Imam Rauf on Larry King Live — UPDATED!!

Imam Rauf claims that he has "a responsibility" to build the mosque, otherwise radical Islamists around the world will threaten "national security." In other words, screw the sensitivity concerns of Americans, you'll be blown to bits if you don't back off from my Victory Mosque. See Atlas Shrugs, "Ground Zero Supremacist Imam Rauf Threatens America: 'anger will explode in the Muslim world,' This crisis ...'could become something very dangerous indeed' 'Worse than Danish Cartoon Jihad," GZM is a 'national security issue'."

Also, don't miss Claudia Rosett for added context, at Pajamas Media, "Ground Zero Mosque: The Bombast of Imam Feisal."

The full interview is at YouTube.

UPDATE: From Larry O'Connor (via Memeorandum):

The man who continues to talk about healing and building bridges has thrown down the gauntlet. He created this entire situation by demanding that his mega-mosque be built in this exact location, despite the legitimate concerns of families of lost heroes whom he claims to care about. And now that the opposition of this mosque has fully engaged and has successfully swayed a vast majority of Americans to their side, he tells an international audience that if his plans don't go forward, America's national security will be at risk.

It could be that the Imam's threats, delivered in calm even tones, might end up doing more for the case against his mosque than any rally in the streets could ever do. And given Mr. Rauf's knowledge of the irrational and violent nature of the most radical practitioners of his faith, one has to challenge his judgement in even proposing this project in the first place.

There's a great comment thread at Protein Wisdom as well.