Post by Teddy Bear on Sept 12, 2010 15:51:43 GMT
The way the BBC presents news of opposition to the plans to build an Islamic centre near the site of the 9/11 World Trade Centre devastation, known now as 'Ground-Zero, shows their pro-Islamic bias very clearly. One would think that all opponents to this plan are radical and 'right-wing', or SHOCK HORROR 
Republicans, which might be true compared to the BBC mindset, but it's not for them to make that determination, and certainly not based on who really these people are.
For example, the BBC cannot accept that anybody who does not wish to see our society 'Islamified' is not automatically a radical. While it's important for BBC interests and agenda to present Islam in a good light, until they properly address the issues that rightfully concern citizens of this society about the dangers they perceive from this religion, especially in its fundamental form, they are creating a deep division that eventually will 'bite them in the arse'.
Consider that over 16,000 deadly attacks have been perpetrated worldwide in the name of Islam since 9/11. This is not 16,000 deaths, which would be bad enough, but 16,000 attacks causing far greater loss of life. Added to this are the issues of dress, subjugation of women, so called 'honour'-killings, amputations, torture, fatwas if one wants to change religions after being a Muslim, and the list goes on of just how unbalanced and unyielding the followers of these backward practices are.
So it is not surprising that most people want to know the generally accepted qualities of our society are not under threat, or being swept aside, to appease those who threaten it. It seems the BBC are trying to ignore these concerns with their overall propaganda, as the present story shows.
Here's the BBC version (highlights are mine)
The BBC would have you believe, like Obama, it was not a religion but al-Qaeda that attacks our society. As far as I can see it was the mindset of that religion, that we see perpetrated on a daily basis throughout the world, that performs these acts of terror for the purposes of subjugation.
As for They say the centre will include facilities for all religions and be a place for reconciliation between faiths. With all these facilities for the various religions, I wonder how adherents will feel towered by a mosque above them, instead of the twin towers that used to be there.
To understand the difference in reportage of this event, here's how the Telegraph covered it.
America's agony: September 11 anniversary marked by anger and controversy
The anniversary of September 11 is usually a day of quiet reflection. But this year the furore over plans for a mosque near Ground Zero has led to a day of noise and recrimination.
Just as she has on the morning of Sept 11 for the last nine years, Wanda Ortiz arrived at Ground Zero with her twin daughters to celebrate the life of her husband Emilio, the father her girls never knew.
For almost a decade, this has been a day of solemn remembrance, private memories and shared sorrow for the relatives who gather to honour the nearly 3,000 people killed by al-Qaeda terrorists on that dreadful day in 2001.
The skies were again blue and crisp, just as they had been when al-Qaeda hijackers crashed jets into the World Trade Centre towers and the Pentagon – and passengers brought down a fourth plane, thought to be headed for the White House or Capitol Hill, in a Pennsylvania field.
But this was a 9/11 anniversary like no other. For this year, the sombre commemoration took place against a febrile and shrill backdrop of controversy and tumult over national identity, religious freedom and mutual tolerance.
A few hours later and just two blocks from Ground Zero, rival protesters – including some of those same family members – rallied to show either their opposition to, or support for, a planned Islamic centre and mosque that is the focus of a tormented national debate.
And as Mrs Ortiz walked with her daughters Emily and Amanda towards the cranes that are building new towers at the site where her husband worked for a commodities firm, a fundamentalist Florida preacher declared in a New York television studio that he had finally abandoned his threat to mark the day by burning Korans.
Mrs Ortiz wanted no part of the debate about a mosque or Koran bonfire stunt. "There are other days to speak about this," she said, holding the hands of the girls who were just eight months old when Mr Ortiz died. "I am just here to remember my wonderful husband, the father of my daughters. I have no interest in protests on a day that should carry its own sanctity."
And yet, illustrating how the unity of previous anniversaries has been torn apart as America agonises in unprecedented fashion about its relationship with Islam and Muslims on its home turf, other relatives moved from commemoration to demonstration.
"This is not an anti-Muslim protest, it is an anti-location protest," said Jim Riches, a New York firefighter whose son, Jimmy, also a firefighter, was killed when the towers collapsed. "My son was murdered by Islamic terrorists that day and it is simply not appropriate or sensitive to locate a mosque so nearby."
