Burlingham disputes Imam Raul's assertion that the cultural center is not a mosque:
Debra met with the Soho Properties partners, Sharif and Sammy El-Gamal, owners of the corporation that bought the property with $4.85 million in cash. They refused to disclose their investors “on the advice of our attorneys.” According to Debra: “They showed us a professional rendering of the plans. It’s not a 13-story building. It’s a 15-story building and the mosque, accommodating 2,000 congregants, will be on the TOP FLOOR, with a commanding view of the entire Ground Zero site. On the ground floor, clearly printed, were these words: “Elevator to mosque.”
Just who is Imam Raul? Hannity examines his views more in depth with Burlingame:
Rauf also writes a blog on Faith for the Washington Post. In a post dated April 29, 2009, in a piece titled, "How Islamic Law Can Work," he dubiously compares Islamic law to the Declaration of Independence and insists all that is wrong with Sharia is the penal code which is a cultural holdover that should be updated. Tellingly, he writes:
What Muslims want is to ensure that their secular laws are not in conflict with the Quran or the Hadith, the sayings of Muhammad.
Read it for yourself. He's also been critical of the west, seemingly blaming us for 9-11:
Rauf has often directly contradicted his seemingly tolerant and peace-loving pronouncements with harsh, antagonistic assessments of the U.S. In his May 7 Khutbah (Muslim sabbath sermon), delivered at 1:00 p.m. at 45 Park Place in Manhattan, Rauf implied that Muslims did not perpetrate 9/11 at all, according to writer Madeline Brooks, who attended (26): “Some people say it was Muslims who attacked on 9/11 … ” he stated, before trailing off into another topic.
He also expressed this view in an interview with 60 Minutes aired on Sept. 30, 2001 as well (27):
The attacks were “a reaction against the U.S. government politically, where we espouse principles of democracy and human rights, [yet] … ally ourselves with oppressive regimes in many of these countries. … [U.S.] policies were an accessory to the crime that happened.
Not the crimes Muslims committed: “the crime that happened.” He continued:
In … the most direct sense, Osama bin Laden was made in the USA (28).
Here are his criticisms of the west from an overview of one of his books on the American Society for Muslim Advancement website, an organization he founded. Read his interview in the Sydney Morning Herald, where he claims the US must apologize to Muslims for our misdeeds, and said it was Christians who first started mass casualty attacks with WWII. Interestingly, in another WaPo blog piece, he cheers on the Dutch government's decision to encourage media companies not to air Geert Wilder's film that is critical of Islam. But as Bret Stephens in today's WSJ points, out, tolerance can't be a one-way street. Or as Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury over at Blitz puts it:
To my personal opinion, this mosque is an insult to the memory of 9/11, comparing the idea to building a German cultural centre at Auschwitz. I really fail to understand as to why those Manhattan politicians and Community Board 1 are supporting this ridiculous idea of constructing the mosque on the Ground Zero site.
New Yorkers seem overwhelmingly opposed to the plan, comparing its insensitivity to the German government opening, say, a Bach appreciation museum right outside the Auschwitz death camp, or Toyota opening a car factory by the Arizona Memorial on the island of Oahu.
On radio shows, families of 9/11 victims called in to condemn the plans as 'a slap in the face,' 'highly insensitive,' and 'a despicable attempt to claim victory at the site where so many innocent Americans died.'
Debra Burlingame, the sister of the American Airlines pilot whose jet was hijacked and flown into the Pentagon, is the founder of 9/11 Families for a Safe and Strong America. In a recent Fox News interview she said:
"The idea that you would establish a religious institution that embraces the very Shariah Law that terrorists point to as their justification for what they did … to build that where almost 3,000 people died, that is an obscenity to me."
Eminent writer Pamela Geller wrote, "recent history has shown that if you draw a picture of the Prophet of Islam or otherwise "insult" Islam, you'll have no shortage of offended Muslims lining up for an opportunity to stab you in the heart, behead you, rape your daughter or burn your house… so you'll have to forgive my tongue-in-cheek "confusion" that sensitive Muslims everywhere don't realize how offensive it is to build a huge mosque on the holy ground surrounding what was the World Trade Centre.
"The joke is, of course, that the people planning to build the 9/11 Mosque at Ground Zero knows exactly how offensive it will be.
"That's the idea. That's why they want to hold the grand opening on the tenth anniversary of the slaughter of 9/11.
"The proponents know that the building won't be seen by the Islamist fascists as a mere mosque: it will be a victory monument. A symbol of American submission. A vision of the progress of the worldwide Muslim Caliphate that is the Jihadist goal.
Perhaps what's most idiotic about this is how the multiculturalists' concern over diversity and tolerance doesn't extend to the 9-11 families' sensitivities:
Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer said in a statement that by supporting the multi-faith community and cultural center, the board "sent a clear message that our city is one that promotes diversity and tolerance."
Stringer has been the target of disparaging remarks by Williams for supporting the plans and has defended his position and denounced offensive speech directed at him or at Muslims.
He said before the vote that he understood the sensitivities of the families of 9/11 victims.
"I don't think anybody wants to do anything to disrespect those families. They made the ultimate sacrifice," he said. "At the same time, we have to balance diversity and look for opportunities to bring different groups together."
The mushy-mindedness of multiculturalism revealed--"tolerance" must be extended to those who are intolerant of having their Prophet insulted, and are unable to grasp why this may be offensive to the 9-11 families. The uproar should at least give Mr Stringer pause that no, this will not heal wounds in anyway, but cause a lingering resentment among many New Yorkers, which can precipitate even more of backlash against Muslims. Alarm News puts it this way:
Are there Muslims who don’t support this jihad? OF COURSE. And it is a travesty that these terrorists act in their name. But that does not mean that these terrorists acts are not tied to Islam. Ultimately they are, they are, they are, and saying so doesn’t mean that I hate Muslims who live peacefully and don’t want to see me dead. It is a fact that Islam is inextricably tied to the murder of 3000 people in this one attack, and to many more dead in others.
And that is why a mosque at Ground Zero is just unacceptable. It is one thing to celebrate and worship Islam 20 blocks away in either direction. It’s another to have it at the site where the slaughter of innocents took place in the name of Islam. It isn’t a sign of openness and understanding to put a mosque in this location. It is a prize to those who hate us, it is a monument to the side that won the battle that day.
The peaceful Muslims who have no quarrel with us? They should understand that this mosque should not be built on or very near this space. Choose another location, and let’s move on.
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