Excerpt:
It's recognized by most of us that America is trying to untangle its difficult relationships with Islam everywhere. The plans of some Muslim groups to build a 13-story Ground Zero Mosque only two blocks from the "sacred ground" of 9/11 are complicating that undertaking even further.
On the one hand — the traditional American side — one finds a kind of rage at such an idea. On the other hand — the Islamic-American side, if that term does indeed constitute a coherent group — one finds an arrogant, "we have the right" attitude hardly befitting a group that is asking for privilege.
So who is right, if anybody? We'd better seriously consider these questions, because the conflict over the mosque — and several others in the Greater New York area — is going to be front page news for a long time.