Mosque Opponents Are Aiding Taliban Recruitment

Personally, I believe that the far right opponents of the proposed Islamic community center WANT and endless war against Islam. They, like the delusional Chimperator George W. Bush did while in office, believe that they are on an anti-Muslim crusade. Their handiwork, however, is aiding Taliban recruiting efforts and in the process likely to be endangering the lives of U.S. service members in Afghanistan - not to mention American civilians who could be targeted for another terror attack. Sadly, with the Christianists and far right elements of the GOP - e.g. Sarah Palin, Michelle Bachmann, et al - I doubt they give a damn about the lives of innocent people that their vitriolic posturing might endanger. Rather, it's all about scoring perceived political points and satisfying their own Islamophobic inclinations that allow them to feel superior about themselves. It's disgusting and puts the worse aspects of the USA under the spotlight of the international media. Newsweek looks at the damage being done by these self-professed, but false patriots. Here are some highlights:
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Taliban officials know it’s sacrilegious to hope a mosque will not be built, but that’s exactly what they’re wishing for: the success of the fiery campaign to block the proposed Islamic cultural center and prayer room near the site of the Twin Towers in lower Manhattan. “By preventing this mosque from being built, America is doing us a big favor,” Taliban operative Zabihullah tells NEWSWEEK. (Like many Afghans, he uses a single name.) “It’s providing us with more recruits, donations, and popular support.”
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America’s enemies in Afghanistan are delighted by the vehement public opposition to the proposed “Ground Zero mosque.” The backlash against the project has drawn the heaviest e-mail response ever on jihadi Web sites, Zabihullah claims—far bigger even than France’s ban on burqas earlier this year.
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Zabihullah also claims that the issue is such a propaganda windfall—so tailor-made to show how “anti-Islamic” America is—that it now heads the list of talking points in Taliban meetings with fighters, villagers, and potential recruits. “We talk about how America tortures with waterboarding, about the cruel confinement of Muslims in wire cages in Guantánamo, about the killing of innocent women and children in air attacks—and now America gives us another gift with its street protests to prevent a mosque from being built in New York,” Zabihullah says. “Showing reality always makes the best propaganda.”
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“I expect we will soon be receiving more American Muslims like Faisal Shahzad who are looking for help in how to express their rage,” says a Taliban official who was a senior minister when the group ruled Afghanistan and who remains active in the insurgency. As an indication of the anger that is growing among some Muslims in the West, this official, who requested anonymity for security reasons, mentions the arrest of three Canadian Muslims in Ontario last week on charges of plotting to build and detonate improvised explosive devices.
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The more mosques you stop, the more jihadis we will get,” Zabihullah predicts.
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So, the next time you hear an Islamic bigot mouthing off, please take the time to point out to them that they are aiding and abetting the enemy - something sometimes called treason.