'This Whole Islamaphobia Line of Thought is Concocted to Distract Unsuspecting Americans From Discovering the Truth'

From Tim Brown, at Coalition to Save Ground Zero (via Memeorandum):

When I first met Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, I was taken by him. He was very soft-spoken and charming. I thought to myself, now this is a guy I can work with. It gives me no pleasure in admitting I was wrong.

As we took a closer look at Imam Rauf and the other leaders of the Ground Zero Mosque project, we discovered startling inconsistencies in their stories. They could not even keep their lies straight between each other. We learned they are working side-by-side with radical Islamic organizations that have been identified by our own government as co-conspirators in one of the largest terrorism cases in the last few years, the 2008 Holy Land Foundation (HLF) terrorism trial that funneled $12 million to Hamas. In fact, one of Rauf’s many organizations, the American Society for Muslim Advancement (ASMA) maintains it’s offices at 475 Riverside Drive on the same floor (and next to) the NY office of the Council for American Islamic Relations (CAIR). CAIR is one of the co-conspirators in the HLF trial.

Rauf also blames America for the violent attacks of Sept. 11th and will not condemn Hamas as a terrorist organization. After initially being misled by Imam Rauf, I now have my eyes wide open and he is not the man he claims to be. I wish he were.

Here are some questions we have about the project:

SOHO Properties paid $4.85 million dollars in cash for the property at 45-47 Park Place in July 2009 (they lied to Community Board 1 about also owning 49-51 Park Place). In June 2009 one of Rauf’s many organizations; the American Society for Muslim Advancement (ASMA) received $537,000 from Qatar, a known financier of worldwide terror. We suspect this money was used to purchase the property. The fact that the property was purchased with cash along with the suspiciously –timed “donation” from the government of Qatar raises troubling questions and justified skepticism. We want to know if any money has or will be coming from foreign states that sponsor terror.

Imam Rauf claims to be an interfaith man who wants to build bridges. Why, then does he claim to want to “leverage 9/11” and the deaths of our friends, and ignores how insensitive it is to the families, many of whom still have not recovered one ounce of their loved one’s body?

Rauf is involved with several radical Muslim organizations (CAIR, ISNA, Muslim Brotherhood), all un-indicted co-conspirators in the HLF terrorism trial. He is also no. 2 in the Perdana Global Peace Organization (attached) that was the largest financier ($366,000) of the Free Gaza Movement that resulted in the suicide deaths of 9 Palestinian activists. Every time we question him about it he avoids and deflects any answer. Again, why is this self-proclaimed man-of-peace involved with these radical terrorist organizations?

The leaders of the GZ mosque project are adherents and proponents of shar’ia law. They claim the U.S. Constitution is shar’ia-compliant. The truth is that the American Constitution and shar’ia law are opposite of each other. Shar’ia does not recognize freedom of speech, freedom of conscience or equal rights of all people before the law. You cannot find two documents more diametrically opposed to each other. Which does Imam Rauf choose? You cannot have it both ways.

Muslims have worshiped in New York without incident both before and after the attacks of 9/11. This whole Islamaphobia line of thought is concocted to distract unsuspecting Americans from discovering the truth. I spent 20 years as a New York City fireman helping whoever needed help. We never stopped to ask anyones color or creed. I have not changed. How dare anyone call me an Islamaphobe or a fear-monger or a bigot.