and non-muslims. the real battle front is between moderates on all sides of all the faith's tradition and the radicals on all sides. the radicals actually feed off each other. and in some kind of a exostential way, we need each other. and the more that the radicals are able to control the discourse on one side, it strengthens the radicals on the other side and vice versa. we have to turn this around. >> let me play a question from an ireporter. her name is cathy. she's in fullerton, california. >> why couldn't you find another -- another place? i just feel like there's an ulterior motive. i know that's probably wrong, but that's how i feel, and i think a lot of americans feel that way, too. that you want to upset us for some reason. is that true? >> no, it's not true. it is not our intention to create more conflict. this is our intention to say we, as muslims, we as american muslims, want to contribute to the rebuilding of lower manhattan. we want to enhance relationships with our american non-muslim

all muslim are bad? all muslims are bad. the only people who are the moderates, they're people who are left -- who have left islam. there's a paradox in that. it is ridiculous. they are now the moderates, people who are not muslims themselves. or people who support policies of certain industries, so you support work? that is moderate islam. you support the policies of the state of israel against palestinians? that is a moderate muslim. the term moderate does not mean anything in our community and i agree with you, it is muslim or mainstream muslim. to be a muslim is to be an inherent to the principles of islam. >> a question here. >> with an increase of civic engagement from the muslim- american community, what should we expect from our elected officials? what role should they play in this hemisphere? -- atmosphere? >> they should stick to the values of the constitution, create harmony among the people of protect their rights. >> and they should be responsible, and they are irresponsible these days. the park 51 dispute, the

are muslims. you wrote a book about what's right with islam, what about what is wrong with islam. what is wrong? >> that's an important question. a number of things. political, socio economic, ethnic. we have looked at the underlying causes and unpacked them and looked at the project to help address these core issues. by the way, we muslims are the biggest victims of terrorism conducted by these radicals. there's a history where we have these regimes these are among the issues. the sense that we muslims have to help each other just like during the calmest regime, this is a sense of a common bond. we have to understand the dynamic solution. we understood the science of going to the moon three generations again. we need to deploy the solutions what is it muslims can do? address the issue. because we are in a globalized world today, what happens hassan impact on what happens in the muslim world. look at the danish cartoon crisis. it was purely media created managing the forces. it is not about fixing

afghanistan and while we talk about the cia a soldier or a muslim country and one of the leading muslim countries in the world every participated at the time on the war so here we have a very simple powerful muslim country involved in the war where you are receiving weapons from the u.s. no it's not quite the out of when we were there we just get the weapons if you ask me of my own experience it's from two main parties you know i am my personal experience here i thought which is that i didn't have any no he's very famous because of what. our weapons used to be from his like from his commanders and these people you know on the frontline and from. me we are libyans we used to cooperate with him a lot so it's that if you talk about morality i believe if you ask any single arab or muslim you know he's one of them and he participate in the jihad he will give you the name of a local commander so you never directly met any cia representative in afghanistan. ever seen anyone. for a minute i've seen either don't notice or once it happened like the you after the host pattern which is very tense w

you look at the american muslims. look at the european muslims, they get and they have now the three l's and they speak the language, they speak english, french languages and they are loyal to the country. meaning by this that loyalty is not blind loyalty. you and me as active citizens, we shouldn't be passive as citizens, if we think the government is doing right, we say yes, if we think the government is doing wrong we should be critical, it's not that i'm critical toward my country and my government sometimes that i'm less loyal. the positive loyalty is always a critical loyalty, so i think that this fits. now if you look at millions of europe and western muslims, they are integrated. this is over -- it's past integration and the past integration is one word. give to your society. be involved in your society. give to the people. meaning what? meaning not only to give as a citizen, it's also a philosophy and religious debate about your values, about your ethices and then about the meaning of life and then about cons

