Terrorism strikes outside Nashville, 800 miles from Ground Zero
It’s an 886-mile drive from Ground Zero in Manhattan to Murfreesboro, TN, outside of Nashville. But to some, that’s apparently too close.
“Federal officials are investigating a fire that started overnight at the site of a new Islamic center in a Nashville suburb.
Ben Goodwin of the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Department confirmed to CBS Affiliate WTVF that the fire, which burned construction equipment at the future site of the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro, is being ruled as arson.
Special Agent Andy Anderson of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives told CBS News that the fire destroyed one piece of construction equipment and damaged three others. Gas was poured over the equipment to start the fire, Anderson said.
The ATF, FBI and Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office are conducting a joint investigation into the fire, Anderson said….
The chair of the center’s planning committee, Essim Fathy, said he drove to the site at around 5:30 a.m. Saturday morning after he was contacted by the sheriff’s department.
“Our people and community are so worried of what else can happen,” said Fathy. “They are so scared.”
Great. Just great. Let’s be blunt: What happened over the weekend represents an act of domestic terrorism, directed at peaceful people — many of whom are no doubt American citizens — who want nothing more than to live and worship in peace.
Some people have tried to cut the baby in half regarding the proposed Islamic Center/mosque in New York City, arguing that sure, technically, Muslims have the “right” to build where they want to build, but they’d be more “sensitive” if they moved the project elsewhere. But as the Murfreesboro case demonstrates, it’s not really about proximity to Ground Zero and sensitivity is not the cure. It’s about vile and unAmerican discrimination. Such bigotry must be confronted and denounced, not placated.
Just last week, on his “700 Club” show, Pat Robertson weighed in against the Murfreesboro mosque, warning that it was probably being funded by Saudi Arabians as part of a conspiracy to impose sharia on the Murfreesboro area. As the Nashville Tennessean reports:
“Islamic Center officials have said they are building the center in stages because they are using only local funds to pay for it, and they have not accepted contributions from elsewhere.
But Robertson claimed money from wealthy Muslims in Saudi Arabia could be used to pay for construction of the mosque. That Middle East country, he said, practices a more extreme form of Islam.
“This isn’t just religion,” the televangelist said.
He went on to say that Muslims could end up taking over the city council to pass ordinances that require public prayer and foot washing. The new Islamic Center is outside the Murfreesboro city limits. An existing center is much smaller and has been in the city for years.
Robertson said a Muslim takeover would mean girls would have to wear headdresses to school… Thursday, Robertson said local officials could end up being cowed by Muslims’ ability “to bribe folks.” A $10,000 bribe could easily influence a public official in a small town, he said.”
The Muslim community in Murfreesboro comprises some 250 families, some of whom have lived in the area for more than a generation. They plan initially to build a 10,000-square-foot worship facility on the 15-acre tract, followed later by an activity room, offices, gymnasium, a swimming pool, outdoor athletic fields and possibly a cemetery.
But some opponents have apparently charged that the Muslims’ real goal is to build a terrorist training facility. Others have been only slightly less blunt in media interviews.
“They are not a religion. They are a political, militaristic group,” Bob Shelton, a 76-year-old retiree who lives in the area, told The Associated Press.
Shelton was among several hundred demonstrators who recently wore “Vote for Jesus” T-shirts and carried signs that said “No Sharia law for USA!,” referring to the Islamic code of law.
“No mosque in Murfreesboro. I don’t want it. I don’t want them here,” Evy Summers said to WTVF. “Go start their own country overseas somewhere. This is a Christian country. It was based on Christianity.”
Fathy, the head of the Muslim group’s planning committee, told the Tennessean that friends back in Egypt are surprised to hear about crimes against mosques such as Sunday’s vandalism. “They cannot fathom this,” he said. “They always look at the U.S. as the place where democracy is practiced best.”
That’s what we are when we are at our best, when we don’t allow the extremists in our own midst to set the agenda.
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340 comments Add your comment
Bosch
August 30th, 2010
12:54 pm
I’m here,
“THOUGHT SO!”
Can you honestly not tell when someone is posting their opinion?
HDB
August 30th, 2010
12:59 pm
I’m Here From The Government And I’m Here To Help
August 30th, 2010
12:51 pm
HDB
August 30th, 2010
12:47 pm
We disagree! Is that a problem for you?
It’s a problem when people keep perpetuating a LIE!! Tax increases are a GOP purvue!! The Republican CONGRESS could’ve made the tax cuts permanent…but when they passed the bill through reconsiliation, THEY set the time limit……so quit blaming Democrats for Republicans’ getting things twisted…..
That’s my point!!..and I’m not Bookman!!
