It’s now almost a month since the imam behind the Ground Zero mosque project answered any questions from the U.S. media (or any other media, as far as I’m aware), or even bestirred himself to fill in the American public on his exact whereabouts. All it’s been possible to discern is that after spending weeks in Malaysia (and elsewhere?), Rauf is moving on to the Middle East — with the State Department, after two weeks of hemming and hawing, finally confirming on Wednesday the bare-bones dates of his taxpayer-funded travels to Bahrain, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates.
But I can report a recent sighting, of sorts. Not a sighting of Rauf himself, mind you. Nor the sound of his voice. But late Wednesday night, New York time — Thursday morning in the Middle East — I phoned the U.S. Embassy in Bahrain, the first stop on Rauf’s “public diplomacy” tour.
Asked if the imam had arrived in Bahrain, an embassy official told me: “Yes, that’s correct.”
And that, folks, is the sum total right now of the information available to the American public about the taxpayer-funded public outreach activities these next few days of Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf in Bahrain. I had more questions. But Imam Feisal evidently moves in circles in which inquiries about whom he’s meeting overseas, what he’s telling them, or where he plans to get $100 million for his mosque and Islamic center near Ground Zero are seen by both Rauf and his hosts as an extraordinary intrusion on his public outreach and bridge-building endeavors. The U.S. Embassy in Bahrain would offer nothing further on the record about Ambassador Adam Ereli’s controversial guest. There is so far no reply to queries I emailed to the U.S. embassies in Bahrain, Qatar and the UAE. Visitors to the web site of the U.S. Embassy in Bahrain are of course welcome to read President Barack Obama’s remarks at last Friday’s Iftar dinner at the White House, in which Obama effectively endorsed Rauf’s mosque and Islamic center project near Ground Zero, referring to the right of Muslims “to build a place of worship and a community center on private property in Lower Manhattan.”
The web site of the U.S. Embassy in Bahrain does not feature any of the vigorously dissenting articles or comments by Americans to the effect that the uproar over plans to build a mosque near Ground Zero, on a site hit by debris from one of the hijacked planes, is not a matter of Rauf’s rights, but of his judgment — and whether it is a jab in the eye, rather than a bridge-building move, to plant a mosque and Islamic center so close to a former community hub — the World Trade Center — where more than 2,700 Americans were murdered in the name of Islam.
As Rauf now goes about his apparently covert public outreach program in Bahrain, he is supposed to be telling his audience about life in America. That is why the State Department is shelling out $16,000 for his Middle East Swing — which may sound like peanuts to the public-outreachers at the State Department, but is more than most Americans could possibly afford right now for a summer jaunt abroad. For Rauf, the State Department tour includes per diems of $396 to keep him comfortable in Bahrain, $341 when he moves on to Qatar, and $496 when he gets to the United Arab Emirates.
What’s Imam Rauf got to say? Taqiyyah or not?
Rauf is an Islamic moderate, no he really is!
You see, unlike an Islamic extremist who threatens to murder you, the Islamic moderate like Rauf simply explains to you why you deserve to die.
When are the Americans going to pay for a Japanise Shrine to be built at Pearl Harbour?
Surely the USA should be reaching out to it’s Japanise-American citizens?
Why the delay – it should have been built DURING WWII to be equivelant to this mosque – surely the Americans that fought during WWII did not lack humanitarian values?
When Rauf does come out of hiding, somebody should ask him that you never seem to hear this guy say anything nice about the United States TO THE MUSLIM WORLD. Where are all of his videotaped speeches on how great, free, open, and tolerant the United States is? Do you see any tapes of this guy talking to large Muslim groups praising the United States and saying that attacks against this country are wrong? Do you hear any speeches coming from this imam stating that radical Islam is wrong and that terrorist attacks in the name of allah is a horrible sin and should not be tolerated? Funny how you never hear any of these things coming out of the mouth of this imam. Funny how he only makes statements that later have to be “qualified” or “explained” later on. Funny how that works out, right?
