Americans the Loser If Mosque is Built

Shortly after the attacks of 9/11 many Americans found themselves unable to resume the daily lives they had before the attacks. Needless to say, many lives were changed forever. Aside from the victims, their families and the first responders, many citizens also had their lives changed. Some stopped traveling, some stayed home more, some had nightmares, some cried themselves to sleep and many looked at Muslims with suspicion in their minds. In NYC streets we saw police terror exercises and military people on a daily basis. This anxiety and constant surveillance became a necessary component of daily life in NYC. This is what gave many Americans the feeling that the terrorists were winning. So, during that first year after 9/11 happened the expression “if we live with such fear than the terrorists have won ” circulated around the public and media. The result was a bolstering of American morale and an uplift of the country out of fear to be strong and fight back.

With this in mind, Michael Daly of the NY Daily News evokes the same argument as defense of the Ground Zero Mosque. He recently wrote that: “I cannot help feeling that if we block this mosque, we will be doing exactly what Osama Bin Laden wants.”  He continued with: “We have glorified Al Qaeda in the same way, but to reach its ultimate goal, it still needs us to convince the majority of Muslims that the war on terror is really a war on Islam. We are only helping the bad guys if we declare that the religious freedom at the core of our democracy does not apply to a mosque too close to Ground Zero.” (Link: www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2010/08/15/2010-08-15_its_salt_in_my_pals_wounds_but_if_we_block_plan_the_terrorists_win.html)

This argument seems to be a poor choice by Daly as it is a defense filled with naïve notions of how the terrorists function. Believing that being opposed to the Mosque will give the terrorists what they want is just a foolish thought in this issue…and being in favor of this Mosque for only that reason is ridiculous. Fueling the anti-American sentiment has been the easiest thing for the terrorists and anti-Western governments to do. There is so much control and censorship of the Muslim media that propaganda and false information have always played well in the hands of the Muslim clerics and political leaders. No matter what we do the stories about America are always turned against us. This mosque will be no different. If Americans are ignorant enough to believe that building this mosque will enhance the chances for peace they are truly living on another planet. The only difference this mosque will make is that there will now be a huge center of operations for radical Islamists to infiltrate in a very strategic area of NY. For our enemies to have one more reason to kill us, or one less, just doesn’t change the fact that they still want to kill us. We need to be proactive in the defense of our country.

The fact that we have hundreds of mosques in America, with more being built, is proof enough  that Americans are not against the religion of Islam. Mr. Daly should actually be asking: “What will Osama and his followers actually win if this Mosque is built?” The answer is simple: Everything! They win no matter how you look at it because they will spin it in their favor. We are the grand losers.