Flashback: Remember Mike Bloomberg Wanted a Mosque Near 9/11 Ground Zero to Unite City
Flashback Bloomberg's Response To 911 Mosque Outraged People Everywhere
Volume 90%
By Christine Favocci
Published February 27, 2020 at 12:08pm
Former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg is desperately trying to cash in his political capital from his handling of the city after the 9/11 attacks in his bid to be the 2020 Democratic presidential nominee.
On Sept. 11, 2001, 19 radicalized Muslim men used hijacked commercial planes against targets in the United States at the behest of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.
New York City took the brunt of the attack as nearly 3,000 people were killed and over 6,000 injured in the attack on the World Trade Center.
Mayor Rudy Giuliani led the city through the dark period that followed, giving way to Bloomberg in January 2002.
The plans on how or even if to rebuild at the twin towers site took over a decade to finally be executed, but among those plans was a mosque and Islamic center just two blocks from ground zero.
Many were outraged that an Islamic holy site would be built so close to where the attacks by jihadists took place.
During a protest over the project, a ground zero construction worker asked, “If they put a mosque up right here in the shadow of the World Trade Center before we finished building it back up, what’s next?”
Bloomberg was vocal in his support of the project despite the strong opposition from many groups, including 9/11 families.
The mayor ignored those who justifiably opposed the project, saying in 2010, “I think it’s fair to say if somebody was going to try, on that piece of property, to build a church or a synagogue, nobody would be yelling and screaming,” according to the New York Post.
It’s worth noting that St. Nicholas, the Greek Orthodox church on the site of ground zero that was obliterated in the attacks, was still tied up in red tape after the mosque and Islamic center was approved, according to a report at the time by Newsweek. It remains unfinished.
The mosque and Islamic center project was shelved in 2011, and a condo was built in its place.
Bloomberg thinks the ground zero mosque is a winning issue for him. On Wednesday, he tweeted a reminder that he championed the cause.
“After 9/11, New Yorkers of all faiths came together to rebuild the city. So when groups opposed a mosque near Ground Zero, I spoke up,” he said. “Muslims are as much a part of NYC & America as people of any faith. Our doors are open to everyone with a dream and a willingness to work hard.”
There is no factual evidence there were any hijackers on those planes.
The QRS-11 chip had been installed in all commercial aircraft in the 1990s. This chip allowed the aircraft to be flown by remote control and landed in case of a hijacking. Those control can be used up to several hundred miles away.
When those controls are activated it over rides the pilots controls and the plane is effectively flown by remote control.
"When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one." Edmund Burke