FAIL? Maybe in part, but not for the US in my humble opinion.

I see it actually as success, taken into consideration the fact that throughout the entire ordeal no coercive legal threats were acknowledged even by the national media. In the end, Mr. Jones decided of his own volition not to burn.

Btw, I cannot post a comment with my live.com account, because it contains an underscore...?

Hopefully you are the only one who views this as a failure for the US. Personally, I view this as a great victory.

We do not often live up to our ideals of tolerance and understanding, but in this case, we did not bow to the lowest common denominator of fear and intolerance. I believe that this is a moment of pride for the US.

We are showing the best of the American spirit instead of showcasing some of our worse fears.

Americans did not rush the streets when censors burned Huck Finn or Hawthorne. We don't resort to acts of violence when the American flag is burned. We don't threaten terrorist acts when American culture is satirized. Not because we don't care, but because of the American spirit. We strive to project tolerance and understanding. We try to learn and not respond from ignorance.

Instead of condemning those that are not like us, we need to understand and seek out commonality. Instead of stooping to the lowest levels of fear and violence, let's respond by showing the very best of our American ideals.

It's people like you who have lost, son. I'm not a Muslim but I do feel extremely bad when someone associates terrorism with a holy book or with a religion. IMO this is a great win for the US. I think you should be banned from the GWB community for saying so.

No James this is a great victory in some ways and certainly not a defeat. Before I carry on let me say I am not American, Muslim or in fact religious in any way.

Firstly I have to say this was never USA Vs Terrorists it was a small group Vs the followers of the Koran and every reasonable person in the world who thinks the burning of religious books (in fact any books in my mind) is very wrong.

If this had gone ahead there is no doubt it would have alienated a huge portion of the world and would have fueled the al qaeda propaganda machine for years maybe decades to come, of little comfort would have been the victory for free speech which quite rightly the US holds so dear.

The fact that the pastor was not forced to cancel means that free speech is still alive and well, where I live he would have been arrested and would have probably faced a custodial sentence!, no I don't live in some dictatorship but in Great Britain where as in Europe rights to free speech and other basic liberties have been badly eroded.

So he cancelled at his own free will whilst under a lot of pressure from the nation and wider world, this shows that the US is indeed (on the whole, apart from small groups) a nation of tolerant and reasonable people.

Burning the Qur'an would have made a lot of muslims very upset. That would have been like trying to put out fire with gasoline. I believe violence should be fought primarily with love and tolerance. For further reading on this subject:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=sv&q=love+your+enemy

You make excellent points. If he burnt a Bible, nobody would have said a word. Sad but VERY true. Those who claim that we should be tolerant DO NOT KNOW THE ISLAM RELIGION! It is the ultimatly intolerant religion and threatens death to those who don't accept it. Yet we Americans try to out think ourselves, shutting off common sense and don't see where this leads. 'The American Dream' saying you should be banned was totally out of place. Just because he disagrees doesn't mean he should lash out. You spoke what you have a right to speak. Good going!

Other commenters : Before you comment and say this is intollerant and is a victory for America, spend 10 minutes researching how Islam is spread in foreign countries, especially in it's early years. Also know that they are one of the most pro-lific religious, spreading very quickly and may soon dominate world population. Your kids just might end up converting to Islam or facing the consequences. Let's be smart about our future and do the right thing. Burning Korans may not be the right thing but turning a blind eye certainly isn't.

There's a time to be tolerant, and there's a time to stand up and NOT tolerate certain behavior.

you can not be tolerant of something that itself isn't tolerant. In fact thats all that 'thing' needs to spread its intolerance. You should stand up against it.

Its not about terrorism....

try to get your average Muslims to publicly denounce Islamic justice of beatings, stoning to death, etc...

fundamentally they agree with that type of intolerant justice. If you sit by saying, "Lets be tolerant" as they go about trying to bring about an Islamic state in all nations. Then you will lose, and the intolerant Islamic system of Justice will be used against you.

At the moment, most people just don't think thats likely or credible, "can't happen", if we are more tolerant and step softly softly, then we can bring about change.

Thats the mistake the British made with the Nazis, they wanted to be tolerant, and not provoke them, be friends, meanwhile the nazis progressed their agenda of intolerance. They didn't think anything "majorly bad" would happen. People these days go "How on earth could the people of that time period let the Nazis get the power that they did???".

They did because people didn't stand up early enough to stop them, they preached "tolerance".

islam is a one man collection of counterfeit Bible wisdom and lunatic aggression
i will burn a koran everyday to make toast with if i want but i have no intention of even touching such an vile book

The USA and UK are both extremely pro-islam (unbelievable but true) and it is these spineless traitorous governments that oppose anti-islam activity not muslims
The UK have banned the Pastor from entering England which is an outrageous attack on freedom of opinion and speech. Muslims can stand in the streets of London and chant their hate of London but a Christian man who didnt actually burn anything cannot enter the country.
So what do we do ?
We have to demand in great numbers and force that the anti-freedom anti-Christian western governments stop their vile traitorous corrupt pro-islam practices and demand the absolute right to be anti-islam.