Dr. Pearl's Contemplation

The father of Daniel Pearl wrote the opinion piece in this post. He is a professor of Computer Science at UCLA, and a philosopher of science who has worked extensively on Artificial Intelligence.

His contemplation of the “undercurrents” in the situation of the Ground Zero Mosque are particularly relevant, given the nature of his son’s death at the hands of islamic murderers who have yet to stand trial for their many barbaric crimes.


Dr. Pearl begins with this thought:

I have been trying hard to find an explanation for the intense controversy surrounding the Cordoba Initiative, whereby 71 percent of Americans object to the proposed project of building a mosque next to Ground Zero.

I cannot agree with the theory that such broad resistance represents Islamophobic sentiments, nor that it is a product of a “rightwing” smear campaign against one imam or another.

Americans are neither bigots nor gullible.

You are correct, sir. We are not Islamophobes, but as someone in the comments at the Logan’s Warning website once said, we are Islamosophias, i.e., wise to the ways of Islam and no longer taken in by the pretty-sounding deceits.

Dr. Pearl then considers the survivors of those killed on September 11th:

Deep sensitivity to the families of 9/11 victims was cited as yet another explanation [for this “intensity” - D], but this too does not answer the core question.

These families may not be the whole answer, but certainly they have used their energies in a desperate attempt to halt this desecration. In fact, Dr. Pearl, they could use your support.

If one accepts that the 19 fanatics who flew planes into the Twin Towers were merely self-proclaimed Muslims who, by their very act, proved themselves incapable of acting in the name of “true Islam,” then building a mosque at Ground Zero should evoke no emotion whatsoever; it should not be viewed differently than, say, building a church, a community center or a druid shrine...

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A more realistic explanation is that most Americans do not buy the 19 fanatics story, but view the 9/11 assault as a product of an anti- American ideology that, for good and bad reasons, has found a fertile breeding ground in the hearts and minds of many Muslim youngsters who see their Muslim identity inextricably tied with this anti-American ideology.

Sir, I can’t see any “good reasons” at all for this anti-American ideology which has its tentacles wound deeply into UCLA, where you teach. It is not merely blood-sucking Islam, which you have noted; it is also the leftwing professors and student groups at your school and at colleges all over the country. The “long march through the institutions” is complete. It remains to those of us who see this as dangerous to our country to work against it.

The Ground Zero mosque is being equated with that ideology. Public objection to the mosque thus represents a vote of no confidence in mainstream American Muslim leadership which, on the one hand, refuses to acknowledge the alarming dimension that anti-Americanism has taken in their community and, paradoxically, blames America for its creation.

The Ground Zero mosque is a very large object lesson of that ideology, sir. It is more than a vote of no confidence in these people, it is the realization that they do not wish us well and are working overtime to make manifest the Caliphate in America. Yes, you’re right: they are most alarming.

In public, Muslim spokespersons praise America as the best country for Muslims to live and practice their faith. But in sermons, speeches, rallies, classrooms, conferences and books sold at those conferences, the narrative is often different. There, Noam Chomsky’s conspiracy theory is the dominant paradigm, and America’s foreign policy is one long chain of “crimes” against humanity, especially against Muslims.

[…]

Terrorist acts, whenever condemned, are immediately “contextually explicated” (to quote Tariq Ramadan); spiritual legitimizers of suicide bombings (e.g. Sheikh Yusuf Qaradawi of Qatar) are revered beyond criticism; Hamas and Hizbullah are permanently shielded from the label of “terrorist.”

Overall, the message that emerges from this discourse is implicit, but can hardly be missed: When Muslim grievance is at question, America is the culprit and violence is justified, if not obligatory.

Bingo! Tariq Ramadan is a friend to your son’s killers. In fact, he and they would subjugate us all if we didn’t remain vigilant.

True, we have not helped Muslims in the confidence-building process. Treating homegrown terror acts as isolated incidents of psychological disturbances while denying their ideological roots has given American Muslim leaders the illusion that they can achieve public acceptance without engaging in serious introspection and responsibility sharing for allowing victimhood, anger and entitlement to spawn such acts.

“We” have done no such thing! It is the Muslim Brotherhood and the Leftists, tunneling through our intelligence bureaucracies and the Pentagon who have brought off this charade. No sensible American believes it for a minute.

Dr. Pearl concludes:

The construction of the Ground Zero mosque would further prolong this illusion.

If I were New York’s Mayor Michael Bloomberg, I would reassert Muslims’ right to build the Islamic center and the mosque, but I would expend the same energy, not one iota less, in trying to convince them to put it somewhere else, or replace it with a community-managed all-faiths center in honor of the 9/11 victims.

Fellow Muslim Americans will benefit more from co-ownership of consensual projects than sole ownership of confrontational ones.

Sir, I honor your horrific loss in this war, but I disagree with your view of these Ground Zero developers as people who could or would operate in good faith anywhere. They’re deceptive and they’re criminals.

As you noted in the beginning, 71% of Americans think this is wrong. I would hope that you number yourself among them. These particular people don’t deserve a mosque no matter where they plant it. The more we find out about them, the worse they are revealed to be. Thinking they should be moved is giving aid to those who slaughtered your son.

Yes, that’s a tough thing to say, but the evidence is all around you. If you, Daniel Pearl’s father, cannot speak out more forcefully against these enemies of America, then who can? Please consider offering your support to the Families of 9/11 who are working so hard against this mosque.

And no, it’s not an “initiative”, Dr. Pearl. It’s a deception.