Reflections From a Murky Pond

It is beyond reasonable doubt that the Left’s repeated excuses and pseudo-justifications for the decades of Muslim terrorism against the people of Israel, when stripped of their layers of dissemblation, are just another iteration of an old meme.

This Is How The Left Views Israel And The Jews

We in the Civilized World have seen and heard that particular rant many times before. Beginning in the 20th Century we stopped tolerating it and began the process of eradicating the people and groups who fostered it. It shouldn’t be considered a hard choice for any Red-Blooded American to continue doing so in this day and age.

Liberal politicians said a lot of things about the Muslims’ proposed building of Park 51 nee Cordoba House. Almost universally what they said was wrong and as much of an insult to the American people as the original plans of the Muslims.

There were, however, things that they should have said. Some variation of the following would have been the American response to the situation:

The idea of building a high profile mosque named Cordoba House that close to Ground Zero is wrong, insensitive, insulting, and counterproductive to open dialog between Muslims and Americans. Just because they have the right to build it doesn’t mean that they are right to do so.

It is, however, their right, as guaranteed by America’s constitution, to build such a mosque wherever they so choose and no force of law should be brought to bear against any legal endeavor to do so.

Mr. Gamal and Imam Feisal have the right to expect tolerance from the American people but should not conflate tolerance with blind acceptance. Acceptance must be earned and something as divisive and inflammatory as the Ground Zero Mosque is not a step in that direction.

Such a statement seems perennially beyond the ability of any Liberal politician to issue. Perhaps they are afraid, with some reason, of their diminishing constituency’s response to it. Perhaps they just don’t – perhaps can’t – conceive of such a sentiment much less speak it.

These politicians of the likes of Mayor Bloomberg and President Obama should have said something like the above. They chose instead to overtly or tacitly once again insult and deride the American people as bigoted, racist, Islamaphobic, and intolerant.

There will be no vile “Cordoba House” built overlooking Ground Zero, nor will there be a Muslim Cultural Center being opened at Ground Zero on 9/11, and there may not be a masjid built there overlooking and commemorating the Islamic terror attack upon the World Trade Center.

Some things have changed and these particular atrocities are not going to happen – at least not exactly as originally planned.

Some things have changed, arguments and responses have shifted, and some things never actually were in the first place it seems.

No Cordoba House

The Muslim’s building will no longer be named Cordoba House, which every Islamist in the world recognize  as a symbol of Islamic conquest. It will be called The Community Center At Park 51 or just Park 51.

We are calling it Park 51 because of the backlash to the name Cordoba House. It will be a place open to all New Yorkers and that is a very New York name.

– Sharif Gamal
Developer for Park 51

Changing the name of the Islamic Center from Cordoba House to something far less insulting and inflammatory is a big step in the right direction. It will not so easily embolden the jihadis and will not be such a constant left-handed slap in the face to Americans.

No 9/11 Attack Anniversary

Park 51 will also not be opening on September 11, 2011. It will them 18 months to three years to come up with the $100-$150 million price tag for the facility assuming no further delays or hurdles. It’s conceivable that it might open on some future 9/11, but I’m finding that more and more unlikely as things shift and Americans make their voices heard.

The whole idea that this center would open on 9/11/11 seems to have been predicated upon a misunderstanding of something said back in early May by Daisy Khan, the executive director of the American Society for Muslim Advancement and a board member of the Cordoba Initiative, the two organizations sponsoring the Islamic project.

The Muslim organizations plan to announce the groundbreaking later this year, possibly to coincide with the 10th anniversary of the attacks, Khan said. It could take up to three years to build the Cordoba House; the groups currently have no funds for the project but plan to start raising money, she said.

A groundbreaking ceremony on 9/11 would be an insult to Americans but not nearly so much of one as an opening ceremony. It was also only a possibility, one likely to be discounted now from the sound of things.

Funny how Liberals are now claiming that Newscorp lied about it opening on 9/11/11 when all their Leftist MSM outlets agreed that such was the planned opening date as well and defended it.

Are they implying that the NY Times, ABC, CBS, CNN and a host of other left-wing, Liberal propaganda outlets get their facts from Fox News and the New York Post as well?

Any or all of those media outlets could have “refudiated” it.

Not doing anything involving Park 51, whether breaking ground or opening its doors on the anniversary of the jihadis’ terrorist attack on NYC would definitely be the best bet for all concerned.

A Mosque or Not?

The matter of whether or not Park 51 will contain a masjid – what most would call a mosque – is somewhat more clouded and “nuanced.” The Park 51 website claims that the Muslim Center will contain a masjid but Daisy Khan demurred on August 13, 2010.

The top two floors would house a domed space for prayers. “We insist on calling it a prayer space and not a mosque, because you can use a prayer space for activities apart from prayer. You can’t stop anyone who is a Muslim despite his religious ideology from entering the mosque and staying there,” said Imam Rauf’s wife and partner, Daisy Khan, who runs the American Society for Muslim Advancement, from an office housed on the Upper West Side’s famed Riverside Church. “With a prayer space, we can control who gets to use it.”

It’s really anyone’s guess at this point whether or not Park 51 will house a masjid or just unconsecrated prayer space, but it seems that Imam Feisal Abdul-Rauf has recognized his error in judgment and opted for the latter, less offensive and less dangerous option.

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My take on these developments in the Ground Zero Mosque / Cordoba House row is quite simple. Since my complaints were based upon the combination of name, place, and timing, I no longer have any particular cause for grievance or reason to take issue with Sharif Gamal’s and Imam Feisal Abdul-Rauf’s plans to build a Muslim community center in lower Manhattan – even if it is quite near Ground Zero. Without being name Cordoba and being opened on an anniversary of the 9/11 attack it’s just another building without particular symbolism.

Do I like it? No! I strongly dislike the ever-growing number of Muslims choosing to congregate at and around Ground Zero since it strikes me as too reminiscent of a dark hajj.

I do, however, actually approve of and like Gamal’s, Imam Feisal’s and Daisy Khan’s responses to Americans’ complaints. They, unlike either Bloomberg or Obama, chose an actually moderate and unifying – or at least not further divisive – path to resolution of the problem instead of fanning the flames.

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And a H/T to Moe, who provided me the impetus to sift through several months of reports in order to get a straight story about the center’s intended opening date.