SALON

Saturday, Sep 11, 2010 6:03 PM UTC

A contentious 9/11 anniversary unfolds

UPDATED: Neo-fascist Dutch pol speaks at anti-Muslim rally, the Quran burn is off, and Obama defends U.S. values

By

Topics: 9/11, War Room,

A contentious 9/11 anniversary unfoldsAlyson Low, of Fayetteville, Ark., holds a photo of her sister Sara Low as friends and relatives of the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks gather for a commemoration ceremony at Zuccotti Park, adjacent to ground zero, on the ninth anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, Saturday, Sept. 11, 2010 in New York. (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow)(Credit: AP)

UPDATE 5:45 EST: The anti-Muslim, anti-Park51 rally near ground zero is now over, and it was the carnival of extremist right-wing politics that everyone expected it to be.

The organizer was conspiracy-theorist blogger Pamela Geller, who, it can’t be repeated enough, is in large part responsible for the entire national controversy over the “ground zero mosque.” Geller claimed this week that the event “is not a political rally.” TPM’s Jill Rayfield reports from the event that Geller hailed neofascist Dutch politician Geert Wilders — a man who wants to literally ban the Quran, among other anti-Muslim measures –  as “a modern-day Churchill.”

“Draw this line so that New York… will never become New Mecca,” Wilders said, leading the crowd in chants of “no mosque here.”

Other speakers included conservative media figure Andrew Breitbart, and radio host Mike Gallagher. Benjy Sarlin of the Daily Beast took this picture of the pickup truck of one man at the rally who learned everything he needed to know about Islam on 9/11.

There was also a pro-Park51 rally that reportedly drew 1,500 people.

Here is video of Wilders’ speech:

 

***

The press has told us in the past couple days that we are experiencing the newly “politicized” anniversary of Sept. 11. What that really means is that this is the year that anti-Muslim sentiment — in the planned Quran burning in Florida, in the opposition to Park51, and as shown in national polls — boiled over.

It’s unexpected that events would play out this way on this particular anniversary, especially after nine years in which just 14 Americans have been killed in jihadist terrorist attacks in the United States.

But so far, Sept. 11, 2010, hasn’t been quite the circus we thought it would be. That’s in large part because Florida Pastor Terry Jones (who for some reason is in New York today) says he has permanently called off his plan to burn the Quran. An unnamed person, however, reportedly set pages of a Quran on fire near the proposed site of Park51 today (picture here). And people in Afghanistan are still protesting Jones’ stunt.

Meanwhile, here’s what President Obama said at the Pentagon this morning:

They [the perpetrators] may seek to spark conflict between different faiths, but as Americans we are not — and never will be — at war with Islam. It was not a religion that attacked us that September day — it was al Qaeda, a sorry band of men which perverts religion. And just as we condemn intolerance and extremism abroad, so will we stay true to our traditions here at home as a diverse and tolerant nation. We champion the rights of every American, including the right to worship as one chooses — as service members and civilians from many faiths do just steps from here, at the very spot where the terrorists struck this building.

There has been a demonstration in favor of the Park51 project today. And later there is a protest planned, led by anti-Muslim blogger Pamela Geller — who is responsible for sparking the controversy in the first place — and anti-Muslim Dutch politician Geert Wilders.

Conservative politicians are getting the message out, too. Fox News had Rudy Giuliani on today — introduced as “America’s Mayor” — and he issued another lengthy denunciation of the mosque. Giuliani said the organizer of the project has two faces, the “bad imam” and the “good imam.”

And finally, Newt Gingrich is marking the anniversary by premiering his lurid new terrorism documentary, “America at Risk,” tonight in Washington. Here’s the trailer: 

 

Justin Elliott is a reporter for ProPublica. You can follow him on Twitter @ElliottJustin More Justin Elliott.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 79 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

vote
Judge tells lesbian couple to separate or lose kids: "unmarried sexual relationships -- including straight ones – can be grounds for losing child custody"
114 points115 points | 20 comments
vote
Anonymous rallies behind Kaitlyn Hunt
24 points25 points | 32 comments
vote
Developers evict historic women’s shelter to build luxury hotel - The 104-yr-old Anna Louise Inn has ended its 2-year legal battle with a Fortune 500 company & will now move. Many view the victory of the insurance company over a community touchstone as a major blow to the city.
29 points30 points | 2 comments
vote
Report: Nearly a quarter of Americans struggle to afford food
13 points14 points | comment
vote
I don’t hate millennials anymore! <--- not my words, but good read on Gen X. IMO
10 points11 points | comment

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: Chekhov's story mirrors Russia's own

Recommendations