconsumemeat, salt and sugar, they could count on family friend Peter Nickles to loosen that nutritional regime. Nickles, like the indulgent un-


cle, had Sugar Pops cereal. Their bond has only grown


through the years. When Fenty embarked on a law career, his father asked Nickles to “watch


INSIDE


WEEKEND1 Walk this way


For a different view of the city, see our guide to Washington’s walkable bridges.


STYLE A fashion sequel


Retailers are once again looking to Fashion Week to drum up business. Can consumers win, too? C1


BUSINESS NEWS..............A18 CLASSIFIEDS......................E1 COMICS.............................C6


EDITORIALS/LETTERS.....A26 FED PAGE........................A24 LOTTERIES.........................B4


MOVIES..................WEEKEND OBITUARIES.......................B6 RELIABLE SOURCE.............C2


METRO1 It came


from Baltimore At the University of Baltimore, zombies are more than just pop culture—they’re the main reason for going to class. B1


EDUCATION Is college worth the cost?


As the price of a degree continues to climb, some parents are studying their options. C1


SPORTS.............................D1 TELEVISION.......................C4 WORLD NEWS..................A14


Printed using recycled fiber SPORTS “ The kids whose jerseys


produce tens of thousands of dollars for athletic departments need to see at least a fraction of that money themselves. Stop taking advantage of the poorest people in the equation.”


—Michael Wilbon on the NCAA rules barring college athletes from receiving compensation for their performance. D1


DAILY CODE Details, B2


7 1 0 7 POLITICS


$9.3 million in taxes overdue on the Hill





The debt owed among Capitol Hill employees has risen at a faster rate than the overall tax debt on the government’s books. A3


The Washington Post Year 133, No. 279


CONTENT © 2010


out” for him. As an adult, when Fenty needed legal advice, Nick- les represented him. And when Fentybecamemayor, he turned to Nickles to be his general counsel and, later, attorney general. Nickles, 71, has become Fenty’s


protector and enforcer. No other official so enjoys the trust of the 39-year-old mayor, which, com- bined with the authority of his office, has made him the most powerful unelected official in District government, eclipsing Fenty’s deputy mayors and city administrators. He has been called everything


from Fenty’s godfather to “con- sigliere” to “vice mayor,” a gibe that he is the Richard B. Cheney


nickles continued on A10


than I was when my dad died,” Colter Phillips said. “But it’s what you’ve got to do, and you’ve just got to keep moving forward and staying positive. Now, every day when I wake up I just try to live it


phillips continued on A9 FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2010 A spiritual end to Ramadan


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Graft push goes awry


U.S.-AFGHAN TIES STRAINED


Investigations spark political crises


BY GREGMILLER In the span of several months,


U.S.-backed investigative teams have assembled alarming evi- dence of rampant corruption in Afghanistan and the extent to whichit reaches the highest ranks of that nation’s government. But the American effort to in-


crease Afghanistan’s capacity to combat corruption has also had unintended consequences, aggra- vating the U.S. relationship with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and producing embarrassing rev- elations that have undermined attempts to build popular trust in the government in Kabul— a key component of the Obama admin- istration’s counterinsurgency campaign. After pouring more resources


into the anti-corruption effort over the past 18 months—includ- ing teams of advisers and sophis- ticated wiretapping technology— administration officials said there is growing concern that rooting out graft is paradoxically reinforcing perceptions that the problem is endemic. “Our big push to help build


Afghan institutions for transpar- ency and anti-corruption has had the dismaying effect of bringing a lot of stuff to light that has sparked political crises,” said a senior administration official. “Afghan institutions are growing more capable” of fighting corrup- tion, the official said. But their work has the potential to “set us back.” The quandary in many ways


reflects the extent to which the U.S. government has operated at cross-purposes in Afghanistan, doling out vast sums of money to winover warlordsandbuysecuri- ty for military convoys, then cracking down on abuse in a system awash in American cash. After nearly nine years of na- tion-building in Afghanistan, ex- perts said, the U.S. government faces mounting evidence that it has helped to assemble one of the most corrupt governments in the world. “I don’t know how you can


disaggregate the way in which [the U.S. government] has fun- neled money into Afghanistan from the crisis of corruption that presents itself today,” said C. Christine Fair, an assistant pro- fessor atGeorgetownUniversity’s


afghan continued on A17 Judge rules against


‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ A federal judge in California declared theU.S. military’s ban on openly gay service members unconstitutional Thursday and said she plans to issue an injunction barring the government from enforcing the policy. A3


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