Think of these cases: (1) A Christian sect wishes to erect a church at the site of an attack against Muslims; (2) a Christian group wants to build a monument to the Crusades, celebrating Christianity's retaking Jerusalem from the Muslim infidel; (3) a Jewish group wants to erect a synagogue in Mecca....
Sound absurd? As to (2), the Cordoba House name chosen for the Ground Zero Mosque honors Muslim conquest--specifically, the conquest of the Spanish city Cordoba by the Moors, who transformed a magnificent Catholic church into a mosque. Historian Victor Davis Hanson offers a brief summary of the real history surrounding Islam & Cordoba.
Re a synagogue in Mecca, do not hold your breath.
Meanwhile, in agonizing irony, true moderates are ignored by the administration, in favor of groups who pretend to moderation--alas, this was true of the Bush 43 administration too. WSJ pundit Bret Stephens notes a division between moderate and reform Muslims:
Which brings me to the fundamental problem with too many self-described moderate Muslims. A few years ago, my friend Irshad Manji made the point to me that "moderate Muslims denounce terror that's committed in the name of Islam but they deny that religion has anything to do with it." By contrast, she noted, "reform-minded Muslims denounce terror that's committed in the name of Islam and acknowledge that our religion is used to inspire it."
And it could not have pleased Democrats that the co-founder of Islamic terror group Hamas endorsed the Ground Zero Mosque, saying Muslims have to build everywhere. At Commentary Blog Peter Wehner neatly sums up how President Obama & Mayor Bloomberg, through want of prudence, have likely sharpened divisions between Muslims & non-Muslims in America.
Bill Kristol unearths more about Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, sponsor of the Cordoba Initiative, from June 2009: praise of the Ayatollah Khomeini's Iranian clerical fascist regime:
President Obama said many of the right things as the turmoil surrounding the outcome of the Iranian election unfolded. After Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, spoke Friday, Obama has an opportunity to make an additional crucial point....Friday, Khameini reaffirmed President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as the winner. And he made clear that this election was not a referendum on the foundations ofthe Islamic Republic....After the revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini took the Shiite concept of the Rightly Guided Imam and created the idea of Vilayet-i-faqih, which means the rule of the jurisprudent. This institutionalizes the Islamic rule of law. The Council of Guardians serves to ensure these principles....[President Obama] should say his administration respects many of the guiding principles of the 1979 revolution -- to establish a government that expresses the will of the people; a just government, based on the idea of Vilayet-i-faqih, that establishes the rule of law.
NOT a misprint: The "moderate" imam behind this project praised the late 20th century's most prominent symbol of hatred for America, a tyrant who took 52 Americans hostage in November 1979 & held them 444 days, and whose country was the leading sponsor of trans-national terrorism in the 1980s & 1990s.
The National Review editors offer a perfect example of real tolerance re Ground Zero & Islam:
Anyone truly interested in fostering understanding between Islam and America would keep a respectful distance. We’re constantly told by our self-appointed betters that America needs to demonstrate its tolerance to the world by happily swallowing the project. But America’s tolerance is a matter of record. What a blessed relief it would be if these lectures were directed, at least occasionally, toward well-meaning Muslims, who should oppose what their co-religionists are doing at Ground Zero.
Another Misconception: Ground Zero Mosque & Target Coverage. The Cordoba Mosque is not being built near Ground Zero; it is being built at a site that is part of the Ground Zero target footprint. The landmark building to be torn down was struck on 9/11 by the landing gear of one of the planes that hit the Twin Towers. Think of the target footprint as akin to that of a grenade that explodes, scattering fragments. Anyone hit by a grenade fragment will be considered a direct victim of the explosion. The same is true of any building struck by debris from the planes on 9/11.
Bottom Line. The American public is on to the Ground Zero project; many of America's leaders are not. The true tolerant moderates are those who oppose the Cordoba Initiative.
Letter from the Capitol, LFTC, 9/11, National Security, Terrorism, Homeland Security, Foreign Policy, Conservative Politics
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