Bill Clinton On Park51 Center: 'They Ought To Be Able To Do It' (VIDEO)

Former President Bill Clinton said recently that he believes an Islamic cultural center proposed to be built near Ground Zero in New York City is an action that should go forward under the First Amendment.

"I have an almost radical view on the First Amendment, I believe that people should be free to practice their faith," Clinton said in a YouTube interview.

"It's clearly a decision for the city of New York to make," Clinton continued, adding, "I think they ought to be able to do it."

Clinton went on to acknowledge that the nature of the location makes the debate difficult and emotionally charged.

"We should be sensitive to the fact that a lot of Americans are still really hurting over what happened at Ground Zero, and that we still have security threats in the world," Clinton said, arguing that Al-Qaeda should be the real target, not moderate Muslims.

Though Clinton seemed to stand behind the legality and concept of the Park51 project, he did admit that its organizers may have stumbled in messaging the initiative.

"I think much, maybe even most of the controversy of this decision could have been avoided and perhaps still can be if the people who want to build this center were to simply say we are dedicating this center to all the Muslims who died on 9/11," Clinton said. "I think most Americans may still not know that there was a substantial number of Muslims killed on 9/11."

According to a Council on American-Islamic Relations analysis (.PDF link) of the 9/11 victims list, 32 Muslims perished on that day.

WATCH:

Comments

[saad zaghloul]

06:50 AM on 10/08/2010

AMERICA WAKE UP BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE!
Stop islamization of the U.S.A. Open your eyes and see what has happened to England, France, Spain, Holland, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland - let alone what is happening in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, India, Indonesia, Egypt, Sudan, Somalia ... actually the space is not enough to count them all. If we don't learn from all of those, then the Americans have destined themselves to become second class citizens in their own country; or moreover, slaves to the moslem invaders and unless you pay them the 'GIZYA', or become a moslem, then be ready to be beheaded by the sword of Islam. Just look at the flag of the country of Mohammed the self-proclaimed prophet of Islam (i.e. Kingdom of Saudi Arabia) and I hope that you would have a grain of brain in between your ears to 'see' and 'understand' the legitimacy of my claim.

Once again - WAKE UP AMERICAN - before it is too late!!

[libertasdon]

03:18 PM on 09/21/2010

"Please stop the hate and nonsense , occupy yopurself to gain knowledge and the thruth from the legitimate source. STOP THE FEAR!" -- Patience1

All the information in my posts is available on the internet at the links provided. As the Dutch reporter who wrote the article I linked to said, "Any reader or journalist can read and verify the sources in Brim’s article and those in my follow-up." The sources for this information is open and verifiable. Patience, you have a right to be angry. The MSM refuses to examine this topic in depth.

[libertasdon]

03:21 PM on 09/21/2010

"The sources for this information ARE . . . ." Not "is." I apologize for the poor proofreading.

[libertasdon]

03:10 PM on 09/21/2010

"Why you and other bigot said nothing for 9 years that hallowed ground is just an empty hole, surround by strip bars, sex shop, liqour stores etc, Where were you? The prayer hall were in the twin towers itself before the 9/11. Now somebody want to use the empty building for the cultural center and somebody like you are going insane?" -- Patience1
Like most folks, I only know what I read in the papers. However with the advent of the internet, I am able to learn things that the MSM refuses to consider. You are spinning when you write, "Now somebody want to use the empty building for the cultural center . . . ." The imam is using the empty building for a mosque. He wants to tear down that building, damaged by the 9/11 terrorists, and erect a community center, of which the top two floors would be a mosque with prayer space for 1000 to 2000 people.

