The Ground Zero Mosque

Many people around the world are debating the merits of a mosque being built at the site of the Burlington Coat Factory on Park Place in lower Manhattan. Originally reported as the "Ground Zero Mosque" in the press, the Associated Press has released a communique to their reporters to not refer it as such. Now the media calls it the Mosque near Ground Zero, or in more unoffensive terms, and proponents of it even say that, being two whole blocks from the World Trade Center, it is nowhere near Ground Zero.

I have contributed an article to the Big Peace site illustrated by several photos of the surrounding neighborhood on September 11. 2001 and it sure looks like a Ground Zero war zone to me. Words matter and the politically correct are trying to defuse the controversy by divorcing the site from any connection to Ground Zero.

There is no doubt Iman Feisal Abdul Rauf (who originally referred to the building as "the Ground Zero Mosque") and his backers have a right to build the mosque there but it is not a Constitutional issue unless the government gets involved and says they can not build there. Putting it at the location is just in poor taste and they should move it without being forced to by some new law which would create a dangerous precedent. The mosque was first called Cordoba House and then renamed the more innocent Park51. You have to ask how is the name Cordoba significant to Islam? It refers to the invasion and conquering of Cordoba, Spain by the Muslims, where mosques were built over churches and synagogues to signify Islam's dominance over Judaism and Christianity.

I saw the World Trade Towers fall with my own eyes and knew I was watching the death of thousands of people instantly. What I didn't know was that my cousin, who was on Flight 11, the first plane to hit the towers, was already murdered. The horror of having been on that plane is unimaginable. Clouds of human dust covered most of Manhattan and surrounding areas making it a virtual graveyard.

Again, there should be no law preventing the building of a mosque there, but it is extremely insensitive of the developers and an affront to the events of September 11. If the plan was to improve relations between the Muslim faith and the West as they claim, they have failed miserably. And those in the media avoiding the term Ground Zero Mosque are not fooling the majority of informed people. If built it will be a Ground Zero mosque and could also be another in a long line of Victory mosques.