Why it will be good for Muslims if the Ground Zero Mosque is stopped

Sorry to post this before you, Doc:

I just noticed the "spin" change in the news: they are now dubbing a more homegrown muslim business partner as the kingpin, so they can phase out Rauf. This sudden boost into visibility and into the cross hairs is so new, he has not made any statement at all. Two reports using his name make references to statements he made in the dim past, on other subjects.

I notice the salient keynotes: born a citizen, NY high school graduate, American wife, looks very western and non-threatening, quite young, "moderate, reformed from non-observant" muslim, and they are throwing some "up by his own bootstraps" self-made man, American dream O Henryism (modest real estate holdings by NY standards). They are really trying to cover all the bases with him, and amusingly, they didnt tell him first.

Rauf did not have one CLUE, evidently, and no one he answers to in the extremist muslim heirarchy worldwide did either... that he would be a miserable spokesperson or promoter... yes America and the world had no problem at all, searching online for his character references. yes we are able to have translated some of his speeches on arabic television (from farsi and arabic) with his real thoughts and sentiments.

yes the world can see Rauf and his character and objectives. What did they think (in all those planning rooms all over the islamist world).. that we would say "oh he is an American citizen, and we obey our leaders slavishly like people do in other lands?"

Platitudes are considered SO durable here (*shame on them, shame on us*) that they are used as in blank-check repetition. Blah-blah land-of-the-free, blah-blah church-and-state, blah-blah legal-means-moral... and how DARE we mistrust anyone?
Well I do, I mistrust Rauf and all his connections to terror; I mistrust his non-statements during the last week; I especially mistrust his re-release of "From the ashes of 9/11" with some new blah-blah American title.

Here is what the Times and the White House do not know about Imam Faisal Rauf and his partners, and about what they called, revealingly, their "Cordoba Initiative."

I, on the other hand, think Barack knows this all too well. Are we to believe his posse is that absolutely clueless?

As for any argument that this mosque notion is a bridge to tolerance, the tolerance task resides squarely upon Muslims. Where? Oh, in Sudan, Pakistan, the mullah regime, Saudi Arabia, the Pal Arabs, Hamas, Hezbullah, and, of course, the Taliban.

Mighty excellent article Doc.

This means that the debate over what gets built at Ground Zero is not just a debate among Muslims, and neither is the larger debate about Muslim reform. True enough, there is a war going on inside the Muslim community, a struggle for the soul of Islam and for the future of American Muslims, and that war will have to be fought mostly by Muslims. But it is not a war between equals, and it is not a war in which Americans can be neutral. The Islamists have on their side money, influence, and a ruthless determination to get their way, no matter who has to be hurt. They have already taken over, with Saudi money, most of the mosques in America – one reason why so many American Muslims are “unmosqued” and worship in private. The radicals have also planted themselves inside the government, and have won the admiration and support of the political, religious, and media elites. We have essentially said to the true moderates: You are on your own, and out of luck; the bad guys are running the store.

This war is not just going to go away; it will engulf us and our communities unless we stand up now.