By the way, did anyone bother to ask the imam if he had any problems with Iran having a nuclear bomb? Does he think Iran is a terrorist state? Iran is the principal source of funds for Hamas and Hezbollah, which he does NOT think are terrorist organizations. Any problems with that? And does the imam have any problems with Iran supplying Hamas with weapons? Finally, does the imam think Israel has a right to exist?
I’d like answers to ALL of these questions before I’d even consider letting this guy open a mosque, let alone one that’s located right next to Ground Zero.
Allah is not God. Islam is a cult not a religion. So who are the TRAITORS paying for terrorist Rauf’s road-trip with U.S. Taxpayers monies ???
Claude, my business supplies materials for many of the church builders in my region. Right now, a church can’t get a loan to build in America unless they have the cash in the bank, which of course they don’t!
Every picture of the mosques in NY that I see on TV are very small, not very nice buidings. Where in the world will these people get 100 M unless it is from overseas Muslims? And if it comes from there, what will their purpose to give it be?
Somehow I don’t think the purpose of having a workout area, restaurant etc. will move them to donate 100M large.
But…to build a mosque (that is what they call it, not what our MSM calls it) that will embarrass America and give Muslims across the world the smug knowledge that they have put one over on us…Now that is worth donating to.
And the MSM wonders why 24% of Americans believe the Pres is a Muslim? Hmmmmmm.
So much is made of the fact that gulf states are awash in money:
“Or maybe, as Rauf makes his rounds of Gulf petro-dollar domains…..”
-So what was the thinking 30 years ago to scrap plans to limit dependence on that oil? See how policy from one decade can come back to haunt us much later? Thank you Ron!
Claudia – Your sarcasm is off-putting. You are obviously not interested in what Feisal Abdul Rauf is doing to promote peace and understanding but merely want to cast vague dispersions and conjure up wild conspiracies. I could tell this by reading the title and first line of the essay. You refer to Rauf as “the imam” in the first sentence and don’t get around to mentioning his actual name until the forth paragraph.
Probably would have been too confusing for the reader to try and read an entire article about someone and never mention the person’s name.
Everyone knows about the story and (politically correct caveat) how this project offends the people directly and indirectly affected by the tragic events on 9-11. But please try to move past your fear and prejudice and accept moderate Muslims here in the United States. This project is a good one and whether it goes through or not is really not much of your business. I know, you’re making it your business but again, please stop. You’re not helping. You’re only making matters worse and confirming to others around the world that the people of New York City can’t differentiate between the moderate and the radical.
Oh, come on, Nathan–so what if the imam Rauf calls himself a moderate? If his words aren’t truly moderate (or is it actually OK with you, if someone claims that US foreign policy, by which you understand ‘support for Israel,’ is a cause for the 9/11 attacks?), and–most importantly–if he says different, triumphalist things in the versions of his book published in Arabic (the well-known taqiyyah of the Moslem!), then he’s actually not a moderate.
There are moderate, anti-Shariah Moslems who have spoken out against the siting of this mosque complex.
Don’t be a dupe!
As somebody who is an Israeli citizen and a Zionist, I accept that Arab/Muslim perceptions of ‘US support for Israel’ were probably part of the motivation. Of course, that assumes that the United States has ever truly sided with Israel vs. the Arab states (it has been essentially neutral while promoting defenseless Israeli borders and letting the Arabs know that it would not stop Israel from defending itself in dire emergencies – one of whose causes is the American-backed ‘peace process’ that began within months of the conclusion of the 1967 war). But to Muslims that does not matter. Their Jew-hatred is deep enough that they are incapable of understanding the complexities or in avoiding the belief (shared by some posters here) that ‘the Jews run America.’
