The only man who can stop the mosque madness

Foreign Policy ^ | 8/2/10 | Blake Hounshell

[detritus]

The controversy over a prospective mosque and community center in lower Manhattan reached fever pitch late last month, starting when former vice-presidential hopeful Sarah Palin called on "Peaceful Muslims" to "pls refudiate" the project via her Twitter feed. She was soon joined by Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich's call to prevent the building of any mosques near Ground Zero "so long as there are no churches or synagogues in Saudi Arabia" -- thereby embracing Riyadh's medieval notions of religious freedom....

What's particularly tragic about all this is that the people behind the so-called Ground Zero mosque, the Cordoba Initiative, are precisely the moderate Muslims that everyone recognizes are an important bulwark against extremism...

To me, the most interesting question is: Why now, nearly a decade after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, has anti-Muslim sentiment on the right gotten so virulent? There are clearly a couple factors at work -- primary season, the election of Barack Hussein Obama, the recent failed attacks in Chicago and Times Square -- but perhaps the most decisive is the absence of the most powerful voice for tolerance among American conservatives.

That's right, I'm talking about George W. Bush. Much as Muslims around the world may have despised his foreign policy and his interrogation and detention policies, the former president spoke out repeatedly and eloquently against attacks on Muslims, and visited an Islamic center several days after 9/11 to send the message that Muslims were not the enemy. He may not have much standing in the Islamic community today, but he still retains a broad following on the right.

But with Dubya now offstage, there are no conservatives left of stature who can push back against the insanity. Here's hoping Bush speaks out.

[Deb]

Typically (and deliberately), you mistake presidential diplomacy for policy. There’s one on every thread.

[RC2]

What does that have to do with the mosque? That’s one of the problems today. We talk about one subject and the conversation goes someplace else. It changes the focus and nothing gets done......much like the government.

[Deb]

Reagan "held hands" with them too. As did every Republican president, because the Saudi royal family helped us win the cold war by allowing bases to be built on their soil and keeping OPEC from destroying our economy.

Read a friggin' book.

[whence911]

Open your friggin eyes.

[ChurtleDawg]

you are saying because you think that a particular religion, Islam, has some strange, even dangerous beliefs, that government can treat it and it’s practitioners in a discriminatory manner. I disagree. If Muslims commit crimes, then prosecute them, but we cannot treat their mosque any differently than we would a synagogue.

I was pointing out when we start taking away people’s rights, then we are on a slippery slope. That includes people’s rights to build a mosque on land they have already purchased, provided it doesn’t violate any laws. Stacking the deck against them where you wouldn’t against a Church or a synagogue is a blatant violation of at least the 1st and 14th amendments and a grave evil far worse than allowing the stupid, tasteless mosque to be built.

The Bill of Rights was intended to protect those who were unpopular, so that the majority could not use the state to persecute them. This is a classic example of why we need it.

[RC2]

I know what you are saying but.....there comes a time when people have to stand up for their beliefs. A little story here......When I was in High School, I was a member of one of the largest car clubs in Los Angeles, in the 50’s. There was another car club in the school that was pretty bad. They would start hasseling the girls to the point the girls would cry. We, in our club, as well as other clubs, had it with these guys. We didn’t think about “freedom of speach” or anything else. We handled it and put a stop to it. It was just plain right and we knew it. We didn’t need school officials, cops or anyone else to handle it for us. That was just a moral gut belief that we had.

I think that the American people will reach their limit with the muslims and put a stop to them in this country. Regardless of what the law states. It’s a gut feeling that we all have. You can’t really put your finger on it but it’s there. We know we are right and eventually, I hope, it will be made right.

I guess what I’m saying is that if you know something is a danger to your country and way of life, what do you do? Because the law says you can’t do anything, do you sit back and watch everything our fathers built go to hell? Or do you sit back and form commissions and have meetings and discuss the problem until the end of time? It’s going to reach a head in this country and the longer the country waits to settle the problem, the worse it will be.

[SuziQ]

If they were “Moderate Muslims” they wouldn’t be trying to build a mosque near ground zero and they wouldn’t name it after a former Muslim conquest of the west.

Exactly! And one reason the 'right' has become vocal is because there has been virtual SILENCE from the so called 'Moderate" Muslims since 9/11, regarding attacks on Americans here, or abroad.

Maybe they're scared that other Muslims will kill them for not siding with the jihad against America, but if so, then that only confirms our suspicions about the cult of death to which they belong.