ianstone
08-21-2010, 07:37 PM
Now Muslim Miss USA says DON'T build mosque near Ground Zero
By Mail Foreign Service (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/search.html?s=y&authornamef=Mail+Foreign+Service)
Last updated at 7:03 PM on 21st August 2010
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http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/08/21/article-1305018-0ABB90C3000005DC-81_239x503.jpg Speaking out: Miss USA Rima Fakih
The growing movement against the building of a mosque near Ground Zero has gained another prominent supporter: the first Muslim Miss USA.
Rima Fakih, 24, the daughter of Lebanese immigrants and a Muslim, criticised the location of the planned £70 million Islamic Cultural Center planned just two blocks away from Ground Zero.
'It shouldn't be so close to the World Trade Center,' Fakih, 24, told Inside Edition during a break from the Miss Universe pageant preparations in Las Vegas.
'We should be more concerned with the tragedy than religion.'
After wading into the highly-charged political issue, the Michigan-born Fakih then went on to support President Obama's statement on the constitutional rights of religious freedom.
'I totally agree with President Obama with (that) statement,' said Fakih.
Meanwhile growing number of New York construction workers are vowing not to work on the mosque planned near Ground Zero, according to the New York Daily News.
'It's a very touchy thing because they want to do this on sacred ground,' said Dave Kaiser, 38, a blaster who is working to rebuild the World Trade Center site.
The grass-roots movement is gaining momentum on the Internet, says the Daily News. One construction worker created the Hard Hat Pledge on his blog and asked others to vow not to work on the project if it stays in its current location.
'Thousands of people are signing up from all over the country,' said creator Andy Sullivan, a construction worker from Brooklyn.
'People who sell glass, steel, lumber, insurance. They are all refusing to do work if they build there.
'Hopefully, this will be a tool to get them to move it,' he said. 'I got a problem with this ostentatious building looming over Ground Zero.'
L.V. Spina, a Manhattan construction worker who created anti-mosque stickers that some workers are slapping on their hardhats, told the New York Daily News he would 'rather pick cans and bottles out of trash cans' than build the Islamic center near Ground Zero.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/05/17/article-1278922-099F6F51000005DC-900_468x466.jpg This aerial photo shows the New York city block, lower right, where a 13-storey mosque is planned for construction two blocks north of the World Trade Centre site, centre left
'But if they moved it somewhere else, we would put up a prime building for these people,' he said.
'Hell, you could do it next to my house, I would be fine with it. But I'm not fine with it where blood has been spilled.'
The leader of the proposed Islamic centre and mosque says dropping the plan in the face of protest is not an option.
Daisy Khan says she and other organisers of the center are closely consulting with American Muslim leaders as the plan moves forward. Khan says she realises the uproar is affecting Muslims nationwide.
The project has created a national debate over religious tolerance and the Sept. 11 attacks.
Khan said yesterday she's under no pressure to change locations from the political leaders who previously expressed support.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/08/18/article-1304175-0AD63553000005DC-81_468x286.jpg Crisis: Barack Obama speaking to families about the economy in Ohio this week as he campaigned ahead of mid-term elections in November
Khan and her husband, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, say the centre will promote moderate Islam. Critics say the location is insensitive to 9/11 families.
New York Governor David Paterson says no meeting to discuss relocating has been scheduled with developers.
Paterson told WNYC Radio's The Take Away last night that he's still seeking a meeting, but the discussion he'd hoped to have this week won't happen.
Paterson had said this week that he had hoped to meet with developers in a couple of days to talk about the concerns of those still hurt and angry over the 9/11 attacks.
He says the group postponed a Monday meeting because its imam leader was travelling.
Paterson has also offered to provide state assistance for any relocation.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/08/18/article-1304175-0044079D00000258-389_468x329.jpg At risk: Police wear dust masks as they work in the rubble of the twin towers on September 12, 2001
Up to one in four people, or 24 per cent, said they think Mr Obama, whose middle name is Hussein, is a Muslim after he announced his support for a the building of a mosque near the site of the 9/11 attacks.
The Time poll released last week also revealed that more than 70 per cent of those questioned believed that to build the mosque would insult the memory of victims.
The poll emerged as the mosque developers refused to rule out accepting funding for the plan from Iran and Saudi Arabia.
Mr Obama said he has 'no regrets' over the comments he made about the right of Muslims to build an Islamic centre near Ground Zero.
Mr Obama sparked outrage from Republicans and the families of 9/11 victims after supporting the right of developers to build the mosque.
He inserted himself into the debate over the mosque last week when he said Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as everyone else in the U.S.
A day later, he told reporters that he wasn't endorsing the specifics of the mosque plan.
According to the Siena Research Institute poll, 63 per cent of New Yorkers polled were against its construction and just 27 per cent were for it. But in the same poll a similar margin - 64-to-28 per cent - said the developers had the constitutional right to built it.
The mosque, previously called Cordoba House but now known as Park51, will be a 13-storey Muslim community centre costing £70million which will include a swimming pool, gym, theatre and sports facilities.
