Cowardice Behind Support Of Ground Zero Mosque

For 10 days, recently, I spent my recovery from knee surgery in a Catholic health and rehabilitation center, St. Elizabeth Ann's in Staten Island, and, during my worst days, I'd wheel myself to the small chapel for some quiet reflection. I noted that while there was a crucifix in the corner of the room, there were also other religious symbols on the rear wall: the Star of David, the Muslim star and crescent moon, and the Hindu aumkar. They were there to welcome all visitors to the quiet solitude of the chapel.

However, with all the talk about the need for tolerance in accepting the proposed mosque at Ground Zero, I wondered how unlikely it would be for any Muslim facility to permit a cross, a Star of David or an ohm symbol on its premises.

In 1969, as a young woman traveling alone in Europe, I took an overnight trip from Malaga, Spain, to Tangiers, Morocco, via ferryboat. I hired one of the fez-wearing guides who met the boats to show me around this fascinating city, which seemed unchanged since biblical times. I felt perfectly safe while visiting the nightclubs and belly-dancing emporiums even though I often was the sole woman on the premises. In other words, I had no fear of the Muslim community because Islam had not yet been hijacked by radical fundamentalist terrorists.

The very idea of having a mosque built close to Ground Zero - where thousands of innocent people were murdered by Islamic radicals - would have been inconceivable in an age of sanity. Instead, liberal politicians such as Mayor Bloomberg and State Attorney General Cuomo are bending over backward to turn this into a religious rights issue. Why? Because they're cowards.

Cowardice has been behind the decades old coddling of criminals by liberal elitists who fear reprisals against their own personal safety. Juries refuse to convict mob criminals, fearing for their families. Witnesses to drug crimes remain silent for the same reason, and ever since Islamic jihadists began their modern reign of terror, politicians and the spineless mainstream media strike politically correct positions so as not to anger homicidal maniacs who murder in the name of Mohammad. After the savage beheading of journalist Daniel Pearl by Muslim fanatics, investigative reporters for the mainstream media turned their sights on safer targets: Christian and Jewish conservatives.

The Obama administration even has gone so far as to eliminate language that might inflame potential terrorists, thus the judgmental "Global War on Terror" was replaced by the morally neutral "Overseas Contingency Operation." The executive director of the Investigative Project on Terrorism, Steven Emerson, reported that a program operating out of Northeastern University and funded by leftist mogul George Soros has been contracted by the new and improved FBI to teach its agents that the greatest danger since the September 11th attacks is not Islamic terrorism but Islamophobia. If the FBI is accommodating radical Islamists with political correctness and tolerance, what hope is there?

The Obama Justice Department was too frightened to follow up on charges of voter intimidation against the New Black Panther Party. And Hollywood is the biggest coward of all. In the film "2012," the Vatican was shown demolished while Mecca was untouched because the movie's director, Roland Emmerich, admittedly was afraid of a fatwa if he depicted the destruction of anything Islamic. MSNBC senior correspondent Lawrence O'Donnell once confessed on the Hugh Hewitt radio show why he could criticize the Mormon faith but not Islam. He said, "I would like to criticize Islam much more than I do publicly, but I'm afraid for my life if I do." He added that Mormons are the nicest people in the world: "They'll never take a shot at me. Those other people, I'm not going to say a word about them."

Well, at least he was honest; unlike many of those trying to turn the tussle over the mosque into a religious rights issue rather than a triumphalist act of provocation.

Few have the courage to ask where the funding for the $100 million project is coming from. Fox News reported that the developer only has about $11,000 banked, so where is the balance coming from? Recent reports also indicate that the site is co-owned by the utility giant Con Edison, which is keeping a low profile. Meanwhile the politically correct State Department is actually paying for the mosque organizer, Imam Rauf, to travel around on a Mideast mission as a symbol of American religious freedom.

Few are unafraid to point out that Governor Paterson's offer to grant public property to the mosque if it moves is a clear violation of the principle of separation of church and state, much ballyhooed by liberals. Meanwhile, the governor, a Democrat, has made no effort to fast track the rebuilding of a Greek Orthodox church destroyed on 9/11. The resurrection of St. Nicholas's, a landmark annihilated in the darkness at noon, has met with nothing but obstruction.

The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America accused New York officials of turning their backs on the reconstruction of the only church toppled on that day of doom, while the mosque moves forward without delay. Naturally, the city's Landmarks Commission, a sock puppet for the mayor, declined to designate the former Burlington Coat Factory building as worthy of preservation, even though the landing gear of one of the hijacked 9/11 jetliners is still inside and the site hasn't been searched for body parts. Instead, it's full speed ahead to transform the structure into an Islamic cultural center and mosque.

Incredibly, the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, a San Francisco Democrat, is far more interested in finding out exactly who's paying for all those dangerous mosque protestors than in who's funding the mosque itself. After all, it's safer to harangue and investigate conservative evangelicals than to risk ticking off Islamic fundamentalists who issue death warrants against cartoonists, novelists, and anyone else they consider disrespectful.

Spare me the rhetoric about the supposed Islamophobia behind the legitimate questioning of why the proposed mosque was originally called "Cordoba House" before its name was changed to "Park 51," when public protests began to heat up. Perhaps, the organizers thought that stupid Americans would miss the historical significance of naming the contentious project after the conquered Spanish city that became the capital of the Islamic caliphate during the Middle Ages.

Even more disgracefully, they set the opening of "Cordoba House" for Sept. 11, 2011, coincidentally, the 10th anniversary of the most devastating attack ever on the Home of the Brave.

No matter how many Americans object to this desecration of Ground Zero, the organizers feel confident that liberal cowards, pandering politicians, and Fifth Columnists in Hollywood and the media will help spin this issue into one of religious bigotry. The wife of Imam Rauf, Daisy Khan, in an illuminating interview with Sally Quinn of the Washington Post, said, "There is too much at stake, constitutional rights, the development of the Muslims here, how the world is watching the United States. We tell people America upholds religious freedom. We should not compromise those values."

Well, Ms. Khan, here's a lesson in American values that you and your supporters need to learn. There are hundreds of mosques in New York City and no one is denying Muslims the freedom to worship Allah. The 9/11 hijackers were free to shout Allahu Akbar before slamming into the Twin Towers. It is totally disingenuous to lecture us on religious freedom when your religion is totally intolerant of others. When non-Muslims can travel freely to Mecca and when proposed Muslim community centers welcome Christians and Jews then and only then can you lecture us on tolerance.C

Alicia Colon resides in New York City and can be reached at aliciav.colon@gmail.com and at www.aliciacolon.com