The Muslims Take Manhattan

It is certainly true that not all Muslims are terrorists, however, sadly we say that the majority of terrorists in the world are Muslims.

- Abd al-Rahman al-Rashid, September 23, 2004

In the six years since these words were written, nothing has taken place to prove them false and many incidents have confirmed them.  Tim McVeigh continues to stand solitary and alone as the single example of a non-Muslim terrorist mass murderer - and even in his case, questions remain.  Meanwhile, a constant drumbeat of terror attempts by Muslims of all backgrounds and races demonstrates that, while evil can be found in every ethnicity, race, nationality, or hair color, this particular form of evil is found almost exclusively in only one creed, the creed of Islam.

Nowhere in America should this transparently obvious fact carry more weight than in New York City.  On a percentage basis, the 3,000 office workers and firefighters who were murdered on September 11, 2001 by Muslim terrorists is not so very much in a city of many millions.  As dramatic earthshaking horrors go, though, the collapse of the World Trade towers is tough to beat.

To this day, despite countless billions, dozens of beautifully-drawn artist's impressions and even several fancy architectural models, the place where the towers once stood remains a vast empty hole in the ground.

No, the victims of 9-11 have no monument or memorial, but the perpetrators of that atrocity are far along in plans for a 13-story commemoration of their blow against the Great Satan.  The New York Daily News reports:

A proposal to build a mosque steps from Ground Zero received the support of a downtown committee despite some loved ones of 9/11 victims finding it offensive.

The 13-story mosque and Islamic cultural center was unanimously endorsed by the 12-member Community Board 1's financial district committee.  [emphasis added]

The imam-in-charge, Feisal Abdul Rauf, says that his goal is to "foster better relations between the West and Muslims."  One might imagine that would be better achieved by reaching out to the perpetrators of violence and not its victims, but that assumes that his stated goal is genuine.

In order to combat evil, you must first identify evil and then denounce it.  In order to bring about peace, you must first clarify the issues of conflict.  Certainly, a respected Muslim imam could be extremely helpful in this effort.  Unfortunately, Imam Rauf sounds, well, pretty much like Democratic politicians or the New York Times:

In an interview with Beliefnet on Islam and America, a reporter asked Rauf, "Some Islamic charities are being investigated for terrorist ties. Have you seen what you consider to be reputable Islamic charities being financially damaged?"

"We believe that a certain portion of every charity has been legitimate," he responded. "To say that you have connections with terrorism is a very gray area. It's like the accusation that Saddam Hussein had links to Osama bin Laden. Well, America had links to Osama bin Laden - does that mean that America is a terrorist country or has ties to terrorism?"

In 2004, Rauf participated in a 30-second advertisement, broadcast on Arabic television, in which he apologized for alleged abuses at Abu Ghraib prison.

The Times reported Rauf said he believes "Islamic terrorists do not come from another moral universe - that they arise from oppressive societies that he feels Washington had a hand in creating."  [emphasis added]

Has America made mistakes and killed innocent people?  Undoubtedly.  Has America, as a matter of policy, ever set out with the express purpose of killing innocent civilians for no military purpose whatsoever?  Never!

Yet, as a matter of policy, that is precisely what Muslim terrorists do - whether it be in Israel, in Iraq, in Spain, in London, or in New York City.  Anyone who fails to see the difference suffers from total moral blindness.  Any Muslim leader who refuses to understand this can reasonably be placed foursquare on the side of our enemies.

Is there, perhaps, another explanation?  Most Americans like to think of themselves as reasonable and logical, not prone to emotional reactions.

In the rest of the world, though, cool logic isn't king; symbolism holds great power.  What could possibly be more symbolic than a giant mosque being built within spitting distance of Osama bin Laden's triumph?  There's a history here; the great cathedral of Hagia Sophia in what is now Istanbul was converted into a mosque when the Christian city was conquered by Muslim Ottoman Turks in 1453.

In Turkey, devoutly Islamic Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan read a classic Muslim poem that should be enlightening:

The mosques are our barracks, the domes our helmets, the minarets our bayonets and the faithful our soldiers...

Is it any wonder that Islam wants to establish a barracks in the heart of the West for the purpose of producing anti-Western soldiers?  The only marvel is that we allow it.

America has a centuries-old tradition of freedom of religion; but there has always been an implicit bargain: any religion is welcome here, as long as it is willing to peaceably allow people to practice some other religion or no religion and refrains from trampling the rights of any individual.  In contrast to the Europe of centuries ago, our Catholics and our Protestants fight only with their words - seeking converts from the other side, but only through peaceful persuasion and the exercise of "individual soul liberty."  For similar reasons, cannibal religions and Voodoo are not generally welcomed in the United States because the beliefs of those religions inherently infringe on the rights of other individuals.

If Islam was truly a religion of peace and believed that each individual had the right to disagree with its tents, if Islam believed that everyone had a perfect right to be utterly wrong and to damn themselves to Hell by rejecting the Prophet Muhammad, then there'd be no problem.  Unfortunately, both the Koran and harsh experience teach that the religion of Islam, by its very nature, is implacably opposed to American religious liberty and freedom as we understand it.

As Justice Jackson said, "The Constitution is not a suicide pact."  By allowing a mosque to spread its venom from the very center of New York, we are baring our breast for the assassin's knife.  Is this really a good idea?