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FYI, Dr., the term is "hallowed ground" not "hollow ground"....other than that error I agree with your premise. History has clearly shown that Islamic worship is an intolerant, brutal religion, cloaked in secrecy and empowered by a self-proclaimed entitlement to require all other religions to abandon their beliefs in favor of Islam or face death by the most horrific means.

Now Islam isn't the only religion that can be described that way. The Catholic Church has had its day in the brutality box in the past. And we can assume that all Muslims do not want the rest of us dead. But for our civilization today, Islam has the singular distinction of at least creating an atmosphere that has bred enough extremists where 18 of them were directly responsible for murdering 3,000 innocents on American soil.

That event alone awards Americans veto power against this "Islamic Cultural Center" two blocks away from Ground Zero. There should be no dispute about that. Has anyone tried to tear down the mosque that already exists a few more blocks away? Of course not, because that isn't the point. And it isn't the point that shops, clubs and strippers have establishments nearby Ground Zero, because strippers didn't murder 3,000 people on that day, and strippers don't have a mandate to behead all who don't agree with them.

It is the responsibility of Muslims in America to make peace and build bridges with the rest of us here. Not the other way around. So far we've heard nothing remotely resembling contrition or even empathy from the Muslim community. Mainly what we've heard is a lecture on how our policies caused the acts of 9-11. And now we're supposed to be sensitive to their "need" to build this center so close to where our heroic police and firefighters died and where their colleagues still protect us? I don't think so. To preach otherwise is to forget who we really are - a sovereign nation with the right to defend itself against threats, foreign or domestic.