It is the problem of a Western mind (including most Israeli ones) that it simply fails to understand Muslim/Arab thought processes, such as they are. Slowly, this is changing, but the effort to truly understand is painful and obstructs the daily search for food and pleasure.
always wondered how one would cast vague dispersions. sounds like a medical problem to me. as with the rest of your post…nonsense
Nathan The Naive
But please try to move past your fear and prejudice and accept moderate Muslims here in the United States.
Moderate Muslims do not build Victory Mosques on the ashes of innocents massacred in the name of Islam.
This project is a good one and whether it goes through or not is really not much of your business.
The project is not only a Jihad recruiting tool but an insult to self-respect. It is an outrage.
Do you realize that the “youths” rioting and burning cars in France are Moslems? Moslems are only moderate when they are badly out numbered, not the case in France.
“The project us a good one.” And that thinking is based upon…what?
The people of America are 70% against it. The family members of the dead are against it. Yet you have the temerity to sat “the project is a good one.” Are you subject to some knowledge the rest of us are not?
If it was “bridge-building,” the inman would move it somewhere else to show sensitivity to the feelings of those he supposedly is trying to “bridge-build” with.
Obviously, this is an in-your-face jab at the Obama-ruled USA.
I try to hear both sides of the argument. I am trying to get my head around who this Imam is. He seems to be a bad person who uses political correctness as a weapon against those who oppose him. I hear Keith Olbermann describe him as a moderate. To Olbermann, The “Center” is not a mosque but a community center complete with a swimming pool, fitness rooms, and no mosque. Mr. Olbermann says that you cannot see Ground Zero from there, but one of the jet engines fell through the roof. Opponents to the mosque are racists. The posturing is interesting. I must be a racist.
Good report. This is journalism.
Doug Santo
Pasadena, CA
The web site of the U.S. Embassy in Bahrain does not feature any of the vigorously dissenting articles or comments by Americans to the effect that the uproar over plans to build a mosque near Ground Zero…
Sanitizing seems to be the order of the day on this topic, from PJ Crowley justifying the United States paying for a large portion of Rauf’s travels (shameful) to information about the imam’s agenda abroad.
Rauf-ie is telling the Muslim world about America ?
Gimme a break.
The money for the memorial to the valiant martyrs, Saudis, all, who struck a magnificent blow against the great Satan will, of course, come from the Saudis, themselves. In the early years, the true purpose of this mosque will be muted. But, once established, the Mosque of the Martyrs will celebrate the wonderful, no, glorious, act of the brave Saudi martyrs!
The pool and many classrooms in the mosque will be dedicated to specific heroes and their names will be honored and memorialized to the greatest extent permitted by the Koran. Again, this will not be made public for many years but the promise of this dedication to the Saudi martyrs is the main reason that Saudis will fund it.
By the way, every time someone mentions the proposed swimming pool–as if this complex is supposed to be an Islamic answer to a YMCA or something–I keep wondering who’s going to swim in it?
Do you realize there are public swimming pools in Europe in which, to accommodate Moslems who believe that men will be contaminated by swimming in the same pool as women (oh my God! They menstruate!!), the sexes are kept separate?
Apparently the great thing about those 72 virgins up in the Heaven of jihadi warriors is not just that they’re virgins (and therefore not in a position to criticize his technique!) but they also don’t menstruate, or suffer from flatulence.
Is that a great religion, or what?!?
The virgins also re-hymenate, overnight !
All new virgins, good to go, in the morning. Such a deal.
If women are even allowed to swim in the pool at the proposed GZM, I hope they don’t wear full burkha or something.
In Raleigh NC, a segregated pool was opened for Muslim females who want to learn to swim. Heretofore, swimming & women has been another of those Islamic no-no’s.
Many of the women came dressed in full-length Burkinis, swimming costumes that looks much like a scuba-diving suit but are made of water-protected polyester rather than rubber. Designed for Muslim women, they cover the entire body except for the hands, feet and face.
Sounds like a rather confining swimming costume.
All this pretense to modesty, in a culture that institionalizes use of women as prostitutes under complicated laws of “temporary marriage” and segments of which condone marriage to 9 YO girls.
