President Barack Obama’s recent remarks about Ramadan and the Ground Zero Mosque called Cordoba House have left observers wondering whether the president even slightly understands America’s past or even present. Likely answer: No.
Obama’s historical revisionism began on Aug. 11 when he released this statement honoring the Muslim holiday of Ramadan. Ramadan is the ninth month in the Islamic calender and a time when Muslims fast all day until the evening meal, seek forgiveness for their sins and pray for help from Allah. The fasting helps purify them and put them on the path to good works.
The president noted this religious aspect of Ramadan, but then added the following:
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These rituals remind us of the principles that we hold in common, and Islams role in advancing justice, progress, tolerance, and the dignity of all human beings. Ramadan is a celebration of a faith known for great diversity and racial equality. And here in the United States, Ramadan is a reminder that Islam has always been part of America and that American Muslims have made extraordinary contributions to our country.
Then Obama unbosomed these remarks at the annual iftar dinner at the White House.Iftar is the evening meal that breaks the Muslim fast during Ramadan, and is often celebrated in a festive, community setting:
As a citizen, and as President, I believe that Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as everyone else in this country. And that includes the right to build a place of worship and a community center on private property in Lower Manhattan, in accordance with local laws and ordinances. This is America. And our commitment to religious freedom must be unshakeable. The principle that people of all faiths are welcome in this country and that they will not be treated differently by their government is essential to who we are. The writ of the Founders must endure.
We must never forget those who we lost so tragically on 9/11, and we must always honor those who led the response to that attack from the firefighters who charged up smoke-filled staircases, to our troops who are serving in Afghanistan today. And let us also remember who were fighting against, and what were fighting for. Our enemies respect no religious freedom. Al Qaedas cause is not Islam. …
So that’s who were fighting against. And the reason that we will win this fight is not simply the strength of our arms it is the strength of our values. The democracy that we uphold. The freedoms that we cherish. The laws that we apply without regard to race, or religion, or wealth, or status. Our capacity to show not merely tolerance, but respect towards those who are different from us and that way of life, that quintessentially American creed, stands in stark contrast to the nihilism of those who attacked us on that September morning, and who continue to plot against us today.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has expressed similar stupefying comments, but in any event Mr. Obama clarified his remarks to claim he merely was expressing his belief in the right to build the mosque, not the wisdom of building it just 600 feet away from Ground Zero.
This left more than a few people scratching their heads, but the blogger named AngryWhiteDude seemed to have captured the perplexity of those who wondered what role Islam played “in advancing justice, progress, tolerance and the dignity” of man, and what “extraordinary contributions” American Muslims have made to America:
As President Barack Hussein Obama has continually taught the world over the past 18 months, Islam has played a tremendous part of Americas past! Can we overlook the Pilgrims who fled England and landed at Ramadan Rock to worship freely as peaceful Muslims? Who can forget Ahmed Jefferson calling upon Allah to inspire the Declaration of Muslim Independence? Or the Founding Fathers breaking from the rigors of their debates to break for 12 prayers to Mecca each day? Who has not been inspired by Nehan Armstrongs words as the first Muslim on the moon, “One small step for a Muslim, but I wish it was on an infidels throat.” I remember my teachers telling of Muhammad Washington chopping down a Jews cherry tree and saying, “I cannot tell a lie unless to an infidel.” Ahhh yes, Americas history is Islams history!
Republicans were not amused about the Iftar comments, but could only say Obama seems “disconnected” and seems to be “waffling” on the issue of whether he really supports the mosque.
But again, as with Obama’s other historical errors, his remarks at the iftar dinner have the history of the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001 wrong as well. Nihilists did not attack the United States on 911; Muslims did.
Others have noted that permitting the consturction of this Islamic edifice at Ground Zero would be akin to building a Japanse shrine at Pearl Harbor.
As well, the left-wing atheist Sam Harris observed in The Daily Beast, building Cordoba House at the site where Muslims killed nearly 3,000 Americans, will appear to millions of Muslims as a victory for their political ideology:
The claim that the events of September 11, 2001, had “nothing to do with Islam” is an abject and destabilizing lie. This murder of 3,000 innocents was viewed as a victory for the One True Faith by millions of Muslims throughout the world (even, idiotically, by those who think it was perpetrated by the Mossad). And the erection of a mosque upon the ashes of this atrocity will also be viewed by many millions of Muslims as a victoryand as a sign that the liberal values of the West are synonymous with decadence and cowardice.
One example of what Harris explains is support for the mosque from the Hamas terror group: “We have to build the mosque,” Hamas co-founder Mahmoud al-Zahar said. “We have to build everywhere.”
Photo: President Barack Obama hosts an iftar dinner in the State Dining Room at the White House in Washington, Aug. 13, 2010: AP Images
