Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf does appear soft-spoken on videotape news interviews. But the Imam is aggressive toward Americans in promoting his religious, cultural, and fitness center business project, the Near Ground Zero Fitness Center/Mosque. Rather than withdraw to another site, the Imam is fierce in demanding this site.
His own words are a not well-veiled threat of trouble to come if his project is denied. If read slowly and aloud, the Imam's word are an extortionate "if/then" ultimatum. If the Imam's project is denied, Imam will incite extremist Muslims by announcing "Islam is under attack (sic, in the US)".
Speaking slowly and carefully, the Imam's videotape has been shown and Imam's words quoted on numerous news media:
"If we move from that location, the story will be:
that the radicals have taken over the discourse.
The headlines in the Muslim world will be:
that Islam is under attack (sic, in America).
If we don't do this right,
anger will explode in the Muslim world".
The Imam feels "The United States policy is an accessory to the crime that was committed" in the Al-Qaeda terrorist airplane bombings on the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center.
In his 2005 lectures in Australia, the Imam places blame on the United States for the Al-Qaeda bombings in Ameica as retaliatory acts of revenge:
"We tend to forget in the West, that the US has more Muslim blood on its hands than Al-Qaeda has on its hands of innocent Non-Muslims.
You may remember that the US-led sanctions against Iraq led to the death of over half a million Iraqi children. This has been documented by the UN".
Ed Schultz on Cenk on MSNBC The Young Turks.com interviewed Sam Stein who tried to rally support for Rauf. Stein found a conciliatory Rauf quote at a memorial service for one of the World Trade Center deceased. Stein also noted that Rauf had been selected by the Bush Administration, Karen Hughes, and the FBI as some type of envoy between the US and "The Muslim World".
Rauf continues to be supported in the Obama Administration by PJ Murphy of Hillary Clinton's State Department as a paid-travel envoy for "outreach" to the Muslim world.
But who specifically is Imam Rauf an envoy to?
Al-Qaeda is an Islamic "meta-national" terrorist Muslim organization, for which no one Muslim country will claim as its own, or take responsibility for.
The problem for the average American is: with a declared war against only Iraq for not following United Nations rules for revealing "weapons of mass destruction", and as military "back-up" in resolving civil war in Afghanistan, why has the US become the target for generalized or "All-Muslim Party" aggression resulting in the World Trade Center bombings.
Who was the Bush Administration negotiating with through Imam Rauf? No specific countries were mentioned. Is Rauf an unspecified representative of Al-Qaeda? Is so, why would the US negotiate with an international Muslim terrorist organization?
What has occurred is the exacerbation of historical hostilities between mostly Arab Islamic sectarian groups, Sunni vs. Shite, Muslim Fundamentalist Taliban vs. less "religious" Muslim oil/gas traders now fighting civil wars for control over the region. Meanwhile American business people try to make deals for Arab oil and other business.
Large numbers of Arab and other Muslims have come to the US. Is this to escape the wars in their native countries or to invade or retaliate for the American presence there? Why would immigration not have been closed to those with whom America is at war or in "conflict" with, supporting one sectarian group over another?
Fighting unconventional undeclared wars in areas of ethnic sectarian civil war while trying to do business there puts the US in a precarious position. If the US is there to help spread participatory democracy in governments there, it is encouraging there are elections in Afghanistan. But neither the people nor the authorities are troubled by voter fraud, which could lead to the same violent power struggles. There are attacks even as the election is taking place.
The lack of clear goals in our government and military involvement in Afghanistan and the whole area is having a destabilizing influence on America at home, as people flood the US looking for a stable life or to retaliate for what they see as our meddling in their affairs.
Islam is not really a religion like current Christianity. The history of Islam, since 817AD, is riddled with takeovers of adjacent countries by Islam, and once Muslim populations are established, by warring rival leaders and sects of Islam.
Who really does Imam Rauf represent and what is his more specific role as emissary to whom?
AP DB Caruso wrote 9/18/2010 on Yahoo News that Sheik Ubaid of Islamic Leadership Council of Metropoliatn NY is one of a number of Muslim groups planning a Muslim summit about the Fitness Center/Mosque in NYC September 19-20, 2010.
Ubaid says Imam Rauf has been a regular "talking head" on national news media on Muslim world affairs, but among NYC Imam Rauf is something of an outsider, not that involved with the local Muslim community. Ubaid said Rauf "did not round up support for the center before going public with his plans. Had he consulted us, we probably would have told him, gently, no".
Americans may be making a very serious mistake in not knowing who it is we are negotiating with, what groups they represent, and why they are negotiating with us.
Imam Rauf may be only a very aggressive Islamic businessman, demanding a specific place for his business, and willing to risk worldwide peace for it.
Imam Rauf and one of his Islamic Fitness Center/Mosque partners, Sharif El-Gamal or Soho Properties, have fallen behind on more than $224,000 in prperty taxes this summer. Yahoo News reported that NYC finance department confirmed El-Gamal turned over a check for about $35,000 and signed an 8-installment payment plan. El-Gamal said failure to pay resulted from a dispute with NYC over assessed property values, and the appeal is still pending.
Other reports that NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg and staff, including Comptroller John Liu, have offered a lifetime non-profit status to the Park 51 and other Islamic centers group may have a role in this dispute.
In other Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf real estate news, (AP, Newark, NJ) 9-17-2010 The Greenwich Times.com reports wife Daisy Khan has replied to Union City, Ner Jersey pending lawsuits against Rauf for repairs on 2 apartment buildings Rauf owns there.
D. Khan says the repair delay is due to delayed city permits for repair. The city disputes this saying the city would never hold up permits when the safety of residents is at stake.
Graphic: Crescent and Star, The Illustrated Book of Signs and Symbols, M.B-Mitford.
Other references: AP, Yahoo News, Greenwich Times.com.
Email mkrause381@gmail.com or mkrause54@yahoo.com to comment or request a copy of this or other blogs posted by mary for monthlynotesstaff at http://monthlynotesfive.blogspot.com (monthlynotestwo. through monthlynotesfive.blogspot.com) or http://monthlynotes.blogspot.com) on www.google.com.
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