As I have said before, modern politics and governments are so full of
deception, that if we are honest with ourselves, we must be willing to admit
to ourselves that none of us really know who is truly responsible for the
9/11 attacks, and I seriously doubt that we ever will know.

Having said that, I have to agree with the sentiments expressed in the
following excerpt from this New York Times article. Regardless of whether or
not Muslim extremists were responsible for the 9/11 attacks, nevertheless,
that is what many people have been led to believe. That being the case, this
13-story mosque, which will overshadow the UNDERGROUND MEMORIAL to the
/11 is truly a slap in the face. The mosque will be in full
public view, while the memorial to the dead will be out of sight,
underground. In my view, this construction project is the epitome of
insensitivity and callousness, and clearly demonstrates how far some
businessmen will go to earn a profit. It is truly disgraceful.

----- Begin Quote -----

Bill Doyle, whose 25-year-old son, Joseph, was killed in the attacks, said
many families who lost loved ones at the site were "incensed" about the
mosque, viewing it as a tribute to the terrorists behind the hijackings.
Part of their anger stems from their broader frustration over redevelopment
of the site, and plans for a memorial that would be located beneath street
level.

"High up in the air you have a 13-story mosque, outshining the memorial
itself," Mr. Doyle said. "It's almost a slap in the face."

----- End Quote -----

Following is the full article from the New York Times.


Mosque Plan Clears Hurdle in New York

By MICHAEL BARBARO and JAVIER C. HERNANDEZ - NYT

August 3, 2010


As New York City removed the final hurdle for a controversial mosque near
ground zero, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg forcefully defended the project on
Tuesday as a symbol of America's religious tolerance and sought to reframe a
fiery national debate over the project.

With the Statue of Liberty as his backdrop, the mayor pleaded with New
Yorkers to reject suspicions about the planned 13-story complex, to be
located two blocks north of the World Trade Center site, saying that "we
would betray our values if we were to treat Muslims differently than anyone
else."

"To cave to popular sentiment would be to hand a victory to the terrorists
-- and we should not stand for that," the mayor said.

Grappling with one of the more delicate aspects of the debate, Mr. Bloomberg
said that the families of Sept. 11 victims -- some of whom have vocally
opposed the project -- should welcome it.

"The attack was an act of war -- and our first responders defended not only
our city but also our country and our Constitution," he said, becoming
slightly choked up at one point in his speech, which he delivered on
Governors Island. "We do not honor their lives by denying the very
constitutional rights they died protecting. We honor their lives by
defending those rights -- and the freedoms the terrorists attacked."

But even as the mayor called for the mosque to be embraced, those opposed to
the project pledged to aggressively fight it, using both litigation and
public pressure. A prominent Republican and foreign policy analyst said he
was working with business, civic and political leaders to organize a
campaign to persuade architects, contractors and donors to steer clear of
the project. He said they would also aggressively scrutinize any donors who
supported it.

The Republican, Daniel Senor, a former high-ranking official with the
coalition government in Iraq, said that anybody who works with the center
"needs to know there is going to be a real stigma associated with this
project."

"Do they really want to be involved with something so detrimental, that
might set New York back?" he asked.

Lawyers representing a firefighter who survived 9/11 also said they would
file a lawsuit on Wednesday to block the city's approval.

The plan for the complex, which began as a local zoning dispute, has quickly
snowballed into an intense national debate about the nature of Islam and the
meaning of the Sept. 11 attacks.

National Republican leaders, like the former House speaker, Newt Gringrich,
and Sarah Palin, the 2008 vice presidential nominee, assailed the proposal,
calling it offensive. On Friday, the Anti-Defamation League, an influential
Jewish civil rights group, declared its opposition, distressing many in the
interfaith community.

The disagreement has underscored how differently the World Trade Center site
is viewed by those in New York and those outside of it.

