Planned Mosque Near NY's Ground Zero Sparks Debate

June 21, 2010

Author: Karina Ioffee

Source: The Washington Post/Reuters

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/21/AR2010062103654.html

Plans to build a mosque near the site of the September 11 attacks have touched off a firestorm among New Yorkers nearly a decade after Muslim extremists linked to al Qaeda slammed planes into the World Trade Center.

The Cordoba House mosque, part of a Muslim center to be built two blocks from what is now known as Ground Zero proposed as a conciliatory move, was overwhelmingly approved by a local community board in May.

But the plans are being resisted by some New Yorkers who say a mosque would be inappropriate so close to the place where nearly 3,000 people were killed.