Second Thoughts About Ground Zero Mosque

by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700

Copyright August 23, 2010
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             Marching at Ground Zero, opponents and proponents of the Ground Zero mosque clashed on the streets near Battery Park in Lower Manhattan, in clear sight of Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty, both symbols of the great American experiment.  President Barack Obama and billionaire New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg found out the hard way that raw emotions trump common sense and Constitutional rights.  No matter how right proponents of the mosque, lingering pain of Sept. 11 prevents logic from winning out.  Obama ignored the ongoing trauma of survivors and their families, forever affected by Osama bin Laden’s unthinkable attacks on Lower Manhattan.  Memories of individuals’ leaping to their deaths from the burning Twin Towers prevent the survivors from erecting a permanent monument to Islam only two blocks north of the empty hole once housing the World Trade Center.

            When Obama endorsed the idea Aug. 13  of building a mosque at Ground Zero, the backlash came fast-and-furious, not because the president wasn’t right on the issues but precisely because of raw emotion.  Too much pain, suffering and trauma remain attached the Sept. 11 attacks, forever associated, rightly or wrongly, with Islamic terrorism.  Whether or not Obama remains right on Constitutional issues, he remains blind to the lingering pain.  Unable to rebuild some version of the Twin Towers, the area around Ground Zero contains strip clubs, bars and offshore betting, despite the opposition to building a mosque and Muslim cultural center.  As for the foreseeable future, it’s doubtful that a Muslim symbol will do anything other than rub salt in the wounds of Sept. 11.  It’s bad enough that Middle Eastern or South Asian souvenir dealers sell 9/11 books and memorabilia.

            New York’s Roman Catholic Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan believes the project should be moved elsewhere.  “He’s the one who said, ‘Let’s keep the idea, and maybe move the address,’” Dolan told the New York Times.  What Obama and Bloomberg don’t get is that all the Constitutional arguments don’t undo the emotional wounds from the death and destruction of Lower Manhattan.  “We’re meeting several stakeholders right now, because we understand the pain and the anguish that has been displayed throughout our country,” said Daisy Khan, the wife of the proposed center Imam, Faisal Abul Rauf, showing some openness to relocating the project.  New York Gov. David Paterson offered up some available state land outside Lower Manhattan.  Fierce opposition to the mosque near Ground Zero would forever taint the project to all those offended by the horrors of Sept. 11.

            Street demonstrators opposed to the project more closely mirror the lingering pain from Sept. 11.  “The fact that we are getting this kind of attention is a sign of success,” said Imam Faisal Abdul Rauf, finding a silver lining to the street protests.  Faisal’s benign interpretation ignores the deep-seated pain that many Americans feel about Islam, regardless of the outlaws responsible for Sept. 11.  “It’s my hope that people will understand more,” said Rauf, fantasizing that eventual forgiveness would replace today’s bitterness.  It took years before average Americans forgave the Japanese for attacking Pearl Harbor and fighting the war in the Pacific.  There’s simply no realistic scenario in the foreseeable future that would make a Ground Zero mosque project feasible.  Too much lingering animosity prevents the kind of reconciliation needed for Americans to let go of Sept. 11. 

             Obama weighed into the wrong topic, one so tinged with irrational emotion, his logical arguments would fall on deaf ears.  There’s no memorial or monument to Imperial Japan in Lower Manhattan nor should there be one to Islam, whether or not the Sept. 11 hijackers have any real link to Islam.  Lower Manhattan’s Twin Towers stood as a crown jewel of American ingenuity and industriousness.  Ground Zero stands today as the price paid to advancing those principles around the globe.  No American, whether they believe in the Constitution or not, can ignore the symbolism of building a mosque so close to America’s festering wound.  Bin Laden struck at the heart of American capitalism, succeeding at dealing a blow to U.S. enterprise.  Building a mosque and Muslim cultural center so close to the site of such evil delays the healing, focusing too much attention on Islam in Lower Manhattan.

            Ground Zero burns as a festering wound of Islamic extremism. It doesn’t promote healing as supporters suggest to confuse the symbolism and continued sacrifice made by American men and women to battle Islamic terrorism around the globe.  “I think we are deeply concerned, because this is like a metastasized anti-Semitism,” said Khan, concerned that street protests represent a new wave of Muslim-bashing in America.  “That’s what we feel right now.  It’s not even Islamophobia, it’s beyond Islamophobia.  It’s hate of Muslims.  And we are deeply concerned,” questioning whether or not building the mosque would help or make matters worse.  Judging by the street protests, proponents of the mosque project should think twice about battling deeply felt wounds still festering after Sept. 11.  Relocating the project to somewhere removed from Ground Zero would help start the healing.

John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He's editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.

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