Sorry to hear that a pool in Raleigh, NC is accommodating Moslems at all.
How do the men get to swim, by the way? (If they’re willing to go in the same water with normal people of both sexes and various weird kinds of swimming costumes, that’s a good thing, and better than I expected.)
But it is kind of troubling that a separate pool (or separate swimming hours–do they have to clean the water in between uses?) has to be set up for Moslem women. I know, I know, if we don’t do it that way, they won’t get to swim at all–but at what price do we accommodate these ridiculous scruples?
If some group said it was against their religion / culture to swim with the (name any ethnic group), presumably we’d have the good sense to say, “Too bad for you, don’t swim at all then.”
Maybe the Wahhabi oil money can fund private pools in the US where all the separatist, special Moslem needs (for sex segregation, special modesty wear, what have you) can be met; if it’s private, we don’t have a say.
It’s when publicly funded facilities have to be taken away from the public, at least temporarily, to accommodate special cultural / religious needs, that we really should just say no.
One reads of this happening on campuses, too–health clubs that suddenly have to have special hours during which participants have to dress modestly.
Is it OK if I get a bunch of girl friends and we move to Saudi Arabia and so we can drive our cars and wear whatever we want, and they’ll have to let us, just to be nice? And will they translate everything into English just for our convenience (and by the way, I get to still vote, right?)?
Incremental incursions into American culture, a foot bath for cabbies in Minnesota here, halal food for Muslim children in school there, segregated sports over there (they’ve been having a lot of fun with that already in France) and, more extreme, just a little Shari’a in “domestic matters” (moves afoot esp. in Canada and Britain) and eventually, brick by brick, stone by stone, increment by increment, you’ve built something, something that replaces what was there before, something that is markedly different than reasonably “free” western culture.
This is the way of Stealth Jihad, promulgated most especially by the Muslim Brotherhood, Imam Rauf’s daddy (granddaddy?) was close friends with the MB’s founder, Hasan al-Banna. (Their motto: “Destroy the miserable house of the unbeliever from within.”)
Of course, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf himself, traveling around points east as we speak on the American taxpayer dime, telling Muslims about America (“Hey, the infidels are so dumb, they’re letting us build a Mohammed Atta Victory Mosque at Ground Zero ! Can you spare $100 million to erect this great monument to our success?”) is more into the hammer-over-the-head style of Radical Islam.
I’m as tolerant as the next man, but I’m having trouble respecting ignorant misogynists who get violent with anyone who disagrees with them, feel they have a right not not be offended and want everyone to believe (or, at least, shut up and accept) whatever they do.
Suzanne: “the proposed swimming pool–as if this complex is supposed to be an Islamic answer to a YMCA or something–I keep wondering who’s going to swim in it?”
Actually, the swimming pool, basketball court, and fitness center were the original idea, and the owner of 45 Park Place, Sharif El-Gamal, says he got the idea from the Jewish Community Center he belongs to on West 76th Street. In an interview with the NY Observer, El-Gamal also seems to think such a community center is a way to make money. I now call this El-Gamal’s “Scam-and-Spin” story. But the swimming pool is the only element that has never changed. And, yes, I also wonder who is going to swim in it.
In July 2009, SoHo Properties purchased the 45-47 Park Place building for $4.85 million in cash. Sharif El-Gamal has two partners, his brother Sammy, and Nour Mousa, who is the nephew of Amr Moussa, the Secretary General of the Arab League.
“Soho Properties, Inc. is a commercial real estate investment firm founded by Sharif El-Gamal in 2003 in New York City. The Soho Properties team arranges and participates in real estate investments in office, residential and retail property markets in New York City, generating opportunities for its clients through the acquisition of both single assets as well as portfolios. … The company restricts participation in its real estate opportunities to select high-net-worth, accredited institutions and investors.
