Howard Dean: NYC Mosque a "Real Affront"

Former Democratic presidential candidate and Vermont governor Howard Dean, a hero to many liberals, has called efforts to build an Islamic community center two blocks from the site of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks "a real affront to people who lost their lives."

"That site doesn't belong to any particular religion, it belongs to all Americans and all faiths," he said.

Dean, speaking on New York's WABC-AM radio, said he would like to see a compromise on the issue - one that includes moving the Islamic center to another site. He adds, however, that "people should be able to worship as they see fit."

Dean argues that though the backers of the project are "trying to do something that's good" and integrate Muslims "into the fabric of the United States," the issue is "very delicate" and there should be a compromise "so that everybody is accommodated by this."

Meanwhile, conservative Ted Olson, whose wife died in the terrorist attacks, broke with the majority of conservatives to support the project. He said he believes President Obama "was right about this."

"I do believe that people of all religions have a right to build edifices or structures, or places of religious worship or study where the community allows them to do it under zoning laws and that sort of thing," he said on MSNBC. "And that we don't want to turn an act of hate against us by extremists into an act of intolerance for people of religious faith. And I don't think it should be a political issue."

The positions of the two men prompted liberal commentator Keith Olbermann to write on Twitter: "I have respected and appreciated Howard Dean for eight years but he is completely wrong and uninformed about the Park51."

"& Ted Olson, with whom I have usually disagreed, +whose connection to this is far more personal than nearly everybody else, is 100% correct," he added.

[rock0223]

Someone commented... "school books in some regions of the world teach Muslims to hate jews... Christians teach to love they enemy, to turn the other cheek."

******************

Christians love the enemy, that always was a hoot! Whether lopping off heads in the Crusades or napalming babies in Vietnam etc etc it's always been a curious excuse for 'love'. See Bon Jovi: U give love a bad name.

[bob8710]

ok heres the deal the Muslims can build a mosque anywhere the want because they are us citizens and are protected under the first amendment. what the real news story should be is why after nine years is there still just a whole in the ground at ground zero. people of this country need to move on! put a memorial there or just build over it! where Americans we don't sit around in self pity for ten years for god sake. and as unfortunate as it may be this will be forgotten 30 or 40 years from now if the education system stays the same. but that's off topic. take notes from Israel when there is a terrorist attack there they investigate what happened, clean up and rebuild. it dose not take nine years! by just letting ground zero just sit there and rot we as a country are letting terrorism win.

[2ears1mouth]

People continue to mention Timothy McVeigh as some fanactical Christian bomber whose bombing was inspired by his Christian belief. Please tell me where you found this information. I've been folowing the OK City bombing and never saw this. I believe his motivation to bomb the federal building was his hatred of what he thought was an overbearing, tyranical federal government. Quotes that he used were from Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson, not the Bible.

[voyeur203]

The real issue is not freedom or religion or building rights, but use of common sense and decency. To respect all the participants who were involved in this tragedy, it would be wise for the Iman leader to rethink his decision about building a 13 story mosque near the site of so much personal tragedy. There is a song out called Rubbing salt in the wounds which is being heard round the internet, and this is exactly what the Muslim leader is doing. He is being very inconsiderate of the feelings of thousands of people who work in NYC and NJ, and this is not the time for the Muslim world to inflict their goals of spreading their faith throughout NYC or elsewhere.

We all know that the Muslim world wishes to control and dominate the world as they say so very simply and plainly upfront...It is a Christian goal as well...But Muslim law is totally different from Christian Law. Muslim law teaches how to hate as I recall Barbara Walters doing an interview asking why it is that school books in some regions of the world teach Muslims to hate jews...I saw that on t.v. Christians teach to love they enemy, to turn the other cheek. Christian behaviour is different from Muslim behaviour.

So don't think twice that when it comes to freedom of worship, wise and sensible leaders of a community have the right to protect themselves from Muslim hate groups, whether bona fide religious principles or not. Why is it that it is Muslims who wear suicide belts? Why is it that Muslims commandeered these planes to crash into those two towers?

