A Mosque At Ground Zero

I have waited for the firestorm to die down so that I can comment rationally on the situation.

This promises to be a short statement - at least it will be shorter than most of the earlier ones.

First, Obama's opening statement is one that had to be made. The Iman and his group have every right to secure possession of a property and to build what they want - a mosque, a grocery store, a restaurant, or a terrorist training center. Their proposal should not be denied on the basis of their religion.

However, the city of New York has every right to deny the application, for lack of the appropriate word, on a multitude of bases. City officials are SUPPOSED to make approvals on the basis of fitness, aptitude, or viability of the proposal. If the area in question already has fifteen grocery stores in a two block area, they can discourage the construction of another one.

In this case, the likely disruption of domestic tranquility in the area in question is a good enough reason to deny the project. The relatives and friends of those murdered in 2001 WILL BE offended by the construction of the mega-mosque. Perhaps they shouldn't be, but the fanatical Islam element is the primary cause for their distrust. Islam does have an undeniable history of building mosques as a symbol of their victory over a particular country, regime, or rival. Moreover, there really are a multitude of mosques already in service in NY. The Iman's contention that location is critical is silly. Why can't the US show tolerance in some other location? Why MUST it be precisely in a place where the motives of the builders MuST be questioned?

To say that the Iman is being disingenuous is ironic understatement. The mosque promises to cause a firestorm of backlash that will continue until the day that some extremist group within THIS COUNTRY blows it up. Don't be stupid, Iman. We have wackjobs too, and though we honor the notion that religious buildings and books are sacred and holy, we have already had a nutjob threatening to burn a Quran, Koran, or whatever is the appropriate spelling.

I don't want the situation to end in tragedy, but it will. Americans enjoy a level of freedom that creates the opportunity for zealots to mastermind tragedy and idiocy. Perhaps such things rarely happen in the Middle East, the UAR, and other Muslim countries. Provoked by the possibility that your group's motives are malicious, a illegal, dangerous, and tragic response is likely.

Build the mosque elsewhere and continue your proposed education of the Western culture, with the objective being to separate your religious position from the radicals who murdered more than 3000 Americans. The whole freaking world is wired. Communication is immediate. You can create a bully pulpit almost anywhere in the country. You have no compelling reason to maintain that the mosque MUST be built where you propose.