Jimmy62
August 30th, 2010
12:59 pm
I’m against the ground zero mosque, but not against them anywhere. Like most people. Whoever did this is a very scummy person (or people).
Report both sides objectively
August 30th, 2010
1:01 pm
Let’s call attention to this one too so we can be fair.
msnbc.msn.com/id/14082298/
Dusty
August 30th, 2010
1:03 pm
OOOwww HillBilly,
A .20 rat shot?? RAT SHOT? I am trying hard not to think of politicians and rat shot. But it just won’t go away. Where’s a rat shot when you need it??
No more lunch time fun. Later……I gotta go shoot the barn..
Normal
August 30th, 2010
1:06 pm
@@,
“I’m convinced that if wildlife could vote, they’d vote Democrat. Always wanting more of what’s mine.”
That’s a good one! Bravo!
ken
August 30th, 2010
1:06 pm
People in Clayton County live with it every day. It is just a way of life down here.
Jay
August 30th, 2010
1:08 pm
Government, I post under no name but my own. It would probably be a firing offense, and properly so, if I tried to mislead people in such a fashion
Normal
August 30th, 2010
1:09 pm
No more lunch time fun. Later……I gotta go shoot the barn..
Why do I get the feeling that the safest place with Dusty and a gun is in front of her?
MPercy
August 30th, 2010
1:13 pm
If this was intended to “terrify” I have to agree it is reprehensible. However, at this point do we have any real evidence that this was anything other than simple arson (e.g., is the contractor in financial trouble and used fire as a way to get some insurance money), or is this just vandalism, pure and simple? What specifics are there that indicate this is a threat of some sort? A burning pile of Qurans? Some other sort of calling card from the “No Mosque” people?
Harry Callahan
August 30th, 2010
1:14 pm
Funny how many of the libs here assume the mosque attacj was perpetrated by a Republican or a Christian. Read the news people…70% of Americans are opposed to the so-called ground zero mosque according to polling, so one of two things is true…
1) Voters are now 70% republican, and so the 2010 elections will be a massacre, or;
2) Lots of Democrats and/or liberals are opposed to the mosque as well.
And, as stated in one of the early posts on this topic, a recent mosque arson here in metro Atlanta turned out to be perpetrated by a member of the mosque’s own congregation.
Report both sides objectively
August 30th, 2010
1:16 pm
Where is your bleeding heart for Jewish Center attacks, or Christian church vandalism? Why are you on the Muslim bandwagon? Oh yeah… Page views and link clicks get more advertisers. You have to stick with what’s popular.
This is true terrorism. Burning construction equipment is vandalism.
msnbc.msn.com/id/14082298/
paleo-neo-Carlinist
August 30th, 2010
1:18 pm
John Birch, you know what else Somalia, East Timor, Iraq, Iran and Pakistan have in common? None of the countries you mentioned has ever attacked the United States. Don’t even try with Somalia, because Papa Bush “introduced” American troops to Somalia in ‘92 (just before he left office).
I'm Here From The Government And I'm Here To Help
August 30th, 2010
1:21 pm
Obama’s on TV, Obama’s on TV
Run,run,run for your lives!
It’s been less then 24 hours and HE’S BACK on TV!
I'm Here From The Government And I'm Here To Help
August 30th, 2010
1:25 pm
HDB
August 30th, 2010
12:59 pm
We disagree. Why did they set a time limit? Certainly since you know all, you know why?
I'm Here From The Government And I'm Here To Help
August 30th, 2010
1:27 pm
Jay
August 30th, 2010
1:08 pm
Thanks Jay, is just an observation!
chuck
August 30th, 2010
1:27 pm
Jay, calling this “terrorism” is a bit premature isn’t it? Even for YOU! NOBODY knows who did this. It may have been a bunch of kids who don’t even know what is going there for all we know. Maybe it’s a disgruntled former employee of the construction company. It could even be a member of the muslim group trying to stir up trouble and raise donations to build the thing.
As stated earlier, I don’t remember you calling other small scale acts by MUSLIMS terrorism.
Jason T
August 30th, 2010
1:28 pm
Dusty
August 30th, 2010
12:10 pm
Excellent!
Jason T
August 30th, 2010
1:36 pm
Senior executives, on-air personalities, producers, reporters, editors, writers and other self-identifying employees of ABC, CBS and NBC contributed more than $1 million to Democratic candidates and campaign committees in 2008, according to an analysis by The Examiner of data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics.
The Democratic total of $1,020,816 was given by 1,160 employees of the three major broadcast television networks, with an average contribution of $880.
By contrast, only 193 of the employees contributed to Republican candidates and campaign committees, for a total of $142,863. The average Republican contribution was $744.
Now that’s “fair and balanced”.
