From Pamela Geller:
Tens of thousands descended upon Ground Zero today to remember those we lost nine years ago, and to save the American principles of freedom that the sharia tramples.
Crickets are chirping in taqiya media newsrooms nationwide (although they were all there). There has been no coverage.
We organized a rally of remembrance that dwarfed the opposition. If the America haters had 4,000, we had ten times more. The media is playing the dueling rallies; it was no such thing.
Free people came from all over the country and all over the world to stand in solidarity with the 911 families and to declare our iron determination that no victory mosque will be built on their graves. The crowd was young and old, black and white ........ politics of all stripes. The crowd was beautiful. The crowd was proud and good and decent America. All the speakers were excellent. Rousing. . . [more...]
Is the Dutch political figure, Geert Wilder's the Churchill of our time? Excerpts from his speech at Gound Zero:
When the forces of Jihad attacked New York, they attacked the world. . .
But New York and Sharia are incompatible. New York stands for freedom, openness and tolerance.
New York’s Mayor recently said that New York is “rooted in Dutch tolerance.” Those are true words. New York is not intolerant. How can it be? New York is open to the world.
Suppose New York were intolerant. Suppose it only allowed people of one persuasion within its walls.
Then it would be like Mecca, a city without freedom.
Whatever your religion, persuasion or gender is, in New York you will find a home. In Mecca, if your religion isn’t Islam, you are not welcome.
Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf claims the right to build a mosque, a house of Sharia here – on this hallowed ground.
But, friends, I have not forgotten and neither have you. That is why we are here today. To draw the line. Here, on this sacred spot. We are here in the spirit of America’s founding fathers. We are here in the spirit of freedom. We are here in the spirit of Abraham Lincoln, the President who freed the slaves.
President Lincoln said: “Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves.”
These words are the key to our survival. The tolerance that is crucial to our freedom requires a line of defense.
Mayor Bloomberg uses tolerance as an argument to allow Imam Rauf and his sponsors to build their so-called Cordoba Mosque.
Mayor Bloomberg forgets, however, that openness cannot be open-ended. A tolerant society is not a suicidal society.
It must defend itself against the powers of darkness, the force of hatred and the blight of ignorance. It cannot tolerate the intolerant – and survive.
This means that we must not give a free hand to those who want to subjugate us.
An overwhelming majority of Americans is opposed to building this mosque. So is an overwhelming majority everywhere in the non-Islamic world.
Because we all realize what is at stake here. We know what this so-called Cordoba mosque really means.
Imam Rauf maintains that American secular law and Sharia law are based on the same principles. He refuses to condemn terrorists because he says terrorism is “a very complex question”.
He says America is “an accessory to the crime that happened on 9/11.” “In fact,” he literally said, “in the most direct sense, Osama bin Laden is made in the USA.”
He also says that “terrorism will only end when the West acknowledges the harm it has done to Muslims.”
That is why this man should not play the game he has in mind here in Manhattan. His “Blame the West, Blame America”-message is an insult. Americans – and by extension, all of us whose civilization was also attacked on 9/11/2001 – are not to blame for what happened here nine years ago today.
Osama bin Laden is not made in the USA. The West never “harmed” Islam before it harmed us.
Most Americans do not want this so-called Cordoba Mosque to be built here. They understand that it is both a provocation and a humiliation. They understand the triumphant narrative of a mosque named after the Great Mosque of Cordoba which was constructed where a Christian cathedral stood before the land was conquered by Islam.
An overwhelming majority of Americans is opposed to building an Islamic cultural center close to Ground Zero. There is no lack of mosques in New York. There are dozens of buildings in which Muslims can pray. It isn’t about a lack of space for prayers. It’s about the symbolic meaning.
We who have come to speak today, object to this mosque project because its promoter and his wealthy sponsors have never suggested building a center to promote tolerance and interfaith understanding where it is really needed: In Mecca – a town where non-Muslims are not even allowed to enter, let alone build churches, synagogues, temples or community centers.
Ordinary Americans object to the mosque project because currently no fewer than ten major multi-million dollar mosque projects are being planned in the United States as well as dozens in Europe, while not a single church is allowed in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, while Jews are not even allowed to move their lips in prayer on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, while the oldest Christians in the world, the Copts, are not free to renovate their churches, let alone to build one in Egypt.
My friends, that is why we are here today. What happens in New York must be seen in the perspective of the world. The events nine years ago made an enormous impact everywhere. Most people shared your pain, but, unfortunately, some did not.
Nine years ago, when the news of the terrible atrocity in New York reached Europe, Muslim youths danced in the streets. In a poll, two thirds of the Muslim immigrants in the Netherlands expressed partial or full understanding for the 9/11 terrorists.
If a mosque were built here on Ground Zero such people would feel triumphant.
But we, we will not betray those who died on 9/11.
For their sakes we cannot tolerate a mosque on or near Ground Zero.
For their sakes loud and clear we say: No mosque here!
For their sakes, we must draw the line.
So that New York, rooted in Dutch tolerance, will never become New Mecca.
But, let us also express our gratitude for the heroes of 9/11, those who went down in that Pennsylvania field, those who were standing freedom’s watch at the Pentagon, and those who were here in New York nine years ago to risk and lose their lives for the victims.
Friends, in honor of these victims, these heroes and their families, I believe that the words of Ronald Reagan, spoken in Normandy on the 40th anniversary of D-Day, resonate with new purpose on this hallowed spot. President Reagan said: “We will always remember. We will always be proud. We will always be prepared, so we may always be free.”
And, we, too, will always remember the victims of 9/11 and their loved ones who were left behind;
We, too, will always be proud of the heroes;
We will always defend liberty, democracy and human dignity;
In the name of freedom: No mosque here!
Update: To view a video of Geert Wilders' speech, click here.