Must-See Film on Ground Zero Mosque Controversy
As the tenth anniversary of 9/11 approaches, a movie about the Ground Zero mosque highlights why Americans should never forget how we got involved in all this. Pam Geller, an outspoken critic of the mosque, is one of the producers of The Ground Zero Mosque: Second Wave of 9/11 Attacks. PJM interviewed her about the movie and what she hopes to accomplish with its release.
A 13-story mega-mosque is to be built in New York City approximately two blocks from the site of where the World Trade Center used to stand. Since Islamic extremists murdered 3000 people on September 11, 2001, Ground Zero is a cemetery and to many a sacred ground. Because of the strong outcry against the mosque project, it has publicly morphed from a religious place of worship to a prayer center to a community center.
The Ground Zero Mosque: Second Wave of 9/11 Attacks powerfully starts by reminding Americans of the horrors of that day: clips of people jumping to their deaths as the World Trade Center became an inferno.
Geller strongly believes that “the 9/11 families took a hit for all Americans on that day when the Islamic extremists declared war on America.” She hopes viewers will be awakened as to why this mosque should never be built near Ground Zero, and to understand that if built, this mosque would be viewed by the jihadists as a triumph.
The movie intends to convey the magnitude of the jihadist threat. The landing gear from one of the planes that hit the World Trade Center was found in the Burlington Coat Factory building, where the mosque is to be built. A powerful statement from the movie: “Ground Zero becomes all about the mosque and no longer about the attack.” Geller wants Americans to understand: “[There] are thousands of mosques throughout the U.S. and hundreds of mosques in New York City. Why build it here?”
The film contains quotes from foreign leaders, 9/11 family members, and American political figures explaining why a mosque being built at Ground Zero is wrong. Says Rudy Giuliani: “The attack was in the name of Islam.” The movie also includes quotes from mosque supporters, like Mayor Michael Bloomberg: “It will increase religious tolerance and understanding. If forced to move, then I am afraid of what Islamic extremists would do. Moving the mosque would be handing the terrorists a victory.” Geller uses the quotes to show how out of touch people like Mayor Bloomberg are with the majority of Americans.
The movie chronicles how mosque supporters use political correctness to their advantage by claiming that anyone not in favor of the mosque is bigoted and biased against all Muslims. Those who speak out, such as Geller, are marginalized and demonized. Geller tells PJM:
[Mosque supporters] assassinate your character. They make you appear radioactive so people don’t want to associate with you. It’s a way of shutting people up. They attack the person. They never attack the argument. I am anti-jihad, not anti-Muslim.
Although she has received numerous death threats, she says:
I am more afraid of doing nothing and that is much more frightening to me. It is not an issue of freedom of religion or speech but an issue of human decency, human compassion. Just because you can do something does not mean you should do it.
Some argue that the mosque is not being built on Ground Zero; the building is two blocks away. The movie makes the point that they are wrong. Gordon Haberman, who lost a daughter at the World Trade Center (WTC), told PJM he was able to see, from many different angles, Ground Zero while in the Burlington Factory building. All Americans should be asking the mosque supporters: If the mosque were built directly on Ground Zero would that be ok? What about across the street, or right next door? What about one block away?
Maureen Santora, who lost a son at the World Trade Center, tells PJM:
[Mosque supporters] fail to see what the right thing is. The boundaries of Ground Zero should include all buildings damaged, destroyed, as well as any building that had pieces of the WTC, the plane, and people’s body parts or ashes. Future Americans need to understand that people were murdered out of hatred for our way of life and Ground Zero, including its boundaries, needs to be viewed as sacred ground.
The movie’s most important point: Americans need to keep up the pressure and awareness regarding this insensitive project.
(People who are interested in attending a screening of the film can go here for a list of showings.)
I’ve argued with my wife about this over some length of time. I’ve finally conceded that yes, they do have the *right* to build the mosque there…the question isn’t whether they can, it’s whether they should. To my mind it’s rather like that Jones idiot down in Florida. Doing something like this when you know it will effect people in a negative way is just not the right thing to do, regardless of whether you have the right to or not. It’s sort of like insulting a little old lady…why would you want to, other than because you’re a sadist who enjoys seeing other people squirm?
