Continuing its water-carrying for the Obama Administration, the Associated Press tries to debunk some of the "misconceptions" surrounding the controversy over the Ground Zero Mosque. They try to convince us that, gee, it's not really at Ground Zero, it's a whole 2 blocks away. And isn't this antithetical to the American tradition of religious freedom? Number one on their hit list? The misconception that Imam Rauf, heading up the mosque project is a radical.
No one has established a link between the cleric and radicals. New York Police Department spokesman Paul Browne said, "We've identified no law enforcement issues related to the proposed mosque."
Well, one thing you don't need is a link between Rauf and radicals if you can show that the Imam himself is a radical. Then you really don't need the link, do you? The AP gives us a head start later in this section.
He has denounced the terrorist attacks and suicide bombing as anti-Islamic and has criticized Muslim nationalism. But he's made provocative statements about America, too, calling it an "accessory" to the 9/11 attacks and attributing the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi children to the U.S.-led sanctions in the years before the invasion.
Calling America an "accessory" to the 9/11 attack is not "provocative," it's flat out wrong and inflammatory. Or "radical," if you will. Perhaps the AP could fact check that assertion. And questionable research in the Lancet seems to always have a home with America-bashers, which Christopher Hitchens notes and deconstructs here. In Imam Rauf's words, "we tend to forget, in the West, that the United States has more Muslim blood on its hands than al-Qaida has on its hands of innocent non-Muslims." "We," indeed.
But let's leave all that radical talk aside, and instead wonder whether some additional evidence might surface of truly radical statements. That would change things, wouldn't it? Terrorism specialist Steve Emerson claims to have the goods, 13 hours of audiotapes. Hat tip: Ace of Spades, who helpfully adds
Obama and the MFM staked the entirety of their crdibility and judgment on the assertion that this was a moderate man interested only in peace, and of course in no way a supporter of terrorism, and anyone who suspected otherwise was an ignorant bigot with a heart full of hatred.
I have to admit, however, that I found it irrelevant whether the Imam was "radical", or whether it was really Ground Zero. My opposition to the siting of the Ground Zero Mosque was based on the following:
- Roughly 3000 people were killed when two planes were hijacked and flown deliberately into the World Trade Center towers
- These planes were hijacked and flown into the towers by 19 Muslim men murdering in the name of Islam.
- Islam has a history of building monuments to their conquests. This is to be called Cordoba House, Cordoba in Spain being the capital of the Caliphate. And yes, two blocks away is close enough.
- Having been shocked and hurt at the release of Abdel Baset al-Megrahi now one year ago, the Lockerbie bomber who was granted compassionate release with allegedly three months to live and was celebrated on his arrival in Libya, I did not wish for similar insult to come to the families of those who lost their lives on 9-11.