Construction is due to begin on September 11 next year - the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attack.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1305018/Now-Muslim-Miss-USA-says-DONT-build-mosque-near-Ground-Zero.html#ixzz0xHpj7JGH
By Mail Foreign Service (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/search.html?s=y&authornamef=Mail+Foreign+Service)
Last updated at 7:03 PM on 21st August 2010
Comments (0) (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1305018/Now-Muslim-Miss-USA-says-DONT-build-mosque-near-Ground-Zero.html#comments)
Add to My Stories (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1305018/Now-Muslim-Miss-USA-says-DONT-build-mosque-near-Ground-Zero.html)
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/08/21/article-1305018-0ABB90C3000005DC-81_239x503.jpg Speaking out: Miss USA Rima Fakih
The growing movement against the building of a mosque near Ground Zero has gained another prominent supporter: the first Muslim Miss USA.
Rima Fakih, 24, the daughter of Lebanese immigrants and a Muslim, criticised the location of the planned £70 million Islamic Cultural Center planned just two blocks away from Ground Zero.
'It shouldn't be so close to the World Trade Center,' Fakih, 24, told Inside Edition during a break from the Miss Universe pageant preparations in Las Vegas.
'We should be more concerned with the tragedy than religion.'
After wading into the highly-charged political issue, the Michigan-born Fakih then went on to support President Obama's statement on the constitutional rights of religious freedom.
'I totally agree with President Obama with (that) statement,' said Fakih.
Meanwhile growing number of New York construction workers are vowing not to work on the mosque planned near Ground Zero, according to the New York Daily News.
'It's a very touchy thing because they want to do this on sacred ground,' said Dave Kaiser, 38, a blaster who is working to rebuild the World Trade Center site.
The grass-roots movement is gaining momentum on the Internet, says the Daily News. One construction worker created the Hard Hat Pledge on his blog and asked others to vow not to work on the project if it stays in its current location.
'Thousands of people are signing up from all over the country,' said creator Andy Sullivan, a construction worker from Brooklyn.
'People who sell glass, steel, lumber, insurance. They are all refusing to do work if they build there.
'Hopefully, this will be a tool to get them to move it,' he said. 'I got a problem with this ostentatious building looming over Ground Zero.'
L.V. Spina, a Manhattan construction worker who created anti-mosque stickers that some workers are slapping on their hardhats, told the New York Daily News he would 'rather pick cans and bottles out of trash cans' than build the Islamic center near Ground Zero.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/05/17/article-1278922-099F6F51000005DC-900_468x466.jpg This aerial photo shows the New York city block, lower right, where a 13-storey mosque is planned for construction two blocks north of the World Trade Centre site, centre left
'But if they moved it somewhere else, we would put up a prime building for these people,' he said.
'Hell, you could do it next to my house, I would be fine with it. But I'm not fine with it where blood has been spilled.'
The leader of the proposed Islamic centre and mosque says dropping the plan in the face of protest is not an option.
Daisy Khan says she and other organisers of the center are closely consulting with American Muslim leaders as the plan moves forward. Khan says she realises the uproar is affecting Muslims nationwide.
The project has created a national debate over religious tolerance and the Sept. 11 attacks.
Khan said yesterday she's under no pressure to change locations from the political leaders who previously expressed support.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/08/18/article-1304175-0AD63553000005DC-81_468x286.jpg Crisis: Barack Obama speaking to families about the economy in Ohio this week as he campaigned ahead of mid-term elections in November
Khan and her husband, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, say the centre will promote moderate Islam. Critics say the location is insensitive to 9/11 families.
New York Governor David Paterson says no meeting to discuss relocating has been scheduled with developers.
Paterson told WNYC Radio's The Take Away last night that he's still seeking a meeting, but the discussion he'd hoped to have this week won't happen.
Paterson had said this week that he had hoped to meet with developers in a couple of days to talk about the concerns of those still hurt and angry over the 9/11 attacks.
He says the group postponed a Monday meeting because its imam leader was travelling.
Paterson has also offered to provide state assistance for any relocation.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/08/18/article-1304175-0044079D00000258-389_468x329.jpg At risk: Police wear dust masks as they work in the rubble of the twin towers on September 12, 2001
Up to one in four people, or 24 per cent, said they think Mr Obama, whose middle name is Hussein, is a Muslim after he announced his support for a the building of a mosque near the site of the 9/11 attacks.
The Time poll released last week also revealed that more than 70 per cent of those questioned believed that to build the mosque would insult the memory of victims.
The poll emerged as the mosque developers refused to rule out accepting funding for the plan from Iran and Saudi Arabia.
Mr Obama said he has 'no regrets' over the comments he made about the right of Muslims to build an Islamic centre near Ground Zero.
Mr Obama sparked outrage from Republicans and the families of 9/11 victims after supporting the right of developers to build the mosque.
He inserted himself into the debate over the mosque last week when he said Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as everyone else in the U.S.
A day later, he told reporters that he wasn't endorsing the specifics of the mosque plan.
According to the Siena Research Institute poll, 63 per cent of New Yorkers polled were against its construction and just 27 per cent were for it. But in the same poll a similar margin - 64-to-28 per cent - said the developers had the constitutional right to built it.
The mosque, previously called Cordoba House but now known as Park51, will be a 13-storey Muslim community centre costing £70million which will include a swimming pool, gym, theatre and sports facilities.
Construction is due to begin on September 11 next year - the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attack.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1305018/Now-Muslim-Miss-USA-says-DONT-build-mosque-near-Ground-Zero.html#ixzz0xHpj7JGH