Ground Zero

9/11, Ground Zero, Michael Bloomberg, mosque

Neda Bolourchi: A Muslim victim of 9/11: ‘Build your mosque somewhere else’

by  • 

She saw her mother slaughtered on 9/11 and she is a Muslim. If any of Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf’s elitist American friends have hearts that beat for something more than money, power, and ideology, they might not want to read the opinion page of the Washington Post this morning; Neda Bolourchi might get to them:

I have no grave site to visit, no place to bring my mother her favorite yellow flowers, no spot where I can hold my weary heart close to her. All I have is Ground Zero.
…
The Sept. 11 attacks were the product of a hateful ideology that the perpetrators were willing to die for. They believed that all non-Muslims are infidels and that the duty of Muslims is to renounce them. I am not a theologian, but I know that the men who killed my mother carried this message in their hearts and minds. Obedient and dutiful soldiers, they marched toward their promised rewards in heaven with utter disregard for the value of the human beings they killed.

I know Ground Zero is not mine alone; I must share this sanctuary with tourists, politicians, anyone who chooses to come, whatever their motivations or intentions. But a mosque nearby — even a proposed one — is already transforming the site from a sacred ground for reflection, so desperately needed by the families who lost loved ones, to a battleground for religious and political ideologies. So many people from different nationalities and religions were killed that day. This site should be a neutral place for all to come in peace and remember. I believe my mother would have thought so as well.

The Iranian revolution compelled my family to flee to America when I was 12 years old. Yet, just over two decades later, the militant version of our faith caught up with us on a September morning. I still identify as a Muslim. When you are born into a Muslim family, there is no way around it, no choices available: You are Muslim. I am not ashamed of my faith, but I am ashamed of what is done in its name.

On the day I left Ground Zero shortly after the tragedy, I felt that I was abandoning my mother. It was like being forced to leave the bedside of a loved one who is dying, knowing you will never see her again. But I felt the love and respect of all those around me there, and it reassured me that she was being left in good hands. Since I cannot visit New York as often as I would like, I at least want to know that my mother can rest in peace. …

READ THE REST (if you are not a heartless, elitist financial genius and power-hungry politician).

Note from me to Mayor Michael Bloomberg:

As I have written more than once on these pages, 22 of those murdered by Muslims on 9/11 were Muslims and their deaths were no less a loss, no less tragic. Yet the 9/11 first responders did not die to save freedom, they died while saving lives. It seems to me that you are clueless on that score.

9/11, al Qaeda, Cordoba House, Ground Zero, Islam, Michael Bloomberg, Muslim Brotherhood, Osama bin Laden

No Mosque; America’s Ruling Class never ‘got’ 9/11

by  • 

Top leaders of the America-based Muslim Brotherhood all knew in advance what was coming.

Bob Tyrrell is founder and editor in chief of The American Spectator. He opposes the Cordoba Initiative’s plan to build a towering ’51 Park Place’ at Ground Zero [aka Park51]. While Mr. Tyrrell points out the stark perspectives, there is something missing from this whole debate:

The Country Class or the Country Party has come down against the mosque, and it goes far beyond New Yorkers. It embraces Americans from all over. They oppose the mosque and their opposition is growing. On the other side, the Ruling Class’s spokesman is not surprisingly Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of New York, though he could be from Chicago or Boston or Washington, D.C. Apropos of the mosque, he says: “What is great about America, and particularly New York, is we welcome everybody, and if we are so afraid of something like this, what does it say about us?” First of all, we do not welcome everybody, not drugs lords, not Nazis, not Islamofascists. Secondly, we are not “so afraid of something like this.” Rather, we recognize it as an affront to the fallen and to the Nation. Ad arguendo, the affront might not be intended by those wishing to put up the mosque, but it will be recognized by others throughout the world as an affront. Possibly it will be recognized as a sign of the triumph of Islam over non-believers. It ought not to go up.

The Muslim Brotherhood executed its preplanned name change of it from ‘Cordoba House’ and ‘mosque’ to ’51 Park Place’ and ‘no mosque’ after they witnessed here America’s reaction to 9/11. Take a look at this excerpt from this American Spectator commentary by John Tabin:

Showing respect and tolerance for minorities is a bedrock value of Western liberalism. The problem that Goldberg and those who think like him are eliding is that the relevant constituency of young Muslim men who may be inclined toward radicalism do not necessarily share the values of Western liberalism. Remember Osama bin Laden’s theory of the political impact of 9/11:

When people see a strong horse and a weak horse, by nature, they will like the strong horse… I heard someone on Islamic radio who owns a school in America say: “We don’t have time to keep up with the demands of those who are asking about Islamic books to learn about Islam.” This event made people think (about true Islam) which benefited Islam greatly.

The notion that the 9/11 attacks improved the standing of Islam in the minds of Americans is, of course, preposterous. But bin Laden’s misunderstanding of American political culture mirrors a pervasive misunderstanding of Arab political culture. The “strong horse” concept really is an important factor in Arab politics, where political legitimacy is all too often won by demonstrating the ability to kill.

Post-9/11, America both attacked al Qaeda abroad and investigated here (while consulting with the Muslim Brotherhood) a mass-murder that had been launched from within.

Our Country gets that a Cordoba House mosque and Islamic “cultural center” would plant al Qaeda’s battle flag at the scene of their greatest victory. Conversely, the clueless Ruling Class sees no harm in promoting, as freedom-of-faith, 51 Park Place to soon become the destination in lower Manhattan, the place to see and be seen at while downtown.