Acquisitions
We are a company focused on pursuing the real value in real estate investments, especially when pricing dislocations create value-driven opportunities. Soho Properties unlocks the value in an investment by successfully executing various strategies, which include re-tenanting/repositioning assets, renovations, aggregations, developments and participating in unique opportunistic situations. ”
http://www sohoproperties.com/pdfs/SP3rdQ08Newsletter.pdf
El-Gamal partnered with Imam Rauf on the project, but it is no longer clear as to Rauf’s involvement.
I suppose finding “select high-net-worth, accredited institutions and investors” is not difficult when one of your partners is the nephew of the Secretary-Genral of the Arab League.
That would be completely consistent with the supposedly secular PLO paying constant homage to its top tier of Jihadists. Order of prestige is based on those who killed the largest number of Israelis and most filled Israel society with fear and discomfort.
Hey! The Attaboy Mosque!
Nathan;
You are deluded. There is no such thing as ‘moderate’ Islam; and the people of NYC KNOW an Islamist when they see one. Nothing in Islam is moderate; so get real and face up to it. I reckon you’re just a troll for Islamist apologists practicing (or trying to practice) Taqiyya, albeit very poorly.
Thank you Claudia. This whole ‘mosque’ episode has been enlightening to say the least. I reckon it’ll force the President to ‘come clean’ eventually; since so much of his history and actions have no basis in anthing remotely honest and forthright. He’s due for a “let me be perfectly clear” moment; when there’s nowhere else for him to hide. It happens to the best of us; so there’s no real shame in it, especially when you’re clueless.
A Muslim extremist straps on his suicide bombs, flies planes into skyscrapers, holds children hostage in Russia, and beheads you on video.
A Muslim moderate does his best to distract your attention while the Muslim extremist straps on his suicide bombs, flies planes into skyscrapers, holds children hostage in Russia, and beheads you on video.
If you notice what the Muslim extremist is doing, the moderate Muslim explains how it’s all your fault anyway, and has NOTHING to do with Islam!
Rinse. Repeat until subdued.
though true I’m still laughing
Almost, Larry;
A Muslim extremist is as you describe,
but Muslim moderates are the ones who donated money to rebuild St Nicholas Orthodox Church (destroyed on 9/11), demonstrating that Islam is a religion of peace.
The behavior of the WSJ really does conjure up images of Operation Mockingbird by which the CIA is said to have successfully penetrated the centers of American journalism starting in the 1950s. An ex-CIA director gave an interview later on claiming that hundreds of journalists were tied to that agency. I don’t believe that political correctness or subterranean liberalism can fully explain the moral collapse of newspapers like the WSJ.
Where is our beloved Secretary Of State? You know–the ‘moderate’one. Her unctuous alleged husband is on the campaign trail birddogging babes and banging Bush but the gal the Democrats now say they should have chosen in 2008 has apparently traveled to some part of the planet where there is no cell service. After all, this moderate would obviously be outraged, outraged beyond outrage, that her State department was funding Imam Rauf’s summer Mosqueathon among the oily, burnoosed Wahhabis of the Gulf. Wouldnt she? Could these haughty Sons Of The Desert tossing their dinars into Imam Rauf’s begging bowl also be huge contributors to the Clinton Global Initiative To Fill Their Own Pockets? What a funny co-incidence THAT would be! But poor Miss Hilly, always so involved and on top of things (except Bill of course) is so involved in pressing business in Pakistan, where she’s undoubtedly hiding from the media one cave down from Global Initiative contributor Bin Laden, that she cant be reached to comment on HER State Department handing travel money to Imam Rauf. You’d almost get the mistaken impression that she’s as far to left and as spineless of an appeaser as Imam Barak and the rest of the Democrats. But then those of us who never graduated from Yale or Harvard are too slow to understand the subtleties of international diplomacy.
Rauf is taking his cue from Arafat, who always flew away for weeks after some new atrocity against the Israelis, until Sharon destroyed his helicopters.
Of course the hard left are going to call this guy a ‘moderate’.