[libertasdon]

03:01 PM on 09/21/2010

"How they can do that, when even Christian majority that want to put prayin school and others Christian teaching could not even to do so because the constitution will not allow that?
Do you think handfull of muslim will do that?" -- Patience1

Yes I do. They already have. Here are two links to the Minneapolis Star Tribune reporting how Somali Muslim immigrants used taxpayer funds to set up a religious school.

http://www.startribune.com/16404541.html
http://www.startribune.com/local/17406054.html

[libertasdon]

02:52 PM on 09/21/2010

"It is amaze me that suddenly people are accusing American muslims who have been here since slavery time and are law abiding citizens by the way, are promoting this Law?" -- Patience1

I do not blame you for your amazement. The MSM have said nothing at all about this aspect of the Cordoba Initiative/Park 51 project. If you follow the link I gave you, you will see that the article is entitled, "Why Can’t the MSM Investigate Rauf’s Shariah Index Project?"
The reporter explained, "Any reader or journalist can read and verify the sources in Brim’s article and those in my follow-up.
"The Dutch media wrote a lot about the “loony opinions” of Pamela Geller, but so far haven’t said anything about the Shariah Index Project. One of my readers dismissed Christine Brim and her Center for Security Policy as conservative, even extreme right. But suppose a progressive reporter from the Huffington Post took the time to find the exact same sources and wrote an article questioning the intentions, connections, and financing of the Shariah Index Project?
"Would people still consider those open sources as irrelevant?
"Alas, the MSM is not interested in Imam Rauf’s Shariah Index Project. As long as they fail to do their research work, we must rely on the work of the conservative media, as the left has abandoned investigative journalism."
Remember my link opens on the second page. You must use your back arrow to start at the beginning.

[libertasdon]

02:31 PM on 09/21/2010

"Sharia law acceptance? Why is that you related a cultural center/ prayer hall means Sharia law command center?" --Patience1
Because Imam Rauf's own website announced it to anyone with eyes to read. You can read it too if you folllow the link.

[libertasdon]

05:52 AM on 09/21/2010

The proposed community center is slated to become the world headquarters for Imam Feisal Rauf's Sharia Law Index Project. This project monitors and promotes acceptance of sharia law in nations worldwide. Using a survey system set up with the help of Gallup Research, Rauf plans to publish yearly progress reports measuring each nation's compliance with sharia law. The idea of promoting sharia law from a location that was destroyed by Islamic terrorists ought to give anyone pause. Sharia law is the antithesis of the American system of justice. It is the basis for many Islamic country's legal codes that deprive women and non-Muslims their right to equal protection of the law. It provides for corporal punishment for many legal activities, not just criminal, and mandates that virtually all human activity be adjudicated under the precepts of Islam. Sharia denies many of the freedoms we commonly hold sacred. It is in a word, not just undemocratic -- it is anti-democratic. How appropriate is it to place a Muslim public relations enterprise that promotes sharia law on a site destroyed on 9/11? For more info about the Cordoba Initiative from the Imam's original website, see:
http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/why-cant-the-msm-investigate-raufs-shariah-index-project/2/

For a Muslim reporter's opinion about freedom of speech in a Muslim country (and another Muslim's opinion of freedom of expression in America) see:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-e69vAW0wBg&feature=player_embedded

[libertasdon]

06:01 AM on 09/21/2010

Please note, my first link, to the article by Dutch reporter, Carel Brendel, opens to the second page of the article. You must go back one page to start at the beginning. I apologize for any confusion.

[patience1]

10:30 AM on 09/21/2010

Sharia law acceptance? Why is that you related a cultural center/ prayer hall means Sharia law command center?
What is Sharia Law isabout or you just parotting waht Pam Gellaer or Robert Spencer saying? It is amaze me that suddenly people are accusing American muslims who have been here since slavery time and are law abiding citizens by the way, are promoting this Law?
How they can do that, when even Christian majority that want to put prayin school and others Christian teaching could not even to do so because the constitution will not allow that?
Do you think handfull of muslim will do that?
Why you and other bigot said nothing for 9 years that hallowed ground is just an empty hole, surround by strip bars, sex shop, liqour stores etc, Where were you? The prayer hall were in the twin towers itself before the 9/11. Now somebody want to use the empty building for the cultural center and somebody like you are going insane? The existannce of the mosques in USA are symbols of religious freedom tthat we uphold proudly. I do not care whether there will a mosque , a church or temple out there. Our constitution protected America to do that, are you that insecure? Please stop the hate and nonsense , occupy yopurself to gain knowledge and the thruth from the legitimate source. STOP THE FEAR!

[RonNYC]

01:19 AM on 09/21/2010

At last, someone with a spine and brain.

Too bad he cost Gore the election and we all know what happened wth GWB at the helm.

