U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has needlessly added fuel to the already hot debate over whether it is appropriate for a mosque and Islamic center to be built close to the site of the 9/11 attack by radical Muslims on New York City.
She said the controversy was “ginned up” for political reasons and that she wants to look into who is funding opposition to the plan to build the mosque near Ground Zero.
But Speaker Pelosi need look no further than the American people if she wants to know the source of that opposition. More than twice as many New Yorkers oppose the plan as support it, according to a Siena College survey of voters in that state. And nationwide, a CNN/Opinion Research survey found 70 percent of Americans opposed to the construction.
Those high numbers do not suggest that opposition is being “ginned up” out of nothing. There are legitimate reasons why many Americans do not believe the $100 million Islamic center should go up close to the place where Muslim radicals killed thousands of Americans.
One is the questionable motive of the Muslim cleric who heads the organization promoting the project.