Hertzberg: "Move the Mosque!"

Hendrik Hertzberg:

Fortuitously, there exists one location that would be ideal for the so-called “Ground Zero mosque.” That location would be . . . Ground Zero.

The principal goals of the 9/11 attacks were to ignite a civilizational war between Islam and the West, especially America; to marginalize moderate Muslims and strengthen violent Islamists; to expose American religious tolerance and pluralism as a sham; and to recruit young Muslims to the most brutal, retrograde, reactionary form of jihad.

The principal goals of Cordoba House, as outlined by Feisal Abdul Rauf in the Times, are to promote “recognition of the rights of others, tolerance and freedom of worship”; to facilitate “building bridges between religious groups”; “to strengthen relations between the Western and Muslim worlds”; “to help counter radical ideology”; to serve as “a center for unification and healing”; and to undermine “the ability of anti-American radicals to recruit young, impressionable Muslims by falsely claiming that America persecutes Muslims for their faith.”

It would be hard to imagine a more powerful, pointed, passionate rebuke to Al Qaeda’s brand of twisted Islamism than for an open-hearted cultural and religious institution representing the tolerant, democratic Muslims of New York to be part of the risen World Trade Center.

Also, we could use the company, and the building could use another non-governmental tenant.

(I’d propose a similar plan for Al Qaeda’s other 9/11 target, except that the Pentagon already has a place for Muslims to pray. It opened a year and a month after the attacks.) MORE...

Howie P.S.: Every few years my former middle school pal (Hertzberg) and I are on the same page, poltically. The rest of the time I just admire his writing ability and his resume.