We agree with her that many Muslims abhor the killings of 9/11. However, instead of keeping her cause positive, she had to demonstrate how many more Muslims have been killed in our war on terror; and then she accuses Oklahomans and especially her lawmakers of being Islamophobic and “ill-informed” and “brainwashed” and believing in “distortions.”
I know our lawmakers; these aspersions are unfair. What she conveniently did not address is why is it so important for Muslims to build a mosque so close to sacred Ground Zero and do so without initially consulting with the surviving families; nor did she explain why (on film) so many Muslims in the Arab world cheered, danced and clapped their hands in victory as the flaming towers fell and killed innocent American civilians. Will broaching this subject and asking these questions, as I work through my grief and anger, cast me as an Islamophobe?
—Paul Wesselhöft
Moore
Rep. Wesselhöft, a Moore Republican, represents District 54 in the state House of Representatives.
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This article appears in Sep 28 – Oct 4, 2011.