As the debate rages on about the “Ground Zero Mosque,” an article published in the Washington Post last Friday makes it sound like the 9/11 terrorists only attacked New York City. According to Mr. Horowitz, any decision about the mosque ought to be left to New Yorkers. However, a ceremony scheduled for this Sunday in Arlington County serves as a reminder that 184 people were killed right here in Northern Virginia when the hijackers rammed American Airlines flight 77 into the western side of the Pentagon.
For anybody who worked in the Pentagon or knew somebody who did, the anger and pain of September 11th is just as real as for any of the families of the victims in New York. In commemoration of that tragic day, more than 500 motorcycles and more than a hundred New York firefighters will be escorting a piece of the World Trade Center from New York to Arlington this weekend, where it will be presented to Arlington County Fire Department at Station Number 5, the closest fire station to the Pentagon.
The procession from New York to Arlington underscores the special connection that Northern Virginians all feel to the terrible loss and tragedy in New York. As we watched the towers fall, we also made frantic phone calls to friends and loved ones at the Department of Defense, not knowing if they might be among the casualties. Then, as rescue workers unfurled the stars and stripes from the roof of the Pentagon, Northern Virginians felt the same sense of resolution and determination as the people of New York. We will rebuild, we will prevail.
Fortunately for us in Northern Virginia, the Pentagon has been repaired and the memorial has been dedicated. For us, there is a sense of closure. However, for the friends and families of the victims in New York, the healing process has been made far more difficult by interminable delays of the reconstruction at the World Trade Center site, and as long as the ground is opened like an empty grave, it will be impossible to truly heal. Despite all the commemorations and remembrances, there is no memorial for the honored and beloved dead to serve as a headstone upon that hallowed ground.
As for the mosque, let us imagine for a moment that the Cordoba Institute announced plans to build a mosque and community outreach center just on the other side of I-395 across from the Pentagon and the Pentagon Memorial to the fallen, in the midst of offices for defense contractors—many of whom know somebody who was killed in the attacks. Can there be any question that the outrage here would be just as great as in New York?
The mosque’s supporters claim that the cultural center will promote interfaith dialogue and understanding, and this is an honorable and worthy goal. However, by choosing such an emotionally charged location at a time when the healing process is still incomplete, Imam Abdul Rauf has achieved the opposite. Instead of stirring up debate and division, the best course would be for the Cordoba Institute to wait until the earth is closed up at Ground Zero and true healing has begun before moving forward with their plans.