I’ve also observed, as a corollary, that part of what rankles is getting a lecture on religious tolerance from Muslims. What’s next, a lecture on the dangers of book-burning from that Jones twerp? Maybe something on the downside of covering up for child molesters, from a Catholic bishop? The dangers of global warming from Charlie Manson? That last one actually happened last week…
Why are we all in a handbasket, and how is it descending so fast, and why is it getting hot?
Well said; restraint is also a way to get along with people rather than exerting the full extent of ones rights right up to a person’s nose. That type of poltically correct intolerance that turns public spaces in America into a giant private living room of the most easily offended and least tolerant is part of America’s problem. Live and let live and exert your own peculiar views about what should be first and foremost in your living room.
As Geller somewhat ironically says in that it would apply to Jones, “Just because you can do something does not mean you should do it.”
You said: “To my mind it’s rather like that Jones idiot down in Florida.”…
Where do you get off calling a great American hero like Terry Jones who continues to risk his life for our basic freedoms while you sit on the sideline sneering? You’re not half the man nor half the patriot Terry Jones is.
Jones feels strongly that Islam poses a serious threat to this Country. So he’s doing what Americans do – he’s protesting peacefully. You can disagree if you want… Many agree with him.
Part of what Mr Jones is attempting to demonstrate, is that America (like England, France and Germany) has become so obsessed with Political Correctness, that many in this Country (like you) are willing to throw out our basic Freedoms (the right of peaceful protest, Freedom of Speech) in order to not appear anti-Muslim or bigoted or racist or whatever the catch-word-for-today is that’s used to disarm anyone you disagree with.
I have to say, your argument confuses me, and I’ve come across this several times in the last couple of days. The idea that Jones is somehow “patriotic” is just weird. At best he’s a publicity-hungry huckster peddling a line of bull. He’s irresponsible, and only by the lengthiest stretch can you get from burning the Koran, and inciting riots that killed people (which he had to know could occur, unless he’s a total moron) to patriotism. Patriotism isn’t supposed to be selfish; inciting violence to make a point is hardly patriotic, even if the dead people aren’t Americans.
And no one on here has (as far as I’ve seen, anyway) addressed one of my central points: if burning the Koran is patriotic, then why isn’t burning the American flag (as many of the people who do it claim)? How is being obnoxious good? Just because you have the right to do something, doesn’t mean you should.
And I have trouble taking someone wearing a mustache like that seriously…
The point, and only real point, is that burning a book should not be cause for any violence at all.
I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and if people choose to burn the Bible that is their problem, not mine.
If they go further and choose to blaspheme God, then that is their problem.
I would not like to stand in the presence of the most powerful Being having grossly insulted Him. But we do it all the time and He accommodates us, until we deny the very ground on which we stand.
But that is not my problem to the extent that I should hurt them. One does not want to kill people because they stupidly choose to endanger their lives.
@David W Nicholas:”And I have trouble taking someone wearing a mustache like that seriously…”
Ah, now I get it. It’s his mustache that irritates you. Good point.
I wonder if Jones would stick his head in a sharks mouth if I dared him and said he didn’t have the right to and that it would make muslims angry.
And that would be relevant exactly how?
Cowards everywhere. What’s become of the manly virtues?
So you’re saying he would stick his head in a sharks mouth.
Here’s my must see film: construction workers cementing dead pigs into the foundations of the ‘Super-Friendly Mosque’.
AMEN!!!
I second that porcine proposal!
David W Nicholas – With respect, Muslims do not have a “right” to build any mosques in the United States. Islam is incompatible with the Western World – period. It’s quite simple – you point your finger, make decisive judgments and admit the blindingly obvious – Islam and it’s followers do not belong in the West. End of story. So easy. It’s called discrimination. And it works.
True, but no one on the other side of the argument wants to hear it.