god muslim christian or jew so it's very important like the ideological motivation how muslims they've been. encouraged to go on fight there but i know it was within the context of the cold war between the son. it's union and the u.s. so the mujahideen and when they fought there if you take it from the of going in perspective you know it's just a country being invaded and as i told you from a muslim perspective it was like by the power of god and to religion it's very this is the main if you like argument behind this in the muslim muslim world so then there's the element politics which is like the whole war if you like that all but the western world and the muslim countries the course and they support the war against the soviet union so when we went there we are fully aware of the political context time not me. but the main issue here does that our agenda or not this is the main issue so if you ask me i didn't go there to hold the u.s. or the cia or i wanted to help muslims there to help the afghan people against an ideology of believe it's the real trick to islam i know the cia involv

he s you see them, of the anti-muslim feeling that's going on now? >> we have to realize that one thing that's similar to other periods in our nation's history, of nativism, of attacks against people perceived as foreign, whether they're from another nation or religion, what's in common is, we're in an economic crisis. these episodes flair up when americans are feeling displaced or threatened, that their economic well-being and their citizenship is somehow called ino qution by a thrtening minority. islam in america is a tiny, tiny minority. why pick on islam? because for nine years, almost a decade, the popular mentality is, we're in some kind of war with islam, which is a distorted reading that's not sufficiently shouted down by the right people. we're not in a war with islam. we're in a conflict with a tiny minority of radicals who are denounced by the majority of muslim leaders and muslims around the word. >> do you think that there i so justification, however, for thinking that there is something about islam itself that condones or perhaps even e

peace is how muslims and jews

muslims within the broader muslim world will have the opportunity to engage in a debate that is largely denied to them right now about the type of society that they want to live in what form of religion how much religion they want in their government. and so i think you know one has to understand the question of democracy as a long term historical process there is this myth that somehow democracy can be achieved in a fortnight. and so there's concern that you have these elections and then you have these you know liberal groups that come to power but i think that's perfectly understandable and reasonable if one has a sense of history in terms of how democracy developed i mean in the united states or in the west you know people didn't all of a sudden one day wake up and they were you know liberal and democratic there is a long historical process of internal debate and transformation that all societies have to go through the muslim world included and and i think in many ways the muslim world is just at the beginning of this process and as i said and i would agree with them western policy h

the american and the muslim. and this issue has riveted the attention of the whole muslim world. whatever we do, and whatever we say, how we move, every part about it is being watched, very, very closely. if we make the wrong move, it will only expand and strengthen the voice of the radicals and extremists. >> but what about the sensitivities of the people that have raised the objections to the center being so close to ground zero? >> i'm extremely concerned. i tried to reach out to them. we'll continue to reach out to them. >> do you think that you should have done something different from the beginning? did you do enough politicking, grass roots, whatever you would like to call it? including the 9/11 families. >> well, we certainly had reached out. and this project was front-page news in "the new york times" last december. no one objected. what has happened, since may, five, six months later, for political reasons, certain politicians decided that this project would be very useful for their political ambitions. >> sarah palin made a famous tweet saying please reconsider, the fe

we've seen protests in muslim capitals around the world. we just heard about the taliban leaflets calling on acts of revenge, and the burning of koran has fed a perception that america is hostile toward islam and toward muslims, but i think we should all be breathing a collective sigh of relief because all that pales in comparison to what we would have seen if images of burning korans were splashed all over the world. >> smith: what would that have meant? >> i think general petraeus spoke to it and secretary clinton spoke to it as well that we would have seen an increase in threats, plots, and attacks against our troops, and generally, increased threat against the united states. in addition, more dangerously, it would have fed the perception that the u.s. is at war with islam, something that we've been fighting to undercut for some time. recall that president bush put the first koran in the white house. all of this burning of the koran incident would have undercut those efforts. juan-- you have the president, the secretary of state, the sec

talk i'm peter lavelle are islam and democracy incompatible why are the overwhelming majority of muslim populated countries governed by either nondemocratic regimes are unstable democracies and does the west have the right to determine what democracy is. and you can. discuss the compatibility of islam and democracy i'm joined by me in amman he is director of the institute of islamic political fog in denver we go to nader has seen me he's an assistant professor of middle east and islamic politics at the university of denver in washington we cross the michele dunne she is a senior associate at the carnegie endowment for international peace also in washington we have stephen suliman schwartz he's the executive director for the center of islamic pluralism and another member of our cross talk team yell on the hunger all right folks cross talk rules and in fact we got a lot of people today got a full field but jump in if you want to make a comment here first of all i'd like to go to nate are in denver. we're told that the islamic world that it's in canton that they're just they can't. democra