Like many, he is infuriated by the focus of President Barack Obama and Michael Bloomberg, the New York mayor, on freedom of religion – insisting that the objections are targeted on locating the Islamic centre so close to the "hallowed ground" of the World Trade Centre.
"They are free to practice their religion, we are just asking for some sensitivity about where they do it. We are not racists and bigots. We're just representing those who were killed by Muslims on 9/11 and do not think this is the right location for a mosque."
But others were simply opposed to a mosque anywhere. Indeed, the rally was organised by Stop the Islamicisation of America, a group whose name leaves little doubt about their goal, and the main speaker was Geert Wilders, the Dutch politician who advocates banning the Koran, ending immigration from Muslim countries and halting construction of new mosques.
Thousands of protestors mixed patriotic fervour with anti-mosque rhetoric as they rallied just 100 feet from the site of the planned Islamic centre.
Chants of "no mosque here" echoed through the streets around Ground Zero as the mood turned from reflection to indignation.
"We will draw a line here today on this sacred ground," said Mr Wilders. "We must not give a free hand to those who want to subjugate us."
In the crowd was Eileen Tallon, 67, whose son Sean, a firefighter, died on 9/11. "They want to build a victory mosque on our cemetery so this is the perfect day to come out to protest," she said.
Others saved their greatest fire for their president. "He is the anti-Christ, he is a Muslim and this is Obama's mosque," said retired prison guard John Cacciola.
A lone protestor took up the stunt abandoned by the Florida pastor when he burned a few pages of the Koran in front of press photographers. "Americans should be free to express themselves as they see fit," he said before being bundled away by police officers. He declined to give his name, saying "my actions are more important than my name".
Amid rapidly fraying relations between America and the Muslim world, Mr Obama used a ceremony at the Pentagon to call afresh for tolerance and again make clear his support for the Islamic centre project.
"They [al-Qaeda] may seek to spark conflict between different faiths, but as Americans we are not – and never will be – at war with Islam," he said. "And just as we condemn intolerance and extremism abroad, so we will stay true to our traditions here at home. We champion the rights of every American, including the right to worship as one chooses."
Given that opinion polls indicate that two-thirds of Americans oppose locating the Islamic centre so close to Ground Zero – and 20 per cent believe wrongly that he himself is a Muslim – it was a stance not without political risk.
It was the second time in less than 24 hours he had spoken so boldly. On Friday, he praised his predecessor, President George W Bush, whose assertions that Islam was "a religion of peace" immediately after 9/11 were seen as crucial in containing anti-Muslim sentiment at the time.
Mr Obama has also repeatedly condemned the threat to burn Korans by Terry Jones, the pastor of an obscure Pentecostal church in Gainesville, Florida. That plan prompted violent protests in the Islamic world as the holy month of Ramadan ended with the Eid holiday, and was slammed by US military chiefs for endangering American servicemen.
The White House and Pentagon took the political risk of giving the pastor credibility and publicity by addressing him directly – defence secretary Robert Gates called him personally to urge him to abandon the stunt – after Gen David Petraeus, the US commander in Afghanistan, expressed alarm that internet reports were in danger of provoking a violent backlash against his troops.
Amid the tumult and tensions, one name that is remarkable for its low profile the debate is that of Osama bin Laden, the al-Qaeda supremo. It is a sign of how much things have changed that his ability to elude capture or death was barely noted in the US this weekend.
Instead, in a new report from leaders of the 9/11 Commission that investigated the attacks, Americans were warned that they faced a much greater threat now from home-grown terrorists, often trained in places like Somalia and Yemen, than from the sort of spectaculars once conducted by al-Qaeda.
In 2009, there were at least 10 such attacks or plots – as well as the murderous shooting rampage on a Texas army base by Major Nidal Hasan, a Muslim military psychiatrist. Several were influenced by the teachings of Anwar al-Awlaki, the radical US-born Yemen-based preacher.
For many Americans, the spectre of home grown terror is yet more reason to fear the influence of radical Islam on US soil. According to a Washington Post-ABC poll last week, 49 per cent of Americans held a negative view Islam, the highest figure since the 2001 attacks and twice as high as the 24 per cent figure in 2002.