There Will Be No 911 Mosque
Maybe we Americans needed this very real reminder that the enemy is alive and well and ready to take every weak signal from our pantywaist Presijoke as an invite for more terror and Islamic subjugation.
And, Iran takes their cue and adver’teases’ their shiny new missile:
Iran broadcasts missile launch on state television
Oh happy day!
I had Iftar (Breaking of the Fast) with some folks from the U.S. Embassy this evening and let’s just say every time I brought up Imam Rauf, the topic was changed. I look forward to tomorrow morning paper’s to see what he’s been up to here in Manama.
Just heard on news radio Imam Rauf quoted as saying “religious extremism has become a national security issue.” This in response to a question about people who oppose the mosque at GZ. His wife, Daisy Khan was also quoted saying they will refuse to give in on the mosque. Makes me wonder if there’s a connection between Rauf’s national security comment, and Pelosi’s statement that she will investigate mosque opponents. Apparently, this issue is now a “national security” problem.
In Europe and especialy England since the 1800′s, there has always been a sort of romance attached to the middle east, the idea of the Arab/Muslim as a “noble” warrior. Lawrence of Arabia, the Arabian nights and many other literary efforts, films, etc., partrayed this image of the noble fighting man (preferably a prince) charging through the desert on the back of a beautiful Arabian Stallion, waving a shining sword, fearless and brave. This fantasy seeped into the collective imagination through many generations. It is only now, when the Europeans are actually living and interacting in close quarters with the reality, that they are starting to see the light. Eventually, there will come a time when the ordinary person on the street says, “enough!” to the politicians living in their hermetically sealed world, and who can afford to be politically correct especially when it means votes. Well done America in standing up to those (and they are increasing, after seeing how effective this is) in Islam who use the fact that they are seen as the universal poor, (but really brave and honourable)persecuted victim in order to tweak the consience of the host country and gain more and more concessions and rights, many times above and beyond that of the indigenous people. Time now for all of us to stand up and say to those agitators – integrate, accept, live your life according to your religion within the confines of your own home and family but according to the norm and laws of the country which is giving you the means to live in comfort, prosperity and peace. Do not ask for more than is your right above and beyond the comfort zone of the people who have so generously given you this opportunity.
Look if the people of New York, do not really want this mosque to be built near Ground Zero, then the unions can refuse to work on that site and keep non union workers out. The teamsters can refuse to haul in building material and the vendors do not have to sell the building material needed for this building. Now lets see who wins the almighty dollar or the people!
this is the quid pro quo for the obama presidency. his moslem bff’s poured all that money into his campaign. this is the payback.
either impeach him or get rid of the moslems. barry is the one who is into them, he’s the one who made the deal, we didn’t make any deal.
What a sad and petty life you lead, hounding a man while he does his job for your government. This is the writing of a sad, confused and bitter person, directing her misplaced anger at a convenient target. As ridiculous as this kind of writing is, it makes me sad how easily movements of hatred find dupes to willingly disenfranchise themselves so long as they are given the opportunity to hate freely and publicly.
Why do you limit yourself to attacking the writer? Is that the limit of your thinking? Let us know a little about your positions concerning Imam Rauf and his various projects. Let us know why you think it was a good idea for Imam Rauf to skip the country and refrain from comment once his Ground Zero project became controversial. Don’t just be a hater. Do you believe that it’s in the nation’s interest to have this man “doing his job” for our government? Why or why not? Is he the best the State Department could do?
A challenge, via Dennis Prager: In five minutes, try to think of 10 ways to spend 100 million dollars which would be more effective at “building bridges” than the Cordoba Initiative, for which Imam Rauf claims to be the “visionary”. Perhaps some ways which would not produce such opposition by Muslim clerics in Egypt and elsewhere who believe, among other things, that the Cordoba Initiative is a Zionist plot to permanently connect Islam with 9/11.
http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/top-muslims-condemn-ground-zero-mosque-as-a-‘zionist-conspiracy’/