-sponsored torture have been muslims. one of the neck steps that have been discussed is a possibility of another meeting like this one but much larger, with people of various faiths across the country coming together and talk about what are the real strategies we need to do together to end this anti- muslim bigotry, because it is the people in the pews who have the potential for having the most power or have the potential for bringing about the kinds of changes we want to. to bring these folks together, four months perhaps, to hold hands, to figure out what strategies we need now to make sure that this blight on spirit and soul dissipate. >> scott from -- got it now? >> the other way. >> it's on. i'll be loud. courtnall, if you might, so much of the past 24 hours -- cardinal, has been what has been planned in florida with the burning of the quran, and the response we heard from general petraeus that he indicated that it could perhaps put military overseas in harm's way, were this video to go worldwide, as the most likely

i agree with you that it is a muslim or mainstream muslim. to be a muslim, it means you at your to the principles of islam. to promote terrorism means you are a criminal. it is not a question if you are a muslim or not. >> along with an increase, which should be expect from our elected officials? >> they should stick to the values of the constitution to create harmony among the people to protect their rights. >> they should be responsible. the park 51 dispute, to the degree that it was a manhattan fight, we have seen it before over at the academy of which was a terrible loss that the school that gutted the way it did. nevertheless, it was the same cast of characters playing this out. some national political figures got into the mix and decided to exploit it. one by one, it was becoming an issue. we had candidates in states where there were no muslims being asked what their position was on the moscow. -- on the mosques. they are defaming hallowed ground or whatever. it had nothing to do with states and the cities, or congressional districts ar

said no i don't know muslims but you do know muslims i'm a muslim people know me and it's i think again it's the perception of what is a muslim and i think because of the fear there have been some groups out there that are taking advantage of the fear and the lack of information that's out there and instilled additional fears and i heard as late as yesterday i heard a comment on the local news that said you know they may take over this country and in this very troubling it's a slam it's not a new religion it's not new to this country but i think the awareness of the religion is new. it began after nine eleven and i i again it's very hurtful that we're going to that these opposers essentially are signing collective guilt on all muslims i am a muslim i am an american and i'm a new yorker and i responded on nine eleven as as a human being as someone who wanted to help not as a muslim i wanted to help anybody i could and i think everybody would have the opportunity on that day would have done the same very quickly on that years later when you look when we look at this controversy and those

the muslim staff association represents all the muslims to work on capitol hill.started more than 4 -- when we started them -- when we started more than four years ago, the first event we had was in the wake of the danish cartoon controversy. we screen documentary for the capital community of the pbs documentary. in order to offer some education information to the community about what is going on and a conversation that is happening. the one that is happening right now is happening directly on our shores as americans. this is something that we can enable speak about directly and we're very honored to have this distinguished panel before us to talk about this larger conversation. in a poll that was taken a few weeks ago, they ask do you favor or oppose the moscow ground zero? this was widely disseminated in the public. to statistics that were not present in the same poll, the same people who said, would you favor or oppose a mosque in your own neighborhood? they said dupre did they said they would favor a mosque in their own community. every friday, muslims in wash