In the city, the space has returned, haltingly, to the urban grid, sprouting
new office towers and train stops. But beyond New York's borders, it looms
as a powerful symbol of the war on terror and the lives lost on that day.

Those opposed to the project have argued that building a Muslim community
center so close to the site where radical Muslims killed about 2,750 people
is as much a political statement as a religious gesture, and have demanded
that developers find a different location.

Bill Doyle, whose 25-year-old son, Joseph, was killed in the attacks, said
many families who lost loved ones at the site were "incensed" about the
mosque, viewing it as a tribute to the terrorists behind the hijackings.
Part of their anger stems from their broader frustration over redevelopment
of the site, and plans for a memorial that would be located beneath street
level.

"High up in the air you have a 13-story mosque, outshining the memorial
itself," Mr. Doyle said. "It's almost a slap in the face."

Proponents, eager to address the raw feelings the issue has aroused,
emphasize that the center would focus on interfaith dialogue, include
members of other religions on its board, and feature what its developer
called "a Sept. 11 memorial and contemplation space."

Sharif El-Gamal, the developer, said he was reaching out to elected
officials, community groups and opponents to directly explain the center's
mission and allay any fears about it.

But it has been challenging. On Tuesday, at the final Landmarks Preservation
Commission hearing on the project, Mr. El-Gamal said he tried to introduce
himself to a Republican candidate for governor, Rick A. Lazio, a vocal
opponent of the project.

"He just looked at me and walked by," Mr. El-Gamal said.

On Tuesday morning, the project received its final city approval when the
landmarks commission voted 9 to 0 to deny granting historic protection to
the building in Lower Manhattan where the $100 million center would be
constructed.

Opponents, who have turned out in large numbers to speak out against the
plan at public hearings this summer, seemed resigned to losing the vote, and
few showed up to protest. After the commission voted, scattered members of
the audience shouted "Shame on you!" and "Disgrace!"
One woman carried a
sign reading, "Don't Glorify Murders of 3,000; No 9/11 Victory Mosque."

There were signs that the intense backlash had left moderate American
Muslims uneasy about the plan for such a large center near ground zero.

"There is some ambivalence within the community," said Hussein Rashid, a
visiting professor of religious studies at Hofstra University who
specializes in Islam in America. "We still want to know who is going to be
involved in this. So far, we have heard from just a few Muslim voices. If
this is meant to be a community center, who in the community will be
involved?"

The mosque presented a potentially challenging political situation for Mr.
Bloomberg. Some of his most fervent supporters -- religious Jews,
working-class whites in the boroughs outside Manhattan and conservative
Republicans -- opposed the idea.

But Mr. Bloomberg loathes what he sees as old-school ethnic politics. And
from the start, he viewed it as a simple question of law and American
values, privately expressing consternation at those who sought to block the
project. As the fight over the proposal intensified, he encouraged aides to
find an occasion for him to deliver a major speech on the topic.

Even some of his friends disagreed with him. But behind the scenes, Mr.
Bloomberg was heartened to hear that some of the families of Sept. 11
victims supported his position, and told him so at a fund-raiser for the
memorial at the site two weeks ago, aides to the mayor said.

Last Friday, he became all the more determined to speak out after he learned
that the Anti-Defamation League, which for weeks has denounced what it saw
as bigoted attacks on the planned Muslim center, abruptly announced its
opposition.

Mr. Bloomberg was surprised and disappointed, these people said. On Tuesday,
when asked about the group's position, the mayor called it "totally out of
character with its stated mission."

Mr. Bloomberg generally leaves most speechwriting to his aides, but he
became heavily involved in writing his defense of the mosque, revising it
until just moments before it was delivered. And he enthusiastically agreed
that the speech should be given on Governors Island, in sight of the Statue
of Liberty.

"We have come here to see the inspiring symbol of liberty that, 250 years
later, would greet millions of immigrants in the harbor," he said, "and we
come here to state as strongly as ever -- this is the freest city in the
world. That is what makes New York special and different and strong."



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