Islamic protesters burned US Flag and chanted "Death to America."
By Dan Balz and Jon Cohen Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, September 9, 2010; 12:02 AM
For almost a decade, the annual commemoration of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, has been seen as a day of national unity and sober remembrance. This year, contentious issues of religious freedom and national identity threaten to color the ninth anniversary of those tragic events.
Controversies over calls to burn the Koran and an ongoing debate over a proposed mosque and Islamic cultural center near Ground Zero in New York are drawing particular attention as the anniversary nears, sparking questions about how 9/11 became so politicized.
Islamic Radicals did THIS!
The reality is that, with rare exceptions, the meaning of those attacks has rarely been free of political overtones or debate. Common ground in the months after the attacks quickly gave way to partisan division over combating terrorism. What may be different this year is that earlier debates about who was “strong” in the fight against terrorism and who was not have been supplanted by questions about Islam and religious freedom.
Terry Jones, the pastor of a small church in Florida, wants to build a bonfire out of copies of the Koran on Saturday. That has brought condemnation across the spectrum. Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, has warned that images of Islam’s holy book in flames could endanger the lives of U.S. forces. Both the White House and conservatives such as former Alaska governor Sarah Palin have criticized Jones’s plan.
But experts on public opinion say the controversy does not represent a significant new shift in attitudes. Andrew Kohut, president of the Pew Research Center, said fresh signs of a backlash against Muslims are not showing up broadly in national surveys. “Attitudes are mixed and not as positive as they were eight years ago,” he said, “but there’s no sign of an upswing in anti-Muslim fervor.”
Jones may epitomize the ease with which someone on the political fringe can draw attention and spark controversy. The debate over the proposed Islamic center represents more genuine divisions in the country over the limits of religious freedom and the sacred nature of the ground around where the World Trade Center once stood.
A new Washington Post-ABC News poll finds that two-thirds of Americans oppose building the Islamic center near the former site of the twin towers. Four in five of those opposed say their opposition is strictly because of the location. But 14 percent of the opponents (or 9 percent of all Americans) say they would oppose building it anywhere in the country.