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.