With the economy in the doldrums and the political mood souring rapidly after the heady days of Mr Obama's election, some Muslims are increasingly concerned that "Islamophobia" will become a political gambit.
Leading Republican figures such as 2008 vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin and former House speaker Newt Gingrich – both considering White House runs in 2012 – have weighed into the criticism of the planned Islamic centre, linking the project and the 9/11 attacks.
"America and its Muslims citizens are like a couple who were not having a real conversation with each other and bottled everything up until it all exploded," said Asra Nomani, an American writer who moved from India to the US with her devoutly Muslim parents at the age of four, 41 years ago.
"There is so much rage out there. It feels like we're now at that stage where all the frustration is coming out and we're shouting and don't seem to understand each other. We're all wounded souls."
Ms Nomani is a writer and Islamic feminist – a role that often puts her at odds with her fellow Muslims, even in North America. "I will be taking my seven-year-old son to get his Eid present at Toys R Us and I have prayer rug by my bed but I also fight for the right to sit in the front row at a mosque without a scarf across my head."
She knows Imam Rauf and his wife Daisy Khan but she criticises their choice of location for the mosque. "The wisdom of seeking to build a mosque there was misguided," she said. "It's become a train wreck and sticking to the plan now is just irresponsible."
For decades, the only domestic Islamic radicals of whom Americans were aware were the predominantly African-American acolytes of the Nation of Islam.
Indeed, the family story of Ms Nomani is typical of many new Muslim arrivals in North America – her father was an academic who moved from India to pursue his studies. "We epitomised the cliché of the American success story in a way that many Muslims never did in Europe," said Ms Nomani.
Muslim immigrants to America had long appeared to assimilate more easily and flexibly than their counterparts in Europe. Without the colonial connections to countries such as Britain and France, they arrived in smaller numbers and were predominantly professionals and graduates.
But in recent years, Islamic radicals have made inroads into some communities, just as they have in European cities, and recruited young Muslims for terror attacks. And at the same time, the distinction between Islam and Islamic terrorists has blurred outside the Muslim community.
It is against this backdrop that Feisal Abdul Rauf, an imam who professes a lifelong commitment to the cause of inter-religious understanding, insists the proposed 13-storey Islamic centre – to be built at the unprepossessing site of an abandoned clothing store – would be a focus of tolerance and dialogue for different faiths.
In some quarters, he is revered as a moderate voice of reason, and the US State Department has just sent him on a tour of Gulf states to promote religious understanding.
But critics point to his controversial comments that the US shared blame for the events of 9/11. And there was fresh anger last week when the imam argued that to move the site now would endanger US national security by triggering a backlash in the Muslim world.
"That is just outrageous blackmail and a barely-veiled threat," said Debra Burlingame, a 9/11 families' representative whose brother was one of the pilots aboard the plane that crashed into the Pentagon.
Amid this anger and tumult, moderate voices sometimes seem to be drowned out. But Susan Retik's story is a striking antidote to the extremism and recrimination. Pregnant when her husband was killed in the attacks, even as she dealt with her own grief she also realised how much more difficult life for widows in Afghanistan must be.
So Mrs Retik, who is Jewish, teamed up with another woman who was also pregnant when she lost her husband in the attacks, to found the group "Beyond the 11th" to support widows in Afghanistan. On the anniversary she took part in a cycle ride to raise funds; next day she planned to speak at a Boston mosque.
"As Americans, we should be bigger and better than this debate and this rancour indicate," she said. "This is not the face we should be presenting to the world, on the anniversary of 9/11, or on any other day."
Republicans, which might be true compared to the BBC mindset, but it's not for them to make that determination, and certainly not based on who really these people are.For example, the BBC cannot accept that anybody who does not wish to see our society 'Islamified' is not automatically a radical. While it's important for BBC interests and agenda to present Islam in a good light, until they properly address the issues that rightfully concern citizens of this society about the dangers they perceive from this religion, especially in its fundamental form, they are creating a deep division that eventually will 'bite them in the arse'.
Consider that over 16,000 deadly attacks have been perpetrated worldwide in the name of Islam since 9/11. This is not 16,000 deaths, which would be bad enough, but 16,000 attacks causing far greater loss of life. Added to this are the issues of dress, subjugation of women, so called 'honour'-killings, amputations, torture, fatwas if one wants to change religions after being a Muslim, and the list goes on of just how unbalanced and unyielding the followers of these backward practices are.
