Here is part two of Joseph Cotto's interview with me in today's The Washington Times. If you missed part one, "Pamela Geller is speaking up," go here now and read it. Here's an excerpt from part two; go read it all.
Now, in this second segment, one of America's most controversial pundits talks about these things in her trademark forthright fashion.Joseph F. Cotto: One of the most dire problems faced by the international community is the spread of militant Islamism. What do you believe has caused this ideology to become popular in recent years?
Pamela Geller: It corresponds to the teachings of the Qur'an and Sunnah, and so resonates with Muslims worldwide.
Cotto: How do you believe that militant Islamism can be efficiently countered and contained on both domestic and international scales?
Geller: We have to stand for human rights and not fear to denounce and fight an ideology that denies free speech, equality of rights for women and non-Muslims, and the freedom of conscience. No war has ever been won on the defense. We must fiercely defend individual rights, equality for all under the law. No special rights for special classes.
Cotto: You were one of the strongest voices in opposition to the establishment of Park51, an Islamic community center in Lower Manhattan. Why do you feel that it is a negative development in terms of not only local, but national politics?
Geller: Islamic supremacists with ties to the Muslim Brotherhood wanted to build what would have been regarded by Muslims worldwide as a triumphal mosque marking the jihad victory of 9/11.
The supine, naive, and/or complicit response of local and national authorities shows how woefully ignorant and compromised we are. It is an Islamic pattern to build victory mosques on the cherished sites of conquered lands.
Never in the history of Islam has there ever been a mosque of reconciliation and healing built on the site of a jihadi attack. [Park51] would have been Mecca on the Hudson to every jihadist in the world.
