New York City's kneejerk jingos, already aghast [2] that the hubristic "Freedom Tower" name has been dropped from the new skyscraper going up at Ground Zero, have got a new cause to gripe about. From Fox News [3], May 14:
Plan to Build Mosque Near Ground Zero Riles Families of 9/11 Victims
Outraged family members and community groups are accusing a Muslim group of trying to rewrite history with its plans to build a 13-story mosque and cultural center just two blocks from Ground Zero, where Islamic extremists flew two planes into the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.Outraged family members and community groups are accusing a Muslim group of trying to rewrite history with its plans to build a 13-story mosque and cultural center just two blocks from Ground Zero, where Islamic extremists flew two planes into the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.
"This is a place which is 600 feet from where almost 3,000 people were torn to pieces by Islamic extremists," said Debra Burlingame, whose brother died in the attack on the Pentagon that day.
"I think that it is incredibly insensitive and audacious really for them to build a mosque, not only on that site, but to do it specifically so that they could be in proximity to where that atrocity happened," said Burlingame, who is co-founder of 9/11 Families for a Safe and Strong America [4].
The 13-story mosque and cultural center will be built on the site of a four-story building that was a Burlington Coat Factory retail store until 9/11, when part of a plane's landing gear crashed through the roof. The building, which will be razed, currently houses a mosque.
The New York City Mayor's office says "It's private property, and the area is zoned for uses that include this one."
Pamela Gellar, executive director of Stop Islamization of America [5], blasted the organization behind the plans, Cordoba Initiative [6], and its leader, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, saying the project is "an insulting flag of conquest of Islamic supremacism."
"How can you build a shrine to the very ideology that brought down the World Trade Center?" asked Geller, whose group is planning a June 6 rally to protest the project.
Gee, what a great testament to the American "freedom" that these jingos so glorify. Start banning houses of worship from select areas of the city.
Not to mention that the "ideology that brought down the World Trade Center" wasn't Islam but Islamic fundamentalism, or radical Islam or political Islam. Whatever you want to call it, a brief look at the Cordoba Initiative website indicates that they are thoroughly opposed to it. Their kicker is "Improving Muslim-West relations," and there is much verbiage about promoting "interfaith tolerance and respect." Certainly, having an Islamic institution that favors co-existence with the West 600 feet from Ground Zero will be viewed as an insult, not as vindication, by the real jihadis.
As for you, Fox News, did you consider getting a quote from September Eleventh Families for Peaceful Tomorrows [7] to balance those from 9-11 Families for a Safe and Strong America? No of course not, that would be too much like journalism...
See our last posts on New York City [8], Islamophobia [9], the struggle within Islam [10], and the struggle for Ground Zero [11].
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