Tel-Chai Nation

There's been some more disturbing discoveries made about the Cordoba mosque being planned near Ground Zero. First, here's an ad against it worth noting:

Now, here's an interview with former NY state governor George Pataki, who's also against the construction of the mosque, and tells some more about the imam in charge:

And then, here's an article by Stephen Schwartz in the Weekly Standard (also via One Jerusalem) that tells more about Feisal Abdul Rauf's reprehensible dealings, and even the dhimmis who've backed him, including, disturbingly enough, the State Department, which has been employing him as a "bridger":

Every inch the professional moderate, Rauf has the imprimatur of the State Department, which sent him on an international bridge-building tour earlier this year. And he has cloaked the Cordoba effort in the rhetoric of reconciliation, describing himself and his colleagues as “the anti-terrorists.” But he deflects inquiries about its financing. On July 7, New York Republican gubernatorial candidate Rick Lazio called on state attorney general Andrew Cuomo, who is also Lazio’s Democratic opponent in the coming election, to “conduct a thorough investigation” of three aspects of the project:

- Rauf’s refusal to acknowledge that Hamas is a terrorist organization;

- Rauf’s leading role in the Perdana Global Peace Organization, “a principal partner,” in its own words, of the Turkish-launched flotilla that tried to break the Israeli naval blockade of Gaza;

- and the project’s questionable sources of funding.

Lazio has been supported in this demand by New York Republican congressman Peter King.

Many who object to construction of an Islamic facility so close to the site of the World Trade Center feel that a large, if not dominating Muslim presence there would be at best insensitive and at worst a symbol of the very Islamist supremacy that is the goal of al Qaeda and other jihadist killers. Such sentiments are hardly the last word in a question of public policy. But the background support and financing for this ambitious undertaking are matters that deserve to be addressed.

Non-Muslim defenders of Rauf—including Cuomo and New York mayor Michael Bloomberg—have rejected demands for investigation of the ideological and financial underpinnings of the Ground Zero mosque. They have argued that such an inquiry would violate the First Amendment guarantee of free exercise of religion. But faith should not serve as a pretext for extremist or potentially criminal activities.

Quite right, and if Rauf is in any way helping terrorists, that's one more reason why he should be shunned. Yet Bloomberg for one has gone downhill, miles out of his way to support such a clearly bad person, and has shown why he no longer deserves to be NYC mayor.

Here's a petition to sign opposing the mosque at Ground Zero. This is a battle that needs all the help it can get to prevent the jihadists from getting what they want.

Labels: anti-americanism, dhimmitude, islam, political corruption, State Dept, terrorism, United States