The Ground Zero Mosque

Jay Tea at Wizbang looks at the proposed mosque at Ground Zero:

The establishment of this mosque, so close to the site where almost 3,000 people were murdered on 9/11, is an act of tremendous insensitivity. On that day, a small group of very determined men committed the single greatest act of terrorism in history -- in the name of Islam. They cited specific tenets and quotations from the Islamic faith in justifying their actions.

Around the world, many, many Muslims rejoiced in the attack, celebrating it in the name of Islam.

The attack wasn't something carried out by people who happened to be Muslim. It was carried out by people who were united and motivated by their Muslim faith, in full accordance with Islamic laws and traditions.

So while it might be unfair to blame all Muslims for 9/11, or even a majority, the connection between that attack and Islam is inescapable. And many of those who lost loved ones on that day, many of those who survived the attack, will bear the psychic scars of that beautiful, terrible day for the rest of their lives. They deserve our respect and our consideration.

Further, look at the name chosen for the Mosque. It will be named after the Great Mosque of Cordoba, which was hailed as the greatest monument of the Islamic invasiion of southern Europe. It started as a Christian church, spent 450 years as a mosque, and was converted to a Christian cathedral almost 800 years ago.

Let's repeat that: this mosque, so close to Ground Zero, is being named after one of the greatest accomplishments of the Muslim invasion and conquering of part of Europe.

Names like this are not chosen at random. Like the Cordoba mosque, this new one was not conquered or stolen, but bought legally. And it was a symbol of Muslim supremacy, deliberately placed at a place held sacred to those who had come before the Muslims.

Finally, the new mosque is scheduled to open its doors on Sunday, September 11, 2011. The tenth anniversary of the terrorist attack.

365 days in a year, and the day the mosque's backers choose to open it is that one. Like names, that is not something that happened by accident. No, that was a deliberate choice.

If the mosque backers were truly respectful of others, if they weren't trying to exploit the atrocities carried out by Muslim extremists, they would not be building a mosque in what once was the shadows of the twin towers. They wouldn't be naming it after one of the greatest symbols of Muslim conquest of the West. And they wouldn't schedule its grand opening for the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

No, this is clearly an "in-your-face" move, designed to prey on Americans' traditional tolerance and acceptance of others, our eagerness to show how open-minded we can be, and the willingness of so many of us to "blame America first."

"Liberal (n): One too broad-minded to take his own side in a quarrel."