I got this email from one of my sisters:
So, I have been watching them leaving Iraq on tv and went to the US Embassy in Iraq website, just to have a look around. From there, I went to the US propaganda website, america.gov. OMG it’s so sad to read with what’s been going on. It’s just like “we like you, we like Muslims, we have Muslims here and they are FINE, they are doing VERY WELL and thriving and not at all marginalized and look at all these pictures of them: happy and praying.” It says, “offering a place for everyone.”
Here’s the quiz on the front page:
Where is the largest mosque in the United States?
* A. Dearborn, Michigan
* B. Miami
* C. New York
Then there’s this:
20 August 2010
Off to Find America, Mosque by Mosque
Two New Yorkers take to the road for Ramadan
Washington — For Ramadan, Aman Ali and Bassam Tariq are touring Muslim America. They are fasting their way across 30 states and celebrating iftars in 30 mosques. They are driving 12,000 miles (19,300 kilometers) to get closer to their faith. And they are having a great time. Ali, 26, an Indian American, and Tariq, 23, a Pakistani American, are buddies in New York. A year ago, they said, they were praying at a mosque with a big crowd on the first day of Ramadan and came up with the idea of spending the holy month visiting a different mosque each day — 30 mosques in 30 days. “In New York City, there’s over 800,000 Muslims. If you type my address on Google, you can find 162 mosques in a five-mile radius,” Ali said. “And so we’re like, ‘Hey, let’s try it.’”
Mr. Gingrich, the former House speaker and a potential 2012 presidential candidate, said in a Fox News interview that “Nazis don’t have the right to put up a sign next to the Holocaust museum in Washington,” a comment that drew criticism for appearing to equate those proposing the Islamic center with Nazis.
Asked about the view that such remarks could fuel radicalism, Mr. Gingrich sent an e-mail response on Friday that did not directly address his critics but said that “Americans must learn to tell the truth about radical Islamists while being supportive of and inclusive of moderate Muslims who live in the modern world, respect women’s rights, reject medieval punishment and defend American laws and the American Constitution.” He added that he believed “it is possible to be a deeply religious Muslim and a patriotic American.”
Muqtedar Khan, an associate professor of political science at the University of Delaware, said he was not sure the Islamic center dispute alone would radicalize anyone. But he said it was “demoralizing” for Muslims like him who defend the United States as an open and tolerant society.
“For the first time, anti-Islamic rhetoric has gone mainstream,” he said. “What this really does is weaken the moderates and undermine their credibility.”