by Conor Friedersdorf

Is Imam Rauf of Park 51 "with us or against us" in the War on Terrorism? That's the stark formulation used by many of his critics, who complain about his various shortcomings. Stephen Schwarz rounds up his most controversial statements in The Weekly Standard:

-- On March 21, 2004, he told the Sydney Morning Herald that the U.S. and the West would have to recognize the damage they have done to Muslims before terrorism can end. The Australian daily reported “Imam Feisal said the West had to understand the terrorists’ point of view.” The paper also cited Rauf’s arguments that “the Islamic method of waging war is not to kill innocent civilians . . . it was Christians in World War II who bombed civilians in Dresden and Hiroshima.” -- On June 23, 2004, Rauf told Chris Hedges, then a writer for the New York Times, that, in Hedges’s words, “Islamic terrorists do not come from another moral universe--that they arise from oppressive societies that he feels Washington had a hand in creating.” -- On February 7, 2010, Rauf told the Egyptian daily Almasri Alyaum, “I have been saying since the 1967 war that if there is peace between Israel and Palestine, in time the Palestinians will prevail.”

Excluded from the article, but ubiquitous in public discourse, is his remark about US foreign policy being an accessory to the 9/11 attacks. These statements aren't exhaustive, but I think it's fair to say they're a representative sampling of the utterances his detractors find objectionable. I have mixed feelings about Imam Rauf. In a debate, I'm certain he and I would forcefully disagree on some matters, and I'm sure I'd find some of his opinions wrongheaded and offensive. It is nevertheless noteworthy that these are the most damning things he's said in public life, that his views about the complicity of US foreign policy in the 9/11 attacks are held by many Americans, including Ron Paul, and that he's never said anything nearly so radical or violent as Ann Coulter's post 9/11 remark that America should invade Muslim countries, kill their leaders, and convert them to Christianity.

Thus far I haven't succeeded in convincing Imam Rauf's detractors that they're holding him to a higher standard than other Americans because he is Muslim, or that based on the evidence currently available, after intense public scrutiny, he is "on our side" in the War on Terrorism (if we must use the binary formulation).