So it is not surprising that most people want to know the generally accepted qualities of our society are not under threat, or being swept aside, to appease those who threaten it. It seems the BBC are trying to ignore these concerns with their overall propaganda, as the present story shows.
Here's the BBC version (highlights are mine)
Demonstrations over Islamic centre held in New York
Competing demonstrations have been held in New York on the anniversary of 9/11 over plans for an Islamic cultural centre close to Ground Zero.
Hundreds of people attended both demonstrations which became heated but passed off without violent incident.
The radical Dutch politician Geert Wilders addressed one demonstration, calling for an end to the plans.
The demonstrations were held after ceremonies honouring those killed in the World Trade Center nine years ago.
New York authorities blocked off the street passing the site of the proposed Islamic cultural centre, a short walk away from Ground Zero.
Mounted police and dog units patrolled the streets, keeping the protests separated in two pens a distance away from the site of the former World Trade Center.
The question of building a mosque and cultural centre so close to the scene of the devastation of the 2001 attacks has inflamed passions across US society.
The competing protests attracted people from many different groups, from anti-war activists to Hell's Angels, former US Marines to Buddhists.
'Fellow Americans'
Mr Wilders, a right-wing politician from the Netherlands who believes that Islam is comparable with Fascism, told the crowd that the planned cultural centre should not be allowed to go ahead.
US Vice President Joe Biden and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg paid their respects
"We must never give a free hand to those who want to subjugate us, draw this line so that New York will never become New Mecca," he said.
The rally was also addressed by the former US ambassador to the UN John Bolton and other Republican commentators.
But others said campaigners against the mosque were part of a hate campaign against Muslims.
"I'm really fearful of all of the hate that's going on in our country," Elizabeth Meehan, 51, told the Associated Press.
"People in one brand of Christianity are coming out against other faiths, and I find that so sad, Muslims are fellow Americans; they should have the right to worship in America just like anyone else."
But anti-mosque campaigners, some holding plaques that read "never forget", said the plans were an insult.
"This is hallowed ground. It's something like Gettysburg or Pearl Harbour. Why did they have to do it here? Be a little sensitive," said Theresa Angelo, 57.
'Not ever'
At the earlier ceremony relatives read out the names of those who died when hijacked airliners hit the World Trade Center.
But others said that "now was the time to speak out" against the planned Islamic centre.
Earlier, the pastor behind the threat to burn Korans in Florida said the event had been cancelled permanently.
"We will definitely not burn the Koran, no," the Reverend Terry Jones told NBC's Today show. "Not today, not ever."
Earlier, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg addressed the mourners.
"No other public tragedy has cut our city so deeply, no other place is as filled with our compassion, our love and our solidarity," he said.
Speaking at a memorial event at the Pentagon, also hit by a hijacked plane on 9/11, President Obama paid tribute to those who died.
He said that while it was tempting to dwell on their final moments, the memorial events were taking place "to remember the fullness of their time on Earth".
Mr Obama also repeated his recent calls for unity, saying: "It was not a religion that attacked us that September day. It was al-Qaeda."
"We will not sacrifice the liberties we cherish or hunker down behind walls of suspicion and mistrust."
Prominent New York Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf is at the head of a group who plan to turn an abandoned factory building into a community centre and prayer space.
They say the centre will include facilities for all religions and be a place for reconciliation between faiths.
Competing demonstrations have been held in New York on the anniversary of 9/11 over plans for an Islamic cultural centre close to Ground Zero.
Hundreds of people attended both demonstrations which became heated but passed off without violent incident.
The radical Dutch politician Geert Wilders addressed one demonstration, calling for an end to the plans.
The demonstrations were held after ceremonies honouring those killed in the World Trade Center nine years ago.
New York authorities blocked off the street passing the site of the proposed Islamic cultural centre, a short walk away from Ground Zero.
Mounted police and dog units patrolled the streets, keeping the protests separated in two pens a distance away from the site of the former World Trade Center.
The question of building a mosque and cultural centre so close to the scene of the devastation of the 2001 attacks has inflamed passions across US society.
The competing protests attracted people from many different groups, from anti-war activists to Hell's Angels, former US Marines to Buddhists.
