This week, the controversial mosque near the 9/11 site moved one step closer to reality. A New York City landmarks commission voted to allow the project to continue. The panel decided that a 152 year old building near the proposed site is not a historical landmark and can be demolished. The panel disregarded claims that the building should be preserved because it was damaged by airplane debris during the 9/11 attack. Incredibly, the site is so close to ground zero that it was hit by landing gear from one of the airplanes that struck the World Trade Center.

It is amazing that in the United States today our country is debating whether a massive mosque should be built near the sacred 9/11 site. It insults the memory of those who died due to the actions of radical Muslim terrorists.

This project is also an affront to the family members of the almost 3,000 victims of the terror attack. First and foremost, city officials should be following the wishes of family members who have already suffered due to radical Islamic terrorism. It is lunacy to allow a 13-story $100 million Mosque to be built on such a sensitive site. In fact, no mosque should be built in any location until all questions are answered about the financing and support of the project. Frank Gaffney of the Center for Security Policy has been investigating this project for months and has discovered that there are questionable ties to a radical sect of Islam.

Instead of listening to warnings of experts, our politicians are too concerned about political correctness. This obsession overrides any common sense decision making.

Politicians don’t want to offend Muslims or other minority groups, but, in the process, the views of the overwhelming majority of citizens are overlooked.

Supposedly, this mosque will be reserved for moderate Muslims to congregate and serve as a beacon for inter-faith worship. Despite the promises, the location is not approved by the vast majority of New Yorkers. Predictably, on the other side of the issue is the American Civil Liberties Union which applauded the panel for “not letting bias get in the way of the rule of law.”

The rule of law is precisely what should allow local residents to determine what types of buildings are wanted in a particular community. If a project is offensive to the majority of community members, it should not be allowed. For example, a strip club would not be wanted in many residential neighborhoods in this country. It would attract the wrong type of crowd for families living in suburbia. Similarly, a mosque might attract the wrong type of people to the site of the 9/11 attacks. Extremists may be attracted to the site to commit additional acts of terror.

Sadly, millions of radical Muslims harbor hatred toward this country and all of the values we represent. These radicals want to kill innocent Americans and bring about the destruction of this country. We have no guarantee that these enemies of the United States would not be able to visit this proposed mosque with the purpose to conspiring to commit terrorist acts and threaten Americans.

There are so many unanswered questions that the Anti-Defamation League declared its opposition to the mosque citing concerns about “groups whose ideologies stand in contradiction to our shared values.”

There are just too many valid concerns about this project for it to be approved. The fact that New York City, led by Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the ACLU, is rushing ahead with the project says a great deal about the strength of political correctness in this country and the many problems that lie ahead in our battle against Islamic extremism.

Jeff Crouere, a native of New Orleans and resident of Mandeville, is host of a Louisiana-based program, “Ringside Politics,” which airs at 7:30 p.m. Fridays and 10 p.m. Sundays on WLAE-TV 32, a PBS station, and 7-11 a.m. weekdays on WGSO 990 AM on the Northshore. For more information, visit his Web site at www.ringsidepolitics.com. E-mail him at jeff@ringsidepolitics.com.