| − | [[File:Ground Zero Mosque1.jpg|right|300px|thumb|Proposed location of the Ground Zero Mosque (red target) on Park Place, lower Manhattan, New York City. A completed, multi-story mosque would have it facing in the direction of the site of the World Trade Center just two blocks south, where nearly three thousand died in the [[September 11, 2001 attacks]] by Islamic fanatics.]] | + | [[File:Ground Zero Mosque1.jpg|right|300px|thumb|Proposed location of Cordoba House (or "Park51") on Park Place, lower Manhattan, New York City.]] |
| − | The '''"Ground Zero Mosque"''' (officially '''Park51''' and formerly the '''Cordoba House''') is a proposed [[Muslim]] [[Mosque|mosque]] under construction two blocks away from the former [[World Trade Center]], which [[Muslim]] extremist [[terrorist]]s destroyed on [[9/11]], killing almost 3,000 people.<ref name="dailymail1">[http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1303463/Obama-backtracks-Ground-Zero-mosque.html Obama backtracks on Ground Zero Mosque]</ref> The plans are a collaboration between the [[Cordoba Initiative]] and the [[American Society for Muslim Advancement]] (ASMA), a Muslim organization created in 1997<ref> [http://www.asmasociety.org/home/ ASMA]</ref> to promote "integration and tolerance based on Islamic values of compassion."<ref name="aol">[http://www.aolnews.com/article/ground-zero-mosque-rebuttal-the-9-11-christian-center/19556400 Ground Zero Mosque Rebuttal]</ref> The vast majority of Americans oppose the plan as "insensitive" to the families of the 9/11 victims.<ref name="aol"></ref> The backers of the Park51 mosque have no connection with al-Qaeda terrorists. | + | The '''"Ground Zero Mosque"''' controversy concerns the proposed construction of cultural center containing a [[mosque]], two or three blocks from the wreckage of the former [[World Trade Center]], which fanatic [[Islamic]] [[terrorist]]s destroyed on [[9/11]], killing almost 3,000 people.<ref name="dailymail1">[http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1303463/Obama-backtracks-Ground-Zero-mosque.html Obama backtracks on Ground Zero Mosque]</ref> The plans for the building, originally dubbed "Cordoba House" (but changed to "Park51"), are a collaboration between the [[Cordoba Initiative]] and the [[American Society for Muslim Advancement]] (ASMA), a Muslim organization created in 1997<ref> [http://www.asmasociety.org/home/ ASMA]</ref> to promote "integration and tolerance based on Islamic values of compassion."<ref name="aol">[http://www.aolnews.com/article/ground-zero-mosque-rebuttal-the-9-11-christian-center/19556400 Ground Zero Mosque Rebuttal]</ref> The vast majority of Americans oppose the plan as "insensitive" to the families of the 9/11 victims.<ref name="aol"></ref> The backers of the Park51 mosque have no connection with al-Qaeda terrorists. |