'Fellow Americans'
Mr Wilders, a right-wing politician from the Netherlands who believes that Islam is comparable with Fascism, told the crowd that the planned cultural centre should not be allowed to go ahead.
US Vice President Joe Biden and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg paid their respects
"We must never give a free hand to those who want to subjugate us, draw this line so that New York will never become New Mecca," he said.
The rally was also addressed by the former US ambassador to the UN John Bolton and other Republican commentators.
But others said campaigners against the mosque were part of a hate campaign against Muslims.
"I'm really fearful of all of the hate that's going on in our country," Elizabeth Meehan, 51, told the Associated Press.
"People in one brand of Christianity are coming out against other faiths, and I find that so sad, Muslims are fellow Americans; they should have the right to worship in America just like anyone else."
But anti-mosque campaigners, some holding plaques that read "never forget", said the plans were an insult.
"This is hallowed ground. It's something like Gettysburg or Pearl Harbour. Why did they have to do it here? Be a little sensitive," said Theresa Angelo, 57.
'Not ever'
At the earlier ceremony relatives read out the names of those who died when hijacked airliners hit the World Trade Center.
But others said that "now was the time to speak out" against the planned Islamic centre.
Earlier, the pastor behind the threat to burn Korans in Florida said the event had been cancelled permanently.
"We will definitely not burn the Koran, no," the Reverend Terry Jones told NBC's Today show. "Not today, not ever."
Earlier, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg addressed the mourners.
"No other public tragedy has cut our city so deeply, no other place is as filled with our compassion, our love and our solidarity," he said.
Speaking at a memorial event at the Pentagon, also hit by a hijacked plane on 9/11, President Obama paid tribute to those who died.
He said that while it was tempting to dwell on their final moments, the memorial events were taking place "to remember the fullness of their time on Earth".
Mr Obama also repeated his recent calls for unity, saying: "It was not a religion that attacked us that September day. It was al-Qaeda."
"We will not sacrifice the liberties we cherish or hunker down behind walls of suspicion and mistrust."
Prominent New York Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf is at the head of a group who plan to turn an abandoned factory building into a community centre and prayer space.
They say the centre will include facilities for all religions and be a place for reconciliation between faiths.
The BBC would have you believe, like Obama, it was not a religion but al-Qaeda that attacks our society. As far as I can see it was the mindset of that religion, that we see perpetrated on a daily basis throughout the world, that performs these acts of terror for the purposes of subjugation.
As for They say the centre will include facilities for all religions and be a place for reconciliation between faiths. With all these facilities for the various religions, I wonder how adherents will feel towered by a mosque above them, instead of the twin towers that used to be there.
To understand the difference in reportage of this event, here's how the Telegraph covered it.
America's agony: September 11 anniversary marked by anger and controversy
The anniversary of September 11 is usually a day of quiet reflection. But this year the furore over plans for a mosque near Ground Zero has led to a day of noise and recrimination.
Just as she has on the morning of Sept 11 for the last nine years, Wanda Ortiz arrived at Ground Zero with her twin daughters to celebrate the life of her husband Emilio, the father her girls never knew.
For almost a decade, this has been a day of solemn remembrance, private memories and shared sorrow for the relatives who gather to honour the nearly 3,000 people killed by al-Qaeda terrorists on that dreadful day in 2001.
The skies were again blue and crisp, just as they had been when al-Qaeda hijackers crashed jets into the World Trade Centre towers and the Pentagon – and passengers brought down a fourth plane, thought to be headed for the White House or Capitol Hill, in a Pennsylvania field.
But this was a 9/11 anniversary like no other. For this year, the sombre commemoration took place against a febrile and shrill backdrop of controversy and tumult over national identity, religious freedom and mutual tolerance.
A few hours later and just two blocks from Ground Zero, rival protesters – including some of those same family members – rallied to show either their opposition to, or support for, a planned Islamic centre and mosque that is the focus of a tormented national debate.
And as Mrs Ortiz walked with her daughters Emily and Amanda towards the cranes that are building new towers at the site where her husband worked for a commodities firm, a fundamentalist Florida preacher declared in a New York television studio that he had finally abandoned his threat to mark the day by burning Korans.