Why is that Muslims now want to erect a mosque to prove that these same Muslims do not care truly about the feelings of the New York and New Jersey citizens whose lives were taken there on 9/11?

Use common sense, decency, and try to spread a faith that loves, soothes, and considers other people's feelings...don't try to trump a tragedy with your own special brand of religion to test freedom of religion in America....get wise, get smart, and do right!

[sasboy-2009]

Is there any law in the US legal system or in the constitution that makes the proposed mosque illegal ?

[SOSOTRUE]

As President of the United States, President Obama must uphold all of the constitution and that includes freedom of religion. The Muslims who are building the mosque should show some sensitivity to the 9/11 issue and build the mosque elsewhere. They must understand how building this mosque near the 9/11 tragedy affects Americans. If they want us to be sensitive to them, they must also show some sensitivity. I know there are a lot more locations they can build this mosque on. TIME TO PUT THE PRESSURE ON THE MUSLIMS WHO WANT TO BUILD THIS MOSQUE TO DISPLAY SOME SENSIVITY AND BUILD ELSEWHERE.

[slatep]

Earlier, on this site, there was a report that a Saudi King was seeking information, from two Saudi hospitals, about paralyzing a 22 year old man to the same degree as the man he injured in a fight.

Yesterday, I received an email with pictures of an 8 year old boy who was about to have his arm crushed under the front wheel of a car as punishment for stealing BREAD from a market.

The first article wasn't up on the site for long.

The pictures in the email will never see the light of day on ANY television set; nor will the beheadings that take place there everyday.

This is lunacy!

I cannot, in good conscience, support any religion or religious citadel that practices such cruel and inhumane punishment.

Will the IMAMS let us build a Christian Sports Complex in Mecca?

[MohatmaJeebus]

Ahhh - Behold! The American sheeple being lead around by their ignorant noses by Fox News for fun and profit.

[manley4714]

Fox News does not control my comment. Nor does it control my opinion. It is also not the sole source for information. I react to the topic at hand based on my life experience. I would hope that people are stating their opinion based on what they truly believe in and not to tease or just to antagonize.

[armyoftwelve]

I could juxtapose the fundamentalists one this website babbling about how "the Constitution says..." with some preacher saying "the Bible says..." or OBL saying "the koran says..." All three are cut from the same cloth.

The issue here isn't legality. The issue is how the actions of a few affect the surrounding community. There is absolutlely NO civic ethos
being displayed by the developers of this project towards the great
opposition displayed in the broader community.

This will prove to be a pyrrhic victory.

[slow_news-day]

"The issue here isn't legality."

You're wrong - that's the ONLY issue. Your sensitivities don't matter. Extremists took down the towers, not muslims.

[armyoftwelve]

Correction: muslim extremists.

If you don't think the 9/11 kooks were muslims that's just your opinion. Everyone else in this country know the truth

You belong locked in a box where you can quote the Constitution and argue with Pat Robertson who will quote the Constitution and the Bible and we can stick OBL in there and he can quote the koran. Your thinking is nice and talmudic. I bet your neighbors hate your guts.

My neighbors LOVE me because before I mow my lawn or burn brush I take a peek next door and see what's going on. If they're having a picnic I hold off on mowing because even though I'm LEGALLY ENTITLED to I would rather change my behavior than disturb them. I changed the gutters of my house so that the runoff went away from their property for the same reason (even though I didin't have to).

But why am I writing this? Everyone who posts here knows that you never read more than half of the other guy's post before you respond....

[obabyo]

Wrong, Howard. "The site" is private property and can be sold by the owner to whomever wants it badly enough and it can be developed by the new owner to serve any purpose allowed by the zoning. This is a bogus issue and debate is unnecessary...it is just a building, people.

[manley4714]

And the nulear bomb was just a bomb!