September 11th is now a political tool for many on the right…
When the ceremonies conclude in New York City today for the ninth anniversary of the September 11th attacks, some of the commemorators will break off to attend a different kind of rally — one that brings the Islamophobic fervor of the past few weeks to a head.
Today at 3 p.m. ET, at the proposed site for Park51 on Park Place and West Broadway in downtown Manhattan, people will gather for the “FDI/SIOA 9/11 Rally of Remembrance: Yes to Freedom, No to Ground Zero Mosque,” a rally in opposition to the planned Islamic center.
The event is hosted by Stop Islamization Of America (SIOA) and the Freedom Defense Initiative (FDI), two anti-Muslim groups both run by AtlasShrugs blogger Pamela Geller, and director of JihadWatch.org Robert Spencer. Together they also wrote a book called The Post-American Presidency: The Obama Administration’s War on America.
SIOA calls itself a “a human rights organization dedicated to freedom of speech, religious liberty, and individual rights; no special rights for special classes.” The FDI aims to act “against the treason being committed by national, state, and local government officials, the mainstream media, and others in their capitulation to the global jihad and Islamic supremacism.”
And several politicians — some from New York, some from as far away as The Netherlands — are scheduled to speak to the crowd.
Among them is former U.S. Ambassador John Bolton, who is rumored to be mulling a run for president in 2012, and who will make his speech via video message. Big Government’s Andrew Breitbart will also be videoing it in.
According to the SIOA site, some 9/11 family members will be on the scene to speak, as will “Dutch Parliamentarian and freedom fighter Geert Wilders.” Wilders told The Guardian in 2008 that “Islam is not a religion, it’s an ideology.” The “ideology of a retarded culture.” Continue reading…
Related Articles
- Controversy over proposed mosque near Ground Zero overshadow Sept. 11 ceremony (nj.com)
- September 11 Anniversary Stained By Politics And Prejudice (huffingtonpost.com)
- SIOA Condemns Obama’s Blessing of Ground Zero Mega-Mosque; Bolton, Wilders, Gingrich to Speak At 9/11 Rally (prnewswire.com)
- Controversies cast shadow over 9/11 events (independent.co.uk)
