Dear friends, May I ask you to be silent for ten seconds? Just be silent and listen. Ten seconds. And listen… What we hear are the sounds of life in the greatest city on earth.
 
No place in the world, no place in human history, is as richly varied and vibrant and dynamic as New York City. You hear the cars, you hear the people, you hear them rushing to their various destinations, you hear the sounds of business and of pleasure, you hear the cheers, you hear the cries, the buzzing sounds of human activity. And that is how it should be.

Always. Now close your eyes – I know it’s a beautiful day, but close your eyes. I have been told that this day nine years ago was just such a beautiful day -- and remember, or try to remember, or try to imagine the sounds which were heard here on this spot under this same blue sky exactly nine years ago. The sound of shock, the sound of destruction, the sound of panic, the sound of pain, the sound of terror.

Did New York deserve this? Did America deserve this? Did the West deserve this?

Geert Wilders has given the Dutch political elites heartburn by (among many other things) making plans to visit Ground Zero on 9-11 and speak out against the Cordoba Initiative mosque. Our Flemish correspondent VH has compiled a series of translations of the latest news from the Dutch-language media. He includes this introductory note:

Geert Wilders’ upcoming trip to New York, which has already made the Dutch “68 elite” very nervous. Strangely enough, they don’t fear the response to having co-financed the organization that is behind the mosque plans.

Geert Wilders will be speaking in New York on September 11 at a protest demonstration against the building of a mega mosque near Ground Zero.

The demonstration, organized by SIOA (Stop Islamization Of America), takes place at 2pm at Park Place between Church and West Broadway, near Ground Zero. Other speakers include Newt Gingrich, 9/11 Parents and Families of Firefighters & WTC Victims. By accepting this invitation, Geert Wilders expresses his support for the people opposing the building of a mosque near the place where Islam committed the worse atrocity of the past decade. The attack on the WTC towers on 9/11, 2001, was an attack on the entire Western civilization.

After weeks of discussions among the leading Dutch political parties following the June 9th general elections, a minority conservative ruling coalition has been formed. This gives Geert Wilders' PVV Freedom party some important leverage. This is largely due to the significant seat tallies, 24 that the PVV garnered in the new Hague Parliament, as well as the significant continuing rise in Wilders' and the PVV popularity among voters in the Netherlands. That popularity, we believe, is based on voters concerns on the threat of Islamization to Holland, basic Dutch and Western Judeo-Christian values. That rise in anti-Islamization sentiments also reflects the importance of Wilders' recent launch of the Interrnational Freedom Alliance that we have posted on The Iconoclast. Perhaps it will embolden a rising number of American Congressional candidates who have adopted an anti-Islamization plank in their platforms to press ahead with this issue during their campaigns in the upcoming mid-term elections this fall. Perhaps we may even see Wilders coming to the US during the campaign season to meet meet with some of the prominent anti-Islamization Congressional contenders. Baron Bodissey at the Gates of Vienna (GoV) blog posted a translation of the announcement of the new ruling Dutch coalition, yesterday. Many thanks to RB for bringing this to our attention.