At the Conservative Political Action Conference next month — the one decried as being “infiltrated” by the Muslim Brotherhood by the likes of sharia alarmist Frank Gaffney — an event will be held titled, “The Ground Zero Mosque: The Second Wave of the 9/11 Attacks.”
The event is a movie premiere, hosted by mosque opposition leader Pamela Geller and her partner Robert Spencer. It will be followed by “a question and action and strategy session on how to stop the Islamic supremacist mega-mosque at Ground Zero.”
Geller and Spencer have been at the forefront of opposition to an Islamic community center and mosque planned in downtown Manhattan near Ground Zero. Geller has been the catalyst for protests at the site, including one on Sept. 11, 2010, and one planned early next month which will be a joint anti-mosque, pro-WalMart rally.
Spencer is her partner. Together, the two run the American Freedom Defense Initiative and Stop Islamization of America Now.
Making ominous, straight-to-DVD films about the threat of Islam is nothing new. A movie called “Obsession” and sent to 30 million households at the height of the 2008 elections had reverberations in this summer’s anti-mosque fervor. Last fall, Newt Gingrich was flacking a movie he funded called “America At Risk,” which included lines like, “This is the final struggle” over footage of al Qaeda videos and Muslim men holding assault rifles.
The press release for the event mentions that Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf and his wife, Daisy Khan, have been invited to speak on the panel. Rauf was, until recently, the public face of the project. He was replaced this month by Imam Abdallah Adhami, who will take over services at the group’s temporary prayer space.
It also mentions that the New York city premiere will be held on Feb. 20, “on Muhammad’s birthday (according to the Shi’ites).”
Gaffney, who, like Spencer and Geller, believes that most American mosques are radical and plotting a jihad against the U.S., has accused CPAC of being “infiltrated” by the Muslim Brotherhood.
A spokesman for CPAC tells TPM that the mosque event was planned back in Nov. 2010 and is not a response to Gaffney’s accusation. The event is not a CPAC event per se, but is one of 80 events hosted at CPAC by official member organizations.
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