How about a sign like this instead?

(my image, no copyright worries!)

Bill -

While agree with you regarding the need for serious reform in fundamentalist Islamic culture, I think you are reading more into the message on 12th Ave than the sign warrants.

It just says "enough killing, enough revenge, stop the war..."

There is no implied message about who should stop first...

Who is it that drives past that sign? Americans, not (we hope) members of al Qaeda. The message is directed at Americans. Now, if the Islamic Center of Nashville takes out an ad in the Jihad Times urging an end to revenge and killing, I'll accept the notion that they are speaking to Islamists.

Bill,

In the interest of journalism, how about calling up the mosque and asking to interview someone about the sign. I'm curious like you are about it. If it does reflect an opposition to our efforts to eliminate terrorism that would be good to know...this is America and they should be willing to defend whatever free statements they make. Of course, many people like myself have a right to question and criticize their views, too. I also think from a security stand point we should be able to guage the level of hostility any group has for other groups in this country. Being of Arab descent or Muslim is not an exemption from scrutiny.

Bill -

Good idea! call the mosque and ask them who should stop the war first. Let us know what they say!

I sent them an email, via the email address that I found on their website, included the link and text above. They are free to respond in the comments, and I hope they do. I would love to see American Muslims speak out - forcefully - against the Islamists who are trying to kill all of us (including them). I'm just not holding my breath until it happens.

Assuming you are speaking about our war in Iraq, I am wondering which act of war against us are you referring to?

I'm referring to 9/11 and all of the other Islamowacko attacks on the U.S. WTC '93 (involved Iraq AND al Qaeda!), the Cole, African embassy bombings, Mogadishu ("Black Hawk Down"), Beirut barracks, Khobar Towers, Achille Lauro/Klinghoffer, 9/11, Danny Pearl, Nick Berg, Fallujah (contractors massacred), Bali, Madrid, Istanbul, etc., etc., etc.

What I wonder is, is the sign on the Islamic Center of Nashville aimed at telling Americans to stop responding to such attacks? Or are they trying to tell their wayward Muslim pals over Iraq and the rest of the Middle East to stop attacking America and the West?

Hmm, it strikes me you are being pretty vague.

Bali, Madrid, Istanbul would probably be hard to define as "attacks on the U.S."

The Cole, the embassies, Mogadishu, Beirut, Khobar, Achille Lauro, 9/11, Danny Pearl were not done by Iraq.

Achille Lauro was not done by Al Qaeda.

Anyway, you're the journalist on site. Why not drive over to the center, knock on their door, and ask?

http://www.muslimeen.org/

And their telephone: 327-6071

I'm with the others, Bill. Call or stop by and ask! If the sign is directed at Islamofascists and Arabic/Muslim haters, then you've just made an important friend and ally. If not, if it's directed at Americans and peaceful Arabs/Muslim, then you can serve as an instrument in bringing this mosque up for public approbation. It's a win-win.

Anon,

You are right about one thing...Achille Lauro was not done by AQ. It was carried about by Abu Nidal, who later lived where? Hmmm...Baghdad.

Bali, Madrid and Istanbul were not US targets, but they were US allies. Shall we shrug and say "at least it wasn't us?" Not the wisest course of action.

Terrorist training camps were located in Iraq. Do you take issue with the fact they were "loosely" associated with AQ? Where do you draw the line? If a camp is run by Hezbollah, should it not be targeted since AQ does not seem to be involved?

Is it really so difficult to believe many different countries and groups with a common enemy (meaning you and I, although we certainly did not choose to be THEIR enemy) could not work in unison against the US? Is is so difficult to think Osama and Saddam could put aside ideological differences to fight us? While the evidence of Iraqi and AQ connections is not overwhelming, there is sufficient evidence to think a link did (and continues) to exist. To not acknowledge this is be willfully blind.

It's pretty simple, really. You either believe, as I do, that the WoT and Iraq are related or you do not. Sufficient evidence exists for me. It may not for you. We'll see how America feels at the ballot box come November.

Anon, I never said Iraq. Read my original post very closely. I never said "Iraq". You made the distinction, but I do not make a distinction in the war on terror and the war in Iraq. Iraq is a front, a battlefield, in the larger war to stamp out Islamofacism. It is not a diversion from the war on terror. It IS the central front in the war on terror. I have thought since 9/11 that we had to have a broad war against Islamofacists, not just a narrow revenge response against the perpetrators of 9/11.

Al Qaeda, Saddam, the mad mullahs of Tehran, Hezbollah, Hamas, Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, Abu Sayyaf, Ansar-Al-Islam (an AQ subsidiary based in Iraq!), Assad, Arafat, and the rest of the non-peaceful Muslims must be defeated. I am simply asking if the sign on the mosque in Nashville indicates they want the war to end before the mad Muslims are defeated...

I have contacted them via email and they are welcome to respond in the comments below.

I sometimes wonder if we would have had more support of Muslims worldwide if our leadership had not elected to use the 2001 attacks as a springboard for acton on their agenda for Middle East transformation.

We have much more pain to endure, and history will, I believe, be a harsh judge.

Oh yes, Semi. Generally when you roll over in the face of an assailt, when you appease rather than fight your attackers, they tend to like it. I'm sure the killers of Nick Berg would have loved for us to not have responded to 9/11, except perhaps to hold seminars to discuss the "root cause" of terrorism.

Barf.