. >>> today, it was about fun for thousands of bay area muslims who celebrated muslim john unity dayt great america. and don knapp is at great america right now. >> reporter: the muslims here at great america we see here, they say the images of television and newspapers are not the images that reflects them and they have an annual day to talk about issues an invite others to see just how it is that they live. it shouldn't come as a big surprise bus muslims just want to have -- but muslims just want to have fun too, they say. and in great america they hope to show that muslim families are like everyone else. >> muslims like to enjoy time with family and friends and go to amusement parks and eat and have a good time and laugh. >> and protests in new york city over plans to construct a mosque and islamic cultural center two blocks north of ground zero is what muslims here call anti-muslim hysteria and this day is an antidote to that hysteria. and members of all communities and religions were invited to show muslim unity day. and this man is a convert and he says every belief has its rad

-- muslims around the globe? >> first of all, people need to understand that in this country, we have freedom of religion. we also have freedom of expression. we believe that these are our fundamental principles of u.s. society. we are very conscience of -- conscious of what has been discussed as potential acts down in florida. we think that these dark provocative? . they are disrespectful. they are intolerant. we are conscious that a number of voices have come out and rejected what this pastor and this community have proposed. we would like to see more american stand up and say that this is inconsistent with our american values. these actions themselves are on american. -- un american. the pastor says that he has contemplated his actions to combat radicalism. if these actions -- these actions will feed radicals. the general petraeus mentioned over the weekend they could have at least as a powerful impact. at the same time, people around the world need to understand that america is not represented by one pastor o

say they have been averaging 3,000 muslim visitors each year along with their non- muslim friends. > all right, don, thank you very much. >>> sure. >>> a u berkeley graduate imprisoned in iran for more than a year is on her way home. she was released tuesday but left behind her friend and fiance. she credits ammann for helping her get her freedom. >> i will always equate your company with getting my freedom. the sheet smell of sand will wood. >>> her arrival will be in time to coincide with the arrival of iran's president ah min eye dad. >> 13 people including children are missing, and their families are scared they might be planning suicide. they are followers of a cult called marina cherry meek as, they say they found good-bye letters and references to a catastrophic event or the rap tour. the highway patrol is looking for three cars, they believe the group may be traveling. >>> a young jockey recovering from a career-ending injury. >> looks to me like he is a little, you know, confused and a little scared. >> how doctors say he is doing a week after shattering his spine. >>> and,

extinguish anybody who is notary muslim as well as muslim who choose to live in a western world. >> do you all agree that anti-islamic sentiment is growing in the country or do we think it was just this one incident of this totally unknown guy in florida who managed to commandeer and media played in to it how the cameras on his flea-circus size congregation in floridas it really more about terry jones and his ability to manipulate the media or -- >> let's really separate him almost from everyone else. he was condemned by everyone i can think of, from president obama to sarah palin to people of faith to secretary defense robert gates, general traits saying you're putting our men and women at risk. >> because of something you made up you claim god told you. >> and when these people, whether it's people stoning and killing women in the name of religion or terry jones in florida in the name of religion wanting to burn someone else's holy book, people using religion as a veil is that much more blasphemous and hypocritical. let's separate him from what the rest of the country, i think the

what's happening with muslims is the same process.people who think it's different, in almost every way it's very similar. in the lifetimes of everyone watching tonight we've seen how jews and christians have related to one another and that's going to happen with muslims. it's going to be messy, this is what co-existence is about, but this is part of a larger narrative of muslims being accepted in america. >> appreciate your perspective. >>> another congressman accused of taking donated money, money from the congressional black caucus foundation putting it in the pockets of their relatives. >>> also, two murder suspects, one was talking about wanting a margarita before their alleged home invasion ended in a triple homicide. we've got the shocking text messages between these two and the latest from a courtroom insider coming up. 0? [ tires screech ] the quarter-mile, or a quarter-century? is performance about the joy of driving? or the importance... of surviving? to us, performance is not about doing one thing well. it is about doing ev