I'm Here From The Government And I'm Here To Help
August 30th, 2010
1:39 pm
Bosch
August 30th, 2010
12:54 pm
I’m here,
“THOUGHT SO!”
Can you honestly not tell when someone is posting their opinion?
LET ME help you. Can you honestly not tell when someone is posting their opinion, ABOUT a subject they are uneducated about?
Okay!
Disgusted
August 30th, 2010
1:41 pm
By contrast, only 193 of the employees contributed to Republican candidates and campaign committees, for a total of $142,863. The average Republican contribution was $744.
Maybe news organization employees are a little smarter than the average slug and can see through the BS being slung by the Republicans.
Mediarrhea
August 30th, 2010
1:47 pm
I took a huge democrap and it smelled like journalism.
Jason T
August 30th, 2010
1:50 pm
Disgusted
“Maybe news organization employees are a little smarter than the average slug…”
I guess calling so-called journalists an example of a much higher intelligence than the “average slug”, means you are an Albert Einstein in inteligence, but, only mediocre in name calling. LOL
Paul
August 30th, 2010
2:19 pm
Kayaker 71
““The ground zero mosque question? I don’t comment on local issues”
Unless it’s to the UN, that is. From the Associated Press:
“PHOENIX – Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer demanded Friday that a reference to the state’s controversial immigration law be removed from a State Department report to the United Nations’ human rights commissioner.
The U.S. included its legal challenge to the law on a list of ways the federal government is protecting human rights.
In a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Brewer says it is “downright offensive” that a state law would be included in the report, which was drafted as part of a UN review of human rights in all member nations every four years.
“The idea of our own American government submitting the duly enacted laws of a state of the United States to ‘review’ by the United Nations is internationalism run amok and unconstitutional,” Brewer wrote.”
Now three countries – Canada, Japan, and Cameroon, have to decide to tell us what to do to make it all better. Cameroon. Maybe they’ll find the time after they’re done executing homosexuals and imprisoning and torturing journalists.
Hey Bosch
““What, in all of Beck’s and Palin’s message Saturday was offensive to you?”
If you don’t mind, I would like to answer that. For me, it was the fact that we need to restore America to traditional values, and to me, that’s insinuating that somehow we have gotten away from that. They are somehow apologizing for America being the way it is — it’s only gotten away from THEIR traditional values,…”
Still sounds to me like the Beck rally lifted their message from the Obama presidential campaign –
I'm Here From The Government And I'm Here To Help
August 30th, 2010
2:28 pm
Obama pretends to champion small biz. Ignored mom-and-pop fishermen’s flotilla on Martha’s Vineyard.
Scout
August 30th, 2010
3:03 pm
Jay:
Just think of the money American taxpayers will have to fork out for an FBI surveillance office across the street not to mention the listening devices planted in the building during construction.
And if you think that is not going to happen, I have some land in Florida to sell you.
HDB
August 30th, 2010
3:06 pm
I’m Here From The Government And I’m Here To Help
August 30th, 2010
1:25 pm
“HDB
August 30th, 2010
12:59 pm
We disagree. Why did they set a time limit? Certainly since you know all, you know why?”
Yes, I do; it was the METHOD that the Republicans used to pass the legislation. The reconsiliation process allows for budgets to be passed with a simple majority…but issues of taxation are limited to a ten-year window!! Republicans forced the budgets through reconsiliationto get what they wanted…the tax breaks! They knew that they would have to face this issue in 2010….but they lost power! It was a gamble that they LOST!!
Screwed the pooch on that one!!
I'm Here From The Government And I'm Here To Help
August 30th, 2010
3:32 pm
Paul
August 30th, 2010
2:19 pm
Did you see the Beck event? If so, we can move forward. If not, shut up about a subject you know nothing about!
I'm Here From The Government And I'm Here To Help
August 30th, 2010
3:36 pm
HDB
August 30th, 2010
3:06 pm
I’m Here From The Government And I’m Here To Help
August 30th, 2010
1:25 pm
“HDB
August 30th, 2010
12:59 pm
We disagree. Why did they set a time limit? Certainly since you know all, you know why?”
Yes, I do; it was the METHOD that the Republicans used to pass the legislation. The reconsiliation process allows for budgets to be passed with a simple majority…but issues of taxation are limited to a ten-year window!! Republicans forced the budgets through reconsiliationto get what they wanted…the tax breaks! They knew that they would have to face this issue in 2010….but they lost power! It was a gamble that they LOST!!
Screwed the pooch on that one!!
HDB, are you GG in disguise? Cause you’re memory is very selective when it comes to facts. You’re half right. The half you failed to mention or understand, is the fact that the Democrats blocked the tax cuts. How did you forget that important factor?