Check out Churchill’s River War from 1899. He knew the score back then.
Far too many don’t even know the score today.
The problem with your argument, tempting though it is, is that it won’t work in the real world. You openly advocate discrimination. Whether your solution is *the* solution, or not, and whether it’s actually feasible, are both irrelevant, because it will *never happen*. The courts wouldn’t stand for it, and neither would a majority of the public. Actual discrimination–allowing Christians or Jews to do something, but not Muslims–goes against the grain of everything Americans stand for, and our sense of what the English call “fair play”. It may be wrong-headed at times (I think we often go too far in accomodating minorities, myself) and it may indeed be dangerous, though I think you overblow the nature of the threat, but regardless of these things, it’s still not going to fly. Since we’re not going to discriminate deliberately against Islam, we ought to be trying to figure out a way to deal with the problem, instead of debating suggestions that are outside the realm of possibility.
And I keep asking, how is Jones a patriot? How is flag-burning different from burning the Koran, and why is the one patriotic and the other not? Or are they both patriotic?
My sense of fair play would like a plane flown into Mecca but that’s just me.
David – I used to agree with your line of reasoning, but not anymore. Islam is the problem, and the solution is to isolate ourselves from it as best we can. The 9/11 hijackers would have taken out the entire city of New York, if only they could have. That is what we are up against in the future. I have a vision of liberals / libertarians in the aftermath of a devastating Islamic terrorist attack saying with their dying breaths: “oh well, at least no one called us racists; at least we never practised profiling; at least were were tolerant, and thank god we always practised non-discrimination and third world non-judgmentalism” – cue fall-out from mushroom clouds.
I’ll happily agree to the mosque being built in New York whenever Riyadh agrees to let a church be built in Mecca or Medina.
YES!!!! And Islam is so far from Compatible with what the united states of America is based on that no Muslim should be allowed to move to this country to live. And right now they should be denied entrance on Security Matters.
Bottom line, the jihadist victory mosque project is nothing more than just another example of in-your-face Islamic supremacy. It is also about Imam Rauf’s legacy. If he ever succeeds he will become an eternal hero in the Muslim world. He will be remembered and celebrated as the man who built what Pamela Geller likes to call “Mecca on the Hudson.”
Islamic supremacy/submission MANDATES they build the mosque in the eye of the storm.This is an Islamic fact.ALL must submit to Islam or the sword.Period.
Anyone who truly wants to understand the goals of Islamists, and the way in which they intend to implement them, MUST read, ‘Infiltration’ by Paul Sperry. It was first published in 2005 and EVERY word is as true today as it was 6 yrs ago. In fact, many of the players who were being investigated at that time are now in prison.
Most importantly, he exposes-the dangers of PC dementia through their REFUSAL to enunciate where the threat originates-Islamic doctrine-;the terror networks embedded in US institutions; (from the Pentagon, FBI,Congressional offices,all the way to the White House)religious infiltration via interfaith ‘dialogue’; sanctuaries of terror(mosques)and the fifth column/facilitator Muslim community-via covert or overt support.
He presents thoroughly documented evidence of the above and apologists won’t be able to wiggle through.Moreover, he has updated his research through his most recent book,’The Muslim Mafia’ he co-wrote with Gaubatz.
Start reading…..
The only place a Mosque needs to be seen is in the bowels of the Christian Hell. Islam is a murder cult, they are sick bastards who will murder any one who disagrees with their cult. The cult was formed by a child molester, bandit, murder, thief, robber and liar.
How sad that Our government has turned their backs on the great men and women who perished in this ATTACK on 9/11. Have the people and the government become so uncaring that they allow Sharia Law to come to this Country?
Yes – and we lost our first battle when Dearbornistan (formerally Dearborn, MI) jailed Pastor Terry Jones for wanting to protest in front of a mosque. Let me repeat that – he didn’t protest in front of the mosques – but he was jailed and a judge ruled he couldn’t enter the city FOR THREE YEARS merely for WANTING to (i.e. he applied for a permit).