she is a muslim. she feels it is a matter of civil rights. >> they have done a great injustice to the nation. because they have sown the seeds of suspicion and ignited the flames of racism. >> the twin towers once stood here with america preparing to mark the ninth anniversary next week, this debate is drawing more divisive. >> you are watching "bbc news." french muslims demand to know if their meat is really halal. after 400 years of silence, a volcano in indonesia has erupted for the second time in a week. >> a wake-up call for the people living around this mountain. for the third time, a volcano has erupted. shelters have been set up and thousands have been fleeing from the mountain slopes. many were woken in the early hours. >> tremors were so scary. >> this activity has brought the first eruption since 1600. a monitoring station has been set up. >> this morning the volcano erupted again with a thundering sound. we felt the tremor is 8 kilometers away. this is the biggest one. >> but for the resid

non-muslims want moderate muslims to be amplified. in a paradoxical cents or even in a poignant sense, this is an opportunity that we must capitalize on so that those who teach moderation will have a mega horn to teach and to preach the voices of moderation. i have been successful and i have proven it with people in my community. i know which was to court from the choir. i know how muslims think. i know how to speak to them. i know how to shoot holes in their arguments as to what is and what is not the teachings of and our faith. if we are at it -- if we are not ever see two nations, we're not following in the footsteps of the profit. that is one of the highest ideals -- of the prophet. this is one of the highest ideals among muslims. >> at a recent demonstration near ground zero opposing the islamic center, there was a banner that said "stock sharia law before it stops you." many of -- "stop sharia law before it stops you." there were many issues, such as women refusing to reveal their faces for identification pictures, stonings, and

the prevailing wisdom in the muslim world among moderate muslims and even muslims who like america iserica foreign policy, the way it was handled for 30, 40 years was responsible for radicalizing some people because we have a presence in the gulf. we take their oil. we support death spots in some countries. saudi arabia and others, that we do all of these things that we intrude on the muslim world. that's not a radical position. you can debate it one way or the other, but it's not a radical. i wasn't resentful when rauf said that to ed bradley. although saying it so close to 9/11 and making an excuse, that's what it came -- you saw ed bradley's expression. ed bradley went up like are you saying that we are responsible? that's how it came off. you are right. >> you left out one thing from your incredibly long list there, bill. that is support for israel. so, if the united states decides that it's in its self-interest to support israel, what, then we should expect these crazy lunatics to fly airplanes into buildings and then our policies are accessories to the crime? second thing you sa

muslims. example, we're having open houses at both of the mosques in gainesville where everyone is invited to come vote is september 17. we want people to feel reassured -- everyone is invited to come. it is september 17. we want people to feel reassured that nothing dangerous is going to happen to you. you wil visit theosquand see how muslims pray and how they behave and ybe people will realize there is nothing to be afraid of if you know muslims or have muslims as friends and neighbors. the most important event for us is the candlelight vigil for peace and unity. we are planning a huge event at the downtown plaza in gainesville where we will be doing a little bit what we do every week, just a larger scale. every week we feed the homeless in downtown gainvill we will be doing the same thing. every muslim holiday, we try to donate blood. we invited them to bring to the buses to the downtown gainesville area and we will be collecting blood donations for our local hospitals. we also contacted th

in america concludes the muslim community feels "under siege"? >> americans are really going through a time of uncertainty, of some fear and some anger, and they want to blame someone. and in times like this, that's why you're sitting on a tinderbox. it's very easy to then suddenly target or make a community a scapegoat. so even something as simple and ordinary as constructing a house of worship becomes an act of defiance, controversy, debate. >> reporter: the debate over that proposed muslim cultural center here, so close to ground zero, has been framed as a choice between religious tolerance and honoring the dead. but some would argue the real question is not the constitution butensitivity -- that given what happened on 9/11, shouldn't moral claims take precedence over legal rights? >> the legal issue's clear. there is a right to free speech, and there's a right to the exercise of one's religion. we have that. now what? what happens in situations where the exercise of that free religion, right, is going to trample upon the profound sensitivitie