Mrs Ortiz wanted no part of the debate about a mosque or Koran bonfire stunt. "There are other days to speak about this," she said, holding the hands of the girls who were just eight months old when Mr Ortiz died. "I am just here to remember my wonderful husband, the father of my daughters. I have no interest in protests on a day that should carry its own sanctity."
And yet, illustrating how the unity of previous anniversaries has been torn apart as America agonises in unprecedented fashion about its relationship with Islam and Muslims on its home turf, other relatives moved from commemoration to demonstration.
"This is not an anti-Muslim protest, it is an anti-location protest," said Jim Riches, a New York firefighter whose son, Jimmy, also a firefighter, was killed when the towers collapsed. "My son was murdered by Islamic terrorists that day and it is simply not appropriate or sensitive to locate a mosque so nearby."
Like many, he is infuriated by the focus of President Barack Obama and Michael Bloomberg, the New York mayor, on freedom of religion – insisting that the objections are targeted on locating the Islamic centre so close to the "hallowed ground" of the World Trade Centre.
"They are free to practice their religion, we are just asking for some sensitivity about where they do it. We are not racists and bigots. We're just representing those who were killed by Muslims on 9/11 and do not think this is the right location for a mosque."
But others were simply opposed to a mosque anywhere. Indeed, the rally was organised by Stop the Islamicisation of America, a group whose name leaves little doubt about their goal, and the main speaker was Geert Wilders, the Dutch politician who advocates banning the Koran, ending immigration from Muslim countries and halting construction of new mosques.
Thousands of protestors mixed patriotic fervour with anti-mosque rhetoric as they rallied just 100 feet from the site of the planned Islamic centre.
Chants of "no mosque here" echoed through the streets around Ground Zero as the mood turned from reflection to indignation.
"We will draw a line here today on this sacred ground," said Mr Wilders. "We must not give a free hand to those who want to subjugate us."
In the crowd was Eileen Tallon, 67, whose son Sean, a firefighter, died on 9/11. "They want to build a victory mosque on our cemetery so this is the perfect day to come out to protest," she said.
Others saved their greatest fire for their president. "He is the anti-Christ, he is a Muslim and this is Obama's mosque," said retired prison guard John Cacciola.
A lone protestor took up the stunt abandoned by the Florida pastor when he burned a few pages of the Koran in front of press photographers. "Americans should be free to express themselves as they see fit," he said before being bundled away by police officers. He declined to give his name, saying "my actions are more important than my name".
Amid rapidly fraying relations between America and the Muslim world, Mr Obama used a ceremony at the Pentagon to call afresh for tolerance and again make clear his support for the Islamic centre project.
"They [al-Qaeda] may seek to spark conflict between different faiths, but as Americans we are not – and never will be – at war with Islam," he said. "And just as we condemn intolerance and extremism abroad, so we will stay true to our traditions here at home. We champion the rights of every American, including the right to worship as one chooses."
Given that opinion polls indicate that two-thirds of Americans oppose locating the Islamic centre so close to Ground Zero – and 20 per cent believe wrongly that he himself is a Muslim – it was a stance not without political risk.
It was the second time in less than 24 hours he had spoken so boldly. On Friday, he praised his predecessor, President George W Bush, whose assertions that Islam was "a religion of peace" immediately after 9/11 were seen as crucial in containing anti-Muslim sentiment at the time.
Mr Obama has also repeatedly condemned the threat to burn Korans by Terry Jones, the pastor of an obscure Pentecostal church in Gainesville, Florida. That plan prompted violent protests in the Islamic world as the holy month of Ramadan ended with the Eid holiday, and was slammed by US military chiefs for endangering American servicemen.
The White House and Pentagon took the political risk of giving the pastor credibility and publicity by addressing him directly – defence secretary Robert Gates called him personally to urge him to abandon the stunt – after Gen David Petraeus, the US commander in Afghanistan, expressed alarm that internet reports were in danger of provoking a violent backlash against his troops.
Amid the tumult and tensions, one name that is remarkable for its low profile the debate is that of Osama bin Laden, the al-Qaeda supremo. It is a sign of how much things have changed that his ability to elude capture or death was barely noted in the US this weekend.