HDB
August 30th, 2010
3:48 pm
I’m Here From The Government And I’m Here To Help
August 30th, 2010
3:36 pm
“You’re half right. The half you failed to mention or understand, is the fact that the Democrats blocked the tax cuts. How did you forget that important factor?”
Didn’t forget that…but did you know why?? The budget surplus was going toward paying DOWN the national debt. For the first time in modern history, that was being addressed. By cutting revenue, payment on the national debt would decline!! The 39.6% nomimal tax rate along with the growth in the economy was working to reduce the deficit AND the national debt!! Republicans wanted to keep deficit spending in an attempt to restructure domestic spending!!
I'm Here From The Government And I'm Here To Help
August 30th, 2010
3:52 pm
HDB
August 30th, 2010
3:48 pm
More kook-aid flavors! LOL
You do realize a little debt when it comes to the Government is a GOOD THING. A Government should NEVER have a surplus! You know why?
HDB
August 30th, 2010
4:15 pm
I’m Here From The Government And I’m Here To Help
August 30th, 2010
3:52 pm
MANAGABLE debt is good to ensure the ability of governments to influence (NOT CONTROL) financial activity! When debt gets to a certain point and becomes UNMANAGABLE, economic uncertainty occurs. That’s what happening now!! Debt service is slowly arriving at the point of unmanagability!! IN certain aspects, achieving surplus would entice the government to increase spending…..however, in this case, the nation NEEDS to achieve surplus status so that we can pay doen the national debt. This debt has been increasing from WW2 and upward!! If the national debt equals GDP (and that point is soon coming!), not only would stagnation happen (it’s in the initial stages)…..but the possibility of economic collapse increases!! How long would it take to recover from another DEPRESSION….and since the US is more of a COMSUMER nation, how could we GROW ourselves out of it since our manufacturing base is primarily offshore???
Miecky's Monkee
August 30th, 2010
10:29 pm
It’s an inside ruse. The ultra progressive social justice Christians at the school of theology at Sewanee: The National Episcopal University were probably behind the anti Mosque forces. They want Murfreesboro to look like a bunch of redneck white bigots so that they can announce to the world how loving they are by begging the Muslims to all move to Sewanee and convert All Saints Chapel into an INterfaith Mosque.
Sewanee is worried that if they don’t do more to reach out to the muslim community in tennessee, that Jesus will tell donors to stop giving money to Sewanee.
Even Sewanee’s greatest living alumnus can’t bring himself to tell us what he knows about Sharia Law, the Muslim Brotherhood, and the Koran’s commandments to rid the earth of Christians and Jews who don’t convert to Islam.
After Jon Meachamm ruined Newsweek, he still hides the truth about Islam. He’s supposed to be one of the smartest people in America. Pulitzer prize and all the books, but he ruined newsweek. ha ha
What does he know about what is coming our way when he hides the truth about fascist islam’s plan for us?
http://www.newsweek.com/2010/08/28/meacham-let-reformation-begin-at-ground-zero.html
Rotten Wingnuts in an Age of Miracles | Dog Canyon
September 2nd, 2010
10:35 am
[...] site for a new mosque in Murfreesboro, TN, was torched and is under federal investigation—an act of terrorism 886 miles from Ground Zero.Such hate campaigns usually spawn apoplectic confusions, so that anyone who vaguely resembles a [...]
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September 11th, 2010
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[...] country. Recently, the construction site for a new mosque in Murfreesboro, Tennessee was torched. Jay Bookman of the Atlanta Journal Constitution called it an act of terrorism 886 miles from Ground …. The 250-member Muslim community, some of whom have lived there for over a generation, are [...]
Rita Nakashima Brock, Ph. D.: Remembering the Sacred Acts of 9/12/01 | World News Mania
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[...] country. Recently, the construction site for a new mosque in Murfreesboro, Tennessee was torched. Jay Bookman of the Atlanta Journal Constitution called it an act of terrorism 886 miles from Ground …. The 250-member Muslim community, some of whom have lived there for over a generation, are [...]
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September 11th, 2010
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[...] country. Recently, the construction site for a new mosque in Murfreesboro, Tennessee was torched. Jay Bookman of the Atlanta Journal Constitution called it an act of terrorism 886 miles from Ground …. The 250-member Muslim community, some of whom have lived there for over a generation, are [...]
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In a nutshell… « Pittsburgh Area Jewish Committee
September 17th, 2010
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[...] country. Recently, the construction site for a new mosque in Murfreesboro, Tennessee was torched. Jay Bookman of the Atlanta Journal Constitution called it an act of terrorism 886 miles from Ground…. The 250-member Muslim community, some of whom have lived there for over a generation, are [...]