Opponents of Park 51 Lower Manhattan Mosque have all but abandoned their property rights and First Amendment arguments against having the mosque built. They are now using the argument that they are not opposed to the building of the mosque, they are opposed to the building of a mosque controlled by “radical” Islamists. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich stated:
"The folks who want to build this mosque -- who are really radical Islamists who want to triumphally prove that they can build a mosque right next to a place where 3,000 Americans were killed by radical Islamists -- those folks don't have any interest in reaching out to the community. They're trying to make a case about supremacy. That's why they won't go anywhere else, that's why they won't accept any other offer."
Others are suggesting that all the furor over the proposed building of the mosque could pose a threat to national security. Evan Kohlmann, senior partner in the security consulting firm Flashpoint Global Partners, believes that radical Islamists could use the mosque controversy as a propaganda and recruitment opportunity. He stated:
"The reaction is, at least on the part of extremists, fairly gleeful - that America is playing into our hands, that America is revealing its ugly face, and that even if it doesn't further radicalize people in the Middle East, there's no doubt that it will radicalize a kind of a key constituency that al-Qaida and other extremists are seeking to covet, seeking to court, which is the small number of homegrown extremists here in the United States.”
Kohlmann believes that every instance of Islamic hate-mongering plays into radical Islamists attempts to radicalize moderate American Muslims. He stated:
“All this controversy and vitriol are not only encouraged; they’re welcomed. Extremists and radical clerics posted a stream of “I told you so” messages: After years of telling followers that Islam was under attack by the West, the harsh reaction to a simple community center seemed to prove it. That message, transmitted in a multitude of chat rooms and websites, has law enforcement worried. There have been a record number of homegrown terrorist plots in this country since late last year, and the conventional wisdom has been that the long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have moved some young Muslims — many of whom came of age watching U.S. forces fighting in two wars on television — to join the fight.”
The question still remains, is there a threat to national security if the mosque is not built?
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