54. Controversial Mosque

This issue examines U.S. support for Israel, U.S. plans to force a Palestinian state on Israel, and plans to construct a 13-story mosque near the World Trade Center site.

OUR ISRAELI CONNECTION

One Jerusalem reports
The Obama administration often expresses the opinion that support for Israel antagonizes would be allies in the Muslim world. The American President, Secretary of State, and National Security Adviser have all stated this opinion in public. In fact, the Obama administration has said that settling Israel's conflicts with its Muslim neighbors is essential if we are going have a united front against a nuclear Iran.

Independent experts disagree. They point out that Israel's Sunni neighbors are already fearful and opposed to a nuclear Iran. There are press reports dating back to the Bush administration that Israel's neighbors repeatedly told Condoleeza Rice that the Palestinian-Israel dispute is a side show that should not deflect American attention away from stopping Iran. This message to the United States has not changed.

Lee Smith, in his recently published The Strong Horse: Power, Politics, and the Clash of Arab Arab Civilizations, declares: ” Israel is the United States' greatest strategic asset in the region.” To back up this conclusion Smith cites these historical facts: in 1970 Israel stopped Syria from moving against Jordan, in 1981, Israel destroyed Iraq's nuclear reactor, in 1982, Israel's destruction of Soviet missiles in the Bekka Valley sent a strong message to America's Soviet adversaries.  Smith writes of other features that bind the U.S.-Israeli relationship – intelligence sharing, joint defense manufacturing projects… and he concludes “for more than thirty-five years, the core of the alliance has been cold strategic calculation.”
 
Also this week came news that Obama is threatening to convene an international conference to force the issue of a Palestinian State on Israel. Make no mistake, all these proposals require Israel to make security concessions that it will not be able to defend its people. They also target Jerusalem. One proposal acknowledges it will require a large international presence in the Old City of Jerusalem, which means that the United Nations will control what goes on in the Old City!

IT’S NEWS TO ME

Vision to America reports
In a building damaged by debris from the Sept. 11 airliners that brought down the World Trade Center and soon to become a 13-story mosque, some see the bridging of a cultural divide and online casinos an opportunity to serve a burgeoning, peaceful religious population. Others see a painful reminder of the religious extremism that killed their loved ones.

Two Muslim organizations have partnered to open the mosque and cultural center in lower Manhattan, saying the $100 million project will create a venue for mainstream Islam and a counterbalance to radicalism. It earned a key endorsement this week from influential community leaders. But some 9/11 victims' families said they were angered that it would be built so close to where their relatives died. “I don't like it,” said Evelyn Pettigano, who lost a sister in the attacks, during a phone interview on Thursday. “I'm not prejudiced….It's too close to the area where our family members were murdered.”

But the growing number of congregants at the only other nearby mosque, open only one day a week, created a need for an additional space for Muslim prayer in the neighborhood, said Daisy Khan, the executive director of the American Society for Muslim Advancement and a board member of the Cordoba Initiative, the two organizations sponsoring the project. Read more about mosques.

WRITING TIPS

Punctuating adverbial phrases 
 Do not place a comma after an adverbial phrase beginning a sentence

when it immediately precedes the verb it modifies.
 
Wrong:
Between Mars and Jupiter, are a large number of small bodies called asteroids.
Right:
Between Mars and Jupiter are a large number of small bodies called asteroids.

What is the proper designation for 1,000,000 aches?  1 megahurtz