Just several years ago, Shaykh Kabbani, who is the head of the Islamic Supreme Council of America, when he was speaking at the State Department, said that more than 80 percent of the mosques were controlled by extremists. And from all I've seen over the last four or five years, the situation has even gotten worse.
More Quotes by Peter T. King
As far as Iraq, the important thing is that the Taliban is gone in Afghanistan, three-quarters of the al-Qaida leadership is either dead or in jail, and we now have Saudi Arabia working with us, Pakistan working with us.
But 85 percent of the mosques have extremist leadership in this country. Most Muslims, the overwhelming majority of Muslims, are loyal Americans.
And if the imam and the Muslim leadership in that community is so intent on building bridges, then they should voluntarily move the mosque away from ground zero and move it whether it's uptown or somewhere else, but move it away from that area, the same as the pope directed the Carmelite nuns to move a convent away from Auschwitz.
With all the fighting we do and all the skirmishing we do, the reality is that New Yorkers can come together when they have to.
I live in New York. I lost some 150 friends, neighbors and constituents on Sept. 11.
Now, we don't get that many specific threats against sporting events, per se. But we know from listening to the chatter how terrorists want to attack iconic events. So whether it's a major Fourth of July celebration or the Super Bowl or the World Series, we assume that that is what they're targeting.