and this is because we are muslim.d we can help to you do something to solve the problem this is the solution. >> so al qaeda today, you said something when we were talking earlier, you said i talked about osama bin laden being in a cave in kandahar, and you smiled and said he's not in kandahar. you think he's in pakistan? >> yeah, it's -- it's very sensitive issue, but i don't believe he's in afghanistan. i don't believe that that's my assessment. i don't believe that. >> there's only one other country he could be in. >> some people believe he's in washington, d.c., crazy people, you know. >> what is your sense of how many people are left in al qaeda and afghan stan, pakistan? >> i think a few hundred. it's a nonsignificant numbers. and the presence now, i think there's a shift, if i might say in terms of like an a deal operational level from now that we call it al qaeda. pakistan, afghanistan, the general command, the leadership. i think there's a shift from the general al qaeda general command towards yemen. now i t

but despite that tens of thousands of americans decided to become muslims since the tragedy.went to find out why. it's the call to prayer and it's answered by more than a billion muslims all over the world including caitlin billings a twenty two year old american who was raised christian converted last year my mother she was crying a lot. that i was betraying her by changing my religion back tracked almost a decade ago to nine eleven today our fellow citizens our way of life. our very freedom came under attack in a series of deliberate and deadly terrorist attacks president bush waged a war on terror targeting extremists muslims who were labeled as terrorists you know i was fourteen when september eleventh happened so i didn't really know what was going on if it really was you know people thought it was so i believe just like everybody else but as villains got older she decided to find out for herself and her investigation led her to the mistah office center a mosque just outside of washington d.c. that has become a haven for many americans like billings who have found allah

and non muslim. skeptics might ask, why spend time in dialogue? from experience, i can tell you that talking can be powerful. as churchill said, better to jaw off war. this can only happen when there is honesty, sincerity of motive, and an open heart. when issues are politicized or used as fodder for commentators on the right or the left, it just poured fuel on the flames of misunderstanding. the need to clear up the money mess understands about islam in america is greater now more than ever. have we not seen these last few weeks how hurtful and how destructive the power of extremist acts and language can be? that is why i remind you that this story is not yet over. what happens right here, right now, in this city, in our city matters, it matters more than ever. the way we confront our problems, the way we speak about them, the way we seek to reconcile our differences is watched and is resonating all over the world. i recently returned from a trip abroad on a mission by the state department. i want t

you have 1% of muslims in america, 1%. we have 10% in france. is that really a problem which should inflame all the nation? no. the great america, which was pragmatic, would have had another attitude toward this problem, which was not such a big problem. a mosque two blocks away from the sacred land of ground zero. come on. this is not facts. this is not economy. this is ideology of the worst sort. >> but it's an emotional response i think to our economic situation. people are very insecure. there are no jobs. it's not going to get better anytime soon. and so you're looking for someplace to put blame. and so there's this anti-immigration -- >> well, it's classic -- the mosque in particular is classic displacement. it's looking for the other, looking for the enemy. i think immigration, actually, is more concretely tied to the economic situation. and i think if you are lower middle class, then you really do feel that immigrants lower your bargaining power in the marketplace. and it's probably true. >> i think we can't -- it would be remiss to skip

>> one thing we as christns realize, muslims, devout muslims have rev rans for their holy boo they consider this blasphemy on the christian side of it, christians are taking the brunt of the riots and violence when muslims get upset. remember the danish cartoons and what happened result of that? >> pastor jones has been going back and forth to burn or not burn. last we ard he is not going to go through with it. why do you think he backedown? >> he got a lot of pressure from the white house, from the pentagon and christian pastors calling him and pressuring him, don't do this, this is stupid. this isn't the right thinto do. how do you win a muslim to christ if you are burning the holy boo >> gary, do you think the damage has been done? how is this going to effect muslim-christian relions? >> they are better if he is not going foard with this. i think it points out there are no moderate voices. when did you hear someone saying muslims, be calm, it is not th big of a deal. we didn't hear that. we heard it on the christian side, of course, with pastors saying let's not burn the koran, it is con