People may not like this pastor, but he has shown a light on islam in the US by showing us (not that the media will print it) that we have lost an entire city to sharia, where the constantution is illegal.
We might eventually have to bomb Dearborn.
Ten years after 9/11, we can see that the only thing different in the post-9/11 world is that the appeasement and mollycoddling of Islamists have accelerated exponentially. The people and politicians of our country have, for the most part, given us a world that is safe for shariah, where offense to Islam is a far bigger crime against humanity than murders of civilians in Muslim terror attacks! In Iraq, the Christian population is being liquidated, as brutal shariah law gets enshrined in the Iraqi constitution, with little protest from the US.
Uncle Sam has become Uncle Shariah, who will sacrifice your freedoms to avoid offending Muslims.
If you realize the Islamists for what they are don’t give these companies a penny. And please forward:
http://wwwtwosetsofbooks.blogspot.com/2011/04/ebay-hyatt-marriott-general-dynamics.html
As predicted by our enemies, we are being attacked from within. Americans are tied down by two elements: blind PC, and ignorance. I knew nothing about the planned mosque, but when I first heard of a Córdoba House in New York City, I immediately figured out what and who was behind it. The enemy was adding insult to injury. The city of Córdoba was the pearl of the caliphate, and that was precisely the name “moderate” Muslims chose as a way to show their good will, tolerance and respect? In choosing that name they were once more displaying the absolute contempt they feel for our society and our country. They also mistakenly believed that Americans are so ignorant that the name Córdoba would not ring any warning signals. They may have been partly right, because Córdoba is probably not a household name for the average American. But for those who have the knowledge, it was not difficult to shout to the winds: “Outrage! Stop this offensive project right now!”
Immediate response to the voice of reason:
– from the enemy: rename project,
– from PC strapped, self-appointed, “intellectual elites”: “We
apologize for this bunch of retrograde red-necks. They are ignorant
bigots who know nothing about tolerance and multiculturalism. Please
continue with your project. Just tell us how we can help.”
The fact that the enemy changed the name immediately, was both a confirmation of their real intent, as well as of the fact that they had shown their hand too early. Had this project been an honest gesture of conciliation to honor the victims (forgetting of course the location chosen for the project), why would the “moderate” Muslims behind the project change the name?
We can keep talking and self-congratulating ourselves as to how right we are, but the truth is that the enemy keeps advancing, tramping our rights, and laughing all the way to their mosques. What to do to stop this mania?
Use venues such as public and college halls, churches and synagogues to offer free seminars and discussion groups on the history of Western civilization and true nature of Islam throughout history? This would require community organizing and a lot of work. Could it be done? Who would want and be ready to be involved?
I am! Who else?
Am I stupid and naive? Feedback, please. I’d appreciate any comments you can have. Thanks!
This is a more intelligent, nuanced response than those above, and frankly I can’t see anything wrong with it. I am well aware of the Muslim propensity to conquer a city, demolish churches in it (or take them over) and then build mosques that are taller than whatever religious buildings still remain. And yes, I know that this mosque, or community center, or whatever it is or will be, could be interpreted as a sign that Islam has won the “battle of ideas”. Yes, I also am aware that *most* Muslim countries don’t allow Christian churches and the like to even exist within their borders. Famously some countries get an exemption from the U.N. Convention on Human Rights, which includes a “freedom of religion” clause, so that essentially those countries agree that the rest of the world should treat Islam fairly, while they outlaw all other religions except Islam. Silliness like this should be stopped; the countries in question should be given an opportunity to change their laws, and then expelled from the U.N. if they refuse, or at least they should be sanctioned or censured or something for deliberately, openly defying something the rest of the world practices without question. But I digress…
Advocacy against radical Islam is entirely appropriate. The proponents of radical Islam have freedom of speech; so do we. We should exercise it, rather than celebrating someone who got people killed making a point.