The root cause of Islamist terrorism is the extremist form of Islam known as Wahabbism. Period. I don't want "more support" from them. I want them defeated.

I applaud them for using 9-11 as a springboard, personally. The past three decades of ham-handed diplomacy didn't seem to do the trick. If the Muslim community at large didn't like things before(all that angst at Khobar, Tanzanian embassy, the Cole etc)which lead to 9-11, then they shouldn't be surprised that after 3000 dead we would try something different. Maddy Albright running after Arafat in Paris in supplication didn't seem to help that's for sure. Perhaps Muslim citizens of the middle east should look to their own corrupt governments rather than constantly blaming the west.

To paraphrase:

"would we have had more support of Muslims worldwide [IF] our leadership had NOT elected to use the 2001 attacks as a springboard for action on their agenda for Middle East transformation?"

The answer is evidently NO. Never have any countries in the Middle East, or Muslims of any particular group, castigated their own for terrorist acts against America. Perhaps you confuse the seeming aliance experienced in the first Gulf War with Arab/Islamic cooperation. It wasn't. It was exploitation of Western Military might to put down Saddam when he attacked a fellow Arab/Muslim country. It was "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" routine.

Time and time again the governments of Middle Eastern and Islamic countries have shown that without threat of force and bribery they will NOT willingly cooperate to protect America and Americans. In other words, to appeal to their desire to see America treated with justice and respect is a mistake...they have no such desire. To do so was the central fallacy of all the presidential administrations since 1976. We tried it and it failed miserably.

What, oh what, can America do to make the Arab Street suddenly stop hating us? Stop exploiting them by buying oil? Or buy more oil? Fight the terrorists among them? Or stop fighting the terrorists among them? Pull out of the Middle East entirely? Or get more involved in the Middle East?

In reality, I think there is only one thing America can do that will ever placate the "Arab Street": throw Israel to the wolves. That is NOT going to happen under any Administration, nor should it. Besides, if we suddenly withdrew 100% of our support for Israel and told Arabia "have at 'em," Israel would likely stretch from Iran to Libya.

So-called moderate Muslims should start asking themselves a question. Namely, how does the American Street feel about Arabs, and what can THEY do to change their image with US.

Even if we did, throwing Israel to the wolves won't help. Al Qaeda didn't give a flying flip about Israel when 9/11 happened - we were on holy ground (Saudi Arabia) and are infidels in general.

Twasn't till later that Al Qaeda realized that vocally supporting the Palestinians would get them some good PR in the Middle East.

In this case, I don't see how feeding the alligator would slow it down for any longer than it takes to chew and swallow.

The fact is that we are in a war to the death with radical Islam, and we have many thousands of fifth columnists inside the USA. A rational first step would be to expel all foreign Muslims here on student, business, or tourist visas, and cut off entry. Citizen Muslims then would have to prove their loyalty, or be exiled. Get the enemy within gone while fighting the enemy abroad.

The fact is that we are in a war to the death with radical Islam, and we have many thousands of fifth columnists inside the USA. A rational first step would be to expel all foreign Muslims here on student, business, or tourist visas, and cut off entry.

We should have done that on 9/12.

Or we could just round them all up and keep them in towns and regions seperate from the rest of Americans. I mean, they can't be trusted right?

And once they've proven their loyalty (not likely), we have to have some way to show it, how about making them wear a crescent moon on the clothing, so we know them for what they are?

That's what we did to Americans with Executive Order 9066 and what the Germans did with the Jews. You would think that common sense would have overcome the most basic levels or quasi-racist hysteria in the last 60 years.

I think the Islamic center sign is just another part of the propaganda war. Today I bought PVC drain pipe at a local building supply store. A graffitist had previously modified the stop sign in the store's parking lot to make it read "stop the war" This morning the sign had some extra squiggles rendering the sign unintelligible. While I was laying the drain pipe, a small plane flew overhead, pulling a banner that said "Stop the war". I hoped a small SAM would rise from the city below to knock the plane from the sky, but no such luck. I closely inspected the PVC pipe, which had only conventional PVC pipe messages printed on it. The local newspaper said that one of our area's newly minted Gold Star mothers would be in the Memorial Day parade. I will be there.

While I agree with most of the things you've said, the radical expulsion of all foreign (ie non-citizen) muslims is, as has been said, a step below the actions of Hitler. I am a very conservative right winger, get made fun of at college for it daily, but I think this idea is EXACTLY why the rest of the world hates us. We open our borders to these foreigners, allowing them to come in to learn, do business, or whatever, in hopes that our way will rub off on them. To just expel all foreign Muslims is showing that we have succomed to the same blind hatred that the radicl Islamists have exhibited, how hipocritical is that?

Bill: My friend, you will not get a response from the Islamic Center of Nashville because they are too busy converting the poor in Nashville to their, and their religion's, warped way of thinking.

When will we stop seeing Islam as another peaceful religion along the lines of Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism? When will America actually take time to read the Koran and see the verses there that instruct not just the fringe "fundamentalists" to kill, but all followers of their faith!

No, what needs to happen is we need to have a international effort to recognize those who have been killed in the path of "Jihad" at the hands of Islam, regardless of the category (Shiite, Sunni, etc.) For 1400 years now people have been getting killed at the hands of Islam, we all should point this out to the world by honoring the victims that continue to mount up daily.

The war in Iraq is not - and never has been - against al-Quaeda. I thought that was obvious, but I guess not if you don't want to see it.