park 51 - 2 - The mosque 1

Everybody from Bush on down has been saying for 9 years that we are not at war with Islam. I believe that that has been a wise and proper approach. We have, with some exceptions, stuck with that. Here is our biggest test yet. The Muslim center represents Islam. Ground zero represents the 19 terrorists. If you say that they cannot be near each other, then you come perilously close to equating Islam with the 19 terrorists.
On 9-11 we were pulled into a war. But the real war is within Islam. It is between the peaceful Islamic majority and the radical Islamic minority. As I said here on 8-8-10 I agree with Goldberg: "Bin Laden wants a clash of civilizations; the opponents of the mosque project are giving him what he wants." This “dust up” is an opportunity for us to make a powerful statement about one of our fundamental principles and at the same time line up with the good guys in that other war.