Some N.J. Muslims did celebrate 9/11, cop and residents say

Post Standard, Syracuse, New York ^ | December 21, 2015 at 11:45 AM | By Mark Mueller

[Behind Liberal Lines]

In the weeks since Donald Trump ignited a firestorm by claiming "thousands and thousands" of Muslims in Jersey City cheered the fall of the twin towers on 9/11, elected officials, religious leaders and a former state attorney general denied the existence of celebrations in the city that day...

But in a new examination by NJ Advance Media, a police officer who worked on 9/11 and residents on the outskirts of Journal Square say they witnessed small pockets of people celebrating before the groups dispersed or were broken up by authorities....

Collectively, the gatherings amounted to dozens of people at the two locations, the witnesses said. Callers also flooded the 911 system with accounts of jubilant Muslims on a rooftop at a third location, three police officers said....

A retired police captain, Peter Gallagher, said he cleared a rooftop celebration of 20 to 30 people at 6 Tonnele Ave., a four-story apartment building with an unobstructed view of Lower Manhattan, in the hours after the second tower fell.

"Some men were dancing, some held kids on their shoulders," said Gallagher, then a sergeant. "The women were shouting in Arabic and keening in the high-pitched wail of Arabic fashion. They were told to go back to their apartments since a crowd of non-Muslims was gathering on the sidewalk below and we feared for their safety."

Three additional officers who remain on the Jersey City force said they witnessed small groups of Muslim celebrants on Sept. 11, but they would not speak for attribution, citing a department policy that prohibits media interviews.

The officers, including a high-ranking official, said their reluctance to speak publicly also stemmed from concern they would run afoul of Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop, who has repeatedly said celebrations did not take place....

[joesbucks]

So Trump’s using million man march math for celebration estimates?

[higgmeister]

I think that’s been established. But it’s far from the thousand and thousands of New Jersey Muslims Trump continues to claim he saw celebrating on TV.

How can you attempt to obfuscate and marginalize this evil amoung us!?

There are 2.77 million Muslims in the United States today. In the United States, a 2011 survey found that 86% of Muslims say that such tactics are rarely or never justified. An additional 7% say suicide bombings are sometimes justified and 1% say they are often justified in these circumstances. That one percent is 27,700 very radical Muslims here in our nation. If you factor in the others that believe suicide bombings are sometimes justified and you see that from 27,700 to 221,600 Muslims would dance and cheer the destruction of the World Trade Center.

http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/12/07/muslims-and-islam-key-findings-in-the-u-s-and-around-the-world/

I remember the stories and pictures on TV and in the newspapers myself.

[higgmeister]

...it is easy to see that it would add up to thousands of people. Just not all at the same place and the same time as Trump claimed.

I never read or heard that Trump said thousands of Muslims were all celebrating in one place. Please provide a link?

[dmz]

Really?

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/trump-saw-thousands-thousands-people-164537580.html

Here’s the quote from the article:

“I watched when the World Trade Center came tumbling down, and I watched in Jersey City, New Jersey, where thousands and thousands of people were cheering as that building was coming down,” he said.

Does that help clear up your misunderstanding for you?