On The Mosque At Ground Zero

It always amazes me, that I can (and, in a general sense, am) labeled as a right wing extremist because I think the Constitution is the best social contract ever written--or established--and that it should be followed.

So now, I'm amazed to find that I'm also a bigot. A xenophobic bigot, actually, because I don't think a mosque should be established at ground zero (don't give me any of that "two blocks away" twaddle; the damn building got hit with aircraft debris, that counts as ground zero). I know I'm not as deep a thinker as all my more socially attuned betters who have carefully considered the issue and decided that it's the sensitive, tolerant thing to do, and anyone who doesn't agree is a...what, take your pick: racist Islamophobe bigot neanderthal. Okay, guilty on the neanderthal bit.

But, I'm a neanderthal who speaks, reads, and writes pretty dinkum Arabic, in a pinch. A neanderthal with a degree in Middle Eastern Studies. A neanderthal who's logged waaay more time than most in the Middle East--and that's not counting combat tours, either. I've studied and written (in professional venues) a lot on cross-cultural communications with Muslims and Arabs, and more than a little on IO/Strategic Communications to boot. But hey, don't let that detract from my troglodytic conviction that, from a War on Terror (I know, we're not supposed to say that anymore) perspective, putting a mosque on or near ground zero is bad ju-ju. That's from a professional military point of view that doesn't take into account how heart-wrenching such an edifice would be to those (bigoted racist Islamophobes) who lost friends, family and loved ones on 9/11.

Yup, just me and my brother bigoted racist Islamophobes hold that opinion. Even if such brethren are, uh, muslims:

"What the citizens of the U.S. fail to understand is that the battle against the 9/11 terrorists is not their battle. It is a Muslim battle – one whose flames are still raging in more than 20 Muslim countries... I do not think that the majority of Muslims want to build a monument or a place of worship that tomorrow may become a source of pride for the terrorists and their Muslim followers, nor do they want a mosque that will become a shrine for the haters of Islam... This has already started to happen: [the Islamophobes] are claiming that a mosque is being built over the corpses of 3,000 U.S. citizens who were buried alive by people chanting 'Allah akbar' – the same call that will be heard from the mosque..."