David, while I don’t agree with you on this issue, at least you are the only one here who presumes to argue this point sensibly and intelligently, I should correct one of your comments. Having travelled widely in the Muslim and Arab worlds, the only Islamic country i know off where you are not allowed to build a Christian church (or Hindu temple, etc, etc) is Saudi Arabia. I got married in a chapel in Bahrain, and I have seen various other Christian & other denominations have their places of worship in majority muslim countries. Doesn’t make the Saudi view correct, but most other strands of Islam don’t appear to have a problem with other forms of worship.
Terry Jones did not kill anyone! Who did the killing? Muslims of course! We are at war against these islamo-fascists and doing anything to anger or upset them and causing them to show the rest of the world what kind of pigs they are only helps us. How is what you’re doing, bending over for your favorite muslim, considered more patriotic? Should we build a memorial to the fallen jihadists? My bad, that’s what you’re supporting here!
If it was up to me, no mosque would EVER be allowed to be built ANYWHERE in America.
Obviously, I don’t have that much power, but if I ever do, the bulldozers are going to start bulldozing…and there ain’t going to be a minaret left standing once they’re done.
Stop calling these people islamists. This is a made up word that suggests there is a moderate and an extreme Islam.
There is no such thing as moderate Islam.
As for Terry Jones. He may or may not be an opportunist. But the fact is that the message he is sending about the threat of Islam is accurate.
Instead of disliking the messenger why not first listen to the message to see if there is any truth to it.
How many times have I seen Muslims burning the American flag, or the English one, or the Australian? Muslims show no respect for anyone else, why should any respect be shown them. I dont agree with the burning of books but I fully support the guy that burnt the quaran or his right to free expression, in this case someone had to do it and Islam absolutely
has hard questions to answer and we have to decide whether we tolerate the intolerent or give in to the bully. A heavier hand is needed, no more pc correctness, no more appeasement.
I was confirmed by the Catholic church in Kuwait 18 years ago, there are a few churches in the country. The only country that I know of that bans churches is Saudi.
Newsflash: It’s not being built at ground zero.
Yes another movie about how islam is bad…yes another documentary…annother reason to ,.,.,..,.do what exactly? we already know what islam is about. they tell us, they show us. We know what they want. they meaning MUSLIMS want to take over. even if its only the “extreamists” at this point activly fighting for that goal, its quite obvious that the so called moderates are either too weak to be of any use or sympathetic to the cause of the extreamists. is this our big plan? We need answers on what we plan on doing about it. its apparent that we wont fight back, because we dont want to be considered racist. we are content in sitting around bitching and moaning from the shadows while hiding in fear from them. god forbid we show any anger or disrespect. we might anger the extreamists who are already out to kill us. they torch our flag…we tolerate. they burn bibles…we tolerate….they kill innocent civillians and christians…we tolertate. W have shown more unified anger and action towards terry jones than we have islam. why? because he dared to anger thoes people who are activly trying to kill us anyway? The govt wont do anything. neither will the media. in fact both institutions are activly fighting for the muslims over us and doing everything in their power to hinder. Im tired of documentaries. If the people who calue freedom havent figured out the game plan and are still convinced that religious tolerance means we cant defend ourselves, then we dont deserve freedom or life. the constitution and bill of rights were not suicide pacts.
I do NOT think the Mosque should be built anywhere near Ground Zero. While I am not a native of New York, I lost something that day, just like many millions of Americans. It won’t be retrieved – because it is not possible. I was 40 that year and now I am 50. For 10 LONG years I have hoped and prayed that America would capture Bin Laden and now that deed, thanks to the CIA and a lot of perseverance, is done. I believe that man was EVIL to the core and ranked up there with HITLER. To my death, I won’t forget that day, or the people who perished for a cause not worth dying for. Men, women, children and no mercy for the innocent. I would rather give my own life just to see that the Mosque isn’t built because it would sacrilidge. Whether or not others admit they feel the same, I know they do. I pray and beg God that it won’t happen, and I’ll stand by my fellow Americans to the end. It should not be a reality. Think of the children for heaven’s sake. Do we want a daily reminder of the carnage that Mosque would signify? I don’t for my family. Mary D. McNabb