Instead, in a new report from leaders of the 9/11 Commission that investigated the attacks, Americans were warned that they faced a much greater threat now from home-grown terrorists, often trained in places like Somalia and Yemen, than from the sort of spectaculars once conducted by al-Qaeda.
In 2009, there were at least 10 such attacks or plots – as well as the murderous shooting rampage on a Texas army base by Major Nidal Hasan, a Muslim military psychiatrist. Several were influenced by the teachings of Anwar al-Awlaki, the radical US-born Yemen-based preacher.
For many Americans, the spectre of home grown terror is yet more reason to fear the influence of radical Islam on US soil. According to a Washington Post-ABC poll last week, 49 per cent of Americans held a negative view Islam, the highest figure since the 2001 attacks and twice as high as the 24 per cent figure in 2002.
With the economy in the doldrums and the political mood souring rapidly after the heady days of Mr Obama's election, some Muslims are increasingly concerned that "Islamophobia" will become a political gambit.
Leading Republican figures such as 2008 vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin and former House speaker Newt Gingrich – both considering White House runs in 2012 – have weighed into the criticism of the planned Islamic centre, linking the project and the 9/11 attacks.
"America and its Muslims citizens are like a couple who were not having a real conversation with each other and bottled everything up until it all exploded," said Asra Nomani, an American writer who moved from India to the US with her devoutly Muslim parents at the age of four, 41 years ago.
"There is so much rage out there. It feels like we're now at that stage where all the frustration is coming out and we're shouting and don't seem to understand each other. We're all wounded souls."
Ms Nomani is a writer and Islamic feminist – a role that often puts her at odds with her fellow Muslims, even in North America. "I will be taking my seven-year-old son to get his Eid present at Toys R Us and I have prayer rug by my bed but I also fight for the right to sit in the front row at a mosque without a scarf across my head."
She knows Imam Rauf and his wife Daisy Khan but she criticises their choice of location for the mosque. "The wisdom of seeking to build a mosque there was misguided," she said. "It's become a train wreck and sticking to the plan now is just irresponsible."
For decades, the only domestic Islamic radicals of whom Americans were aware were the predominantly African-American acolytes of the Nation of Islam.
Indeed, the family story of Ms Nomani is typical of many new Muslim arrivals in North America – her father was an academic who moved from India to pursue his studies. "We epitomised the cliché of the American success story in a way that many Muslims never did in Europe," said Ms Nomani.
Muslim immigrants to America had long appeared to assimilate more easily and flexibly than their counterparts in Europe. Without the colonial connections to countries such as Britain and France, they arrived in smaller numbers and were predominantly professionals and graduates.
But in recent years, Islamic radicals have made inroads into some communities, just as they have in European cities, and recruited young Muslims for terror attacks. And at the same time, the distinction between Islam and Islamic terrorists has blurred outside the Muslim community.
It is against this backdrop that Feisal Abdul Rauf, an imam who professes a lifelong commitment to the cause of inter-religious understanding, insists the proposed 13-storey Islamic centre – to be built at the unprepossessing site of an abandoned clothing store – would be a focus of tolerance and dialogue for different faiths.
In some quarters, he is revered as a moderate voice of reason, and the US State Department has just sent him on a tour of Gulf states to promote religious understanding.
But critics point to his controversial comments that the US shared blame for the events of 9/11. And there was fresh anger last week when the imam argued that to move the site now would endanger US national security by triggering a backlash in the Muslim world.
"That is just outrageous blackmail and a barely-veiled threat," said Debra Burlingame, a 9/11 families' representative whose brother was one of the pilots aboard the plane that crashed into the Pentagon.
Amid this anger and tumult, moderate voices sometimes seem to be drowned out. But Susan Retik's story is a striking antidote to the extremism and recrimination. Pregnant when her husband was killed in the attacks, even as she dealt with her own grief she also realised how much more difficult life for widows in Afghanistan must be.
So Mrs Retik, who is Jewish, teamed up with another woman who was also pregnant when she lost her husband in the attacks, to found the group "Beyond the 11th" to support widows in Afghanistan. On the anniversary she took part in a cycle ride to raise funds; next day she planned to speak at a Boston mosque.
"As Americans, we should be bigger and better than this debate and this rancour indicate," she said. "This is not the face we should be presenting to the world, on the anniversary of 9/11, or on any other day."