A Letter to Khalid From the Bish

Bill Bish, an old DEA colleague of mine, writes a blog called "Thoughts from the Bish", which is linked on Fousesquawk.

I have asked and received his permission to cross-post this exchange he had recently with a certain Khalid. I think Bish's response puts it into perspective.
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"Shortly after I posted “Obama Supports the Ground Zero Mosque” I received a comment from a person who identified himself as Khalid. He said: “Islam didn't bring down the towers. Don't lump all Muslims together. The folks wanting to build the Islamic Center had nothing to do with the attacks of 9/11.” My tongue-firmly-in-cheek reply, limited due to the space allowed for comments was, “So, Khalid, your position is that it was the Mormons following the Book of Mormon who hijacked and flew the planes that day?” But as I thought about it I decided that Khalid deserved a more complete reply and that follows.

Dear Khalid,

My post was directed at the man in the White House who stupidly politicized at the national level what is essentially a local issue; however since you bring it up, I would answer that I do not lump all Muslims together. Muslims have worshipped peacefully here in the United States for many decades and will continue to do so, I am sure, for many, many generations to come. They have even worshipped peacefully in the Pentagon near where the plane hit the Pentagon since 9/11 with no rancor nor controversy. That is as it should be.

The problem is that despite the peaceful nature of the vast majority of American Muslims and a majority of Muslims around the world, a significant portion of the leadership in American Muslim community has reportedly been heavily infiltrated by extremists like the Muslim Brotherhood in their never-ending quest for Islamic world hegemony. That is a problem as it has led to purposeful acts designed to provide radical extremist Muslims with the mantle of victimhood when they are far from being victims here in the United States. The proposed Cordoba Center appears to be merely another effort by that same tainted leadership to test the waters and, I’m sure they hope, expand the influence of Islam in America either by provoking a reaction from the government or by individual citizens that will again allow them to don the cover of victimhood. That is not as it should be.

As for “the folks,” as you put it, who are behind the Cordoba Center, that is the greater issue. The Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf is at the forefront. His statements in which he says that there is a goal to make the United States “more shari’ah compliant” or where he says that the America was co-responsible for the 9/11 attack are as unacceptable as his refusal to acknowledge that Hamas is a terrorist organization. If he is a moderate as some Neo-Liberals have said, then why would he make such irresponsible statements? I cannot look into his soul and answer that so I’ll have to react according to what is visible for all to see. That means in my eyes, and in the eyes of many, many other Americans, he is a man who wants to see the America we love destroyed and replaced with a mirror image of a despotic, Middle Eastern theocracy such as exists in Iran and Saudi Arabia. (I can assure you, Khalid, that will not happen.)

Of even greater concern to me and many others is the complete lack of candor by “the folks” as to where the money, said to be $100 million, comes from to build such a towering edifice in the shadow of Ground Zero. Absolutely no information has been released as to “the folks” who are really behind the project. Could it be from Wahabi sect sources in Saudi Arabia where Christians are not allowed to worship freely? Or is it the Iranians? Or both? That is mere speculation but the question remains: Where is the money coming from? Or is there any money at all?

As for your statement that “Islam didn’t bring down the towers,” you are only partially correct. Islam, as it has been presented historically in the United States, is a peaceful religion but there is no denying that it was a sick devotion to expanding Islam by force that led to the planning of the two World Trade Center attacks (1993 and 2001) as well as many hundreds of other terrorist attacks around the world. It is absolutely certain that a blind devotion to Islam was the motivating factor behind the 19 terrorists who flew the planes into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and into the ground in Pennsylvania. So while I will accept that Islam as it is written in the Koran didn’t bring down the towers, no thinking person can accept that Islam was not a factor in the bloodshed that occurred on 9/11. Quite to the contrary, Islam was perversely and fanatically used as the motivating force to make the attacks happen. That being said, and with the normally rabid reaction to any who disparage the religion of peace, why haven’t the moderate Muslims of the world that you allude to rioted, demonstrated and punished those who insultingly used the peaceful religion of Islam to further their own evil dreams of power and world conquest? They easily rally and scream death threats at cartoonists so why not do the same at those who really demean Islam? Good questions, I know, but I digress.

The building of a mosque in the shadow of Ground Zero is objectionable because historically when Muslims conquered an area by force of arms they never erected monuments to the battles and those who fought but instead razed the competing religion’s most important structure and built a mosque on that site while proclaiming it, with great hubris, to be an Islamic holy place for all time. It was such in Jerusalem and it was also such in Cordoba, Spain, from where the project in lower Manhattan draws its name. An honest reading of history shows this same pattern over and over.

Here in the United States we have a Constitution conceived by Christian men that promotes Christian values. I say this because despite the Neo-Lib Progressive left’s apoplectic reaction to Christianity and their constant mantra that the Constitution is completely secular and is not a Christian document, history when read in full proves otherwise. As part of our Constitution people may worship (or not) as they please and that is something that is truly a Christian ethic. But it should be recognized that the Constitution is not a suicide pact for it does not require that its provisions may be used to cloak in legality those who would destroy the nation that it establishes. Despite the insulting move by the Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf to place a mosque in the shadows of Ground Zero, we do recognize that there is a basic right of a people to worship freely and the development of private property into a religious center is thus protected. That, however, does not make it proper. Nor does that mean that we Americans will just rollover and accept it. It is a gesture that is viewed as insultingly obscene by the real victims of 9/11 and a majority of Americans; and is sure to looked at by the Islamo-fascists–as opposed, of course, to the majority of Muslims who follow their religion peacefully without thought of conquest–as another monument to a victory in their march towards establishing a world caliphate. Thus I do make a comparison to the raising of the flag on Iwo Jima’s Mt. Suribachi especially as the current battle, like the battle then, is far from over. And in that respect the building of a huge mosque at that location is sure to inspire extremist thugs to continue terrorism to advance the Islamic extremist cause.

That is why We the People will continue to oppose the proposed placement of the Cordoba Center at that location. We don’t oppose the building of another mosque or community center elsewhere, but a majority of Americans do not want it standing there like an extended middle finger next to what is to us, hallowed ground.

And oddly enough, Al-Sharq Al-Awsat reports that Abd Al-Rahman Al-Rashed the Al-Arabiya TV director general agrees.

So know this, Khalid: We have no intention of submitting. We may not be able to legally stop the mosque but we will protest it being built. If the project is to move forward you can bet that we will demand accountability as to the funding sources that will be used to build it at that location. And we object to the Imam in question for even if he were to formally withdraw his widely reported untoward and viciously ignorant remarks, how could we ever be sure he was telling the truth when taqiyya is a basic tenant of the Islamic faith?

So Khalid, I ask you again, was it the Mormons?"
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I think that about says it all. Thank you, Bill.