[DUSAA-1775]

11:50 PM on 09/20/2010

It took Bill Clinton this long to get back the polls and opinions papers so that he would know what he believed in today??

[RABSR]

11:48 PM on 09/20/2010

Bill Clinton ................... please.

He should be serving time instead of bothering me wih his constant B.S.

[Bella Lee]

01:53 AM on 09/21/2010

Pahleeeease

[JosephRobinette]

06:56 AM on 09/21/2010

Autually, he lied under oath and to the American people about a private sex affair between consenting adults in a civil law suit financed by right wing conservative republicans. My gosh. NOBODY LIES ABOUT SEX. I MEAN NOBODY. I've never lied about sex. I don't know anyone who lies about sex. But Bill Clinton lied about SEX. Yes, he did it.

On the other hand, he gave us straight 8 years of economic growth, tripled the stock market and 401(k)s, reduced the unemployment rate to 4%, turned federal deficits into surpluses, avoided wars but fought and won in a matter of months mini-wars in Kosovo and Bosnia with low US casualties, etc....

[RABSR]

06:16 PM on 09/21/2010

Typical response.

Oh I see, It's ok to lie in court if it's about sex?

Situational ethics at its best.

[WrennNYC]

09:28 PM on 09/20/2010

Whatever the message was at first, it would not have mattered. Anything said by the organizing side would have been drowned out by the blaring 'Mosque at Ground Zero' headlines. Which is still out there, and still believed, even though it's a community center patterned after the 92nd street YMCA.

I'm still waiting for them to turn around, and suddenly declare victory, because it's 'not a mosque' and it's 'not at ground zero'... which, of course, it wasn't, all along.

[FTracy3]

09:00 PM on 09/20/2010

"Being able to do it" is not the debate. "Should or should not do it" is the debate. Which was a pretty fair, rationale debate before the crazies on both sides dug in their heels and and started flaming each others' motives.

[kenhamlett]

08:51 PM on 09/20/2010

Bill Clinton is my political hero, but as a fellow New Yorker and a liberal Democrat, I respectfully disagree with him on this one. Of course, the builders have the right to build the Mosque. But, if they really want to build bridges and unite the city and country, they will show some sensitivity to the concerns of the city and its residents. Most of my Muslim friends agree with me that it would be better if the Mosque were relocated. That said, I continue to admire and respect the former President. In this country, we can disagree on issues based on the merits of our arguments. It does not mean that anyone who differs is a bigot, a loser, a hater or an idiot -- as I sometimes read on the HP. It simply means that honorable people sometimes see issues differently. It would be nice if our political discourse regained that element in the coming years.

[DanoX]

08:04 PM on 09/20/2010

Thanks former President Captian Obvious, but you do know your remarks will only serve to inflame the oppositon more.

Anyone who opposes a community center being built two blocks from "ground zero" hates freedom, and should be stripped of their citizenship and deported. Also, to those opposed, there are 400+ million of us, you and yours do NOT own 9/11 or the world trade center site. Just being loud, does not make you right.

[whoa20]

07:21 PM on 09/20/2010

Bill, you really disappointed me here. I thought you'd support their legal right as everyone else does but point out that it just comes off very disrespectful to build a huge monument to the same impetus which expressly motivated the September 11 attacks right near the Hallowed Ground, just as a 13 story Mcdonalds in My Lai would piss off a lot of Vietnamese, a war you opposed.

[ChiKevin]

07:40 PM on 09/20/2010

How many terrorist were involved in 9/11? How many Muslims are there in the world?

How many nations were involved in the war in vietnam?

They are not comparable.

Apples and Oranges...

Apples and Oranges...

It was not the choice of the muslim community to be involved in 9/11, while it was an elected body whom involved the united states in vietnam.

Come one man, use your brain!

[whoa20]

03:55 AM on 09/22/2010

by the time My Lai happened, we were the only ones left. And the soldiers and general who oversaw My Lai were not elected by anyone, and carrying out My Lai was not in LBJ's platform in 1964. Nonetheless, elected, unelected, whatever, a big site representing what those who carried out atrocities stood for (capitalism in Vietnam, Islam in USA) near where those atrocities occurred just reminds people of who carried it out. Emotional? YES. But September 11, 2001 was emotional for many many people, as I'm sure My Lai was in Vietnam.