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added more information, found article about the "comparison" between this and the Skokie case
Faced with an intense popular backlash, Obama backtracked from his comments the next day and stated that "I was not commenting and I will not comment on the wisdom of making a decision to put a mosque there." <ref name="dailymail1"></ref> The White House, however, steadfastly maintains that he was not backing away from his comments, but rather clarifying them.
Faced with an intense popular backlash, Obama backtracked from his comments the next day and stated that "I was not commenting and I will not comment on the wisdom of making a decision to put a mosque there." <ref name="dailymail1"></ref> The White House, however, steadfastly maintains that he was not backing away from his comments, but rather clarifying them.
==Analysis==
=="Declaration of Victory"==
Many critics of the mosque's planned construction worry that the placement of a mosque so close to the site of an Islamic terrorist attack is tantamount to allowing a declaration of victory by al-Qaeda, Hamas, and other terrorist organizations that supported the 9/11 attacks. This became more and more evident when the city of New York offered the Islamic group the option to build elsewhere in the city, at reduced cost, which the group quickly refused.<ref name="foxnews">[http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/08/11/ny-governor-offer-state-property-mosque-built-farther-away-ground-zero/ Offer Rejected to Move Mosque Away From Ground Zero]</ref>
Many critics of the mosque's planned construction worry that the placement of a mosque so close to the site of an Islamic terrorist attack is tantamount to allowing a declaration of victory by al-Qaeda, Hamas, and other terrorist organizations that supported the 9/11 attacks. This became more and more evident when the city of New York offered the Islamic group the option to build elsewhere in the city, at reduced cost, which the group quickly refused.<ref name="foxnews">[http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/08/11/ny-governor-offer-state-property-mosque-built-farther-away-ground-zero/ Offer Rejected to Move Mosque Away From Ground Zero]</ref>
==Faulty Comparison to the Jewish People==
Some supporters of the mosque, including the AMSA itself, have compared the plans for the mosque to plans by Jewish groups to construct a center (albeit one much smaller) within a few miles of the former World Trade Centers. This comparison has drawn criticism from watchdog organizations like Jihadwatch.org, which leveled criticism because
<blockquote>'''Radical Jews have never bombed the West side of Manhattan nor killed 3000 Americans in the name of Judaism''' (their emphasis).<ref name="jihadwatch">[http://www.jihadwatch.org/2010/08/islamic-supremacist-mega-mosque-like-skokie-nazi-march-legal-but-hurtful.html Islamic Supremacist Mosque]</ref></blockquote>
Other supporters compared the Muslim plans to construct a mosque to the demand by the National Socialist Party of America's (NSPA) to march through the village of Skokie, which, despite its controversial nature and overwhelming public opposition, the Supreme Court agreed with the ACLU's defense of the NSPA that their actions were covered by free speech, per the First Amendment. These supporters, however, fail to note several key differences between these two situations<ref name="jihadwatch"></ref>
* The NSPA's action were nothing more than a "disgusting publicity stunt" and a ''temporary'' action (a small group march for the city's center). This stands in sharp contrast to the ''construction'' of a mosque, a far more permanent and imposing structure.
* Although the First Amendment does protect many examples of free speech, the Supreme Court decided in ''Roth v United States'' that standards could be applied to obscenity or otherwise ruthlessly inflammatory speech. Some could argue, as many of the 9/11 families have done, that the construction of a mosque near the former World Trade Centers would constitute exactly this type of "speech."
==References==
==References==
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