I liked this response I read by one person about the issue:
"Islam existed thousands of years and at least a 100 years in the US decades before 9/11.
A mosque is simply a place of worship where muslim Americans go in to do their prayers for 2,3 or 5 minutes then leave.They are people,have jobs and families.
Those who vehemently oppose the mosque near ground zero are not the families of 9/11 victims but republican fundamentalists and extremist christians who exploit the "unfounded" SENSITIVITY they themselves misled people to believe in with their malicious media.
Who allowed the 9/11 victims to link their sensitivity to islam as a religion and not to a small group called al qaida ?
When the jews remember the holaucaust do they refer to Hitler religion and churches ?
You may argue that 9/11 culprits used religion to justify their deed.Well muslims or any religious group cannot stop someone if they decided to act on their own interpretation. It would be different if Bin Laden was a muslim scholar whom muslims turn to for advice and consultation of religious matters but he is not. The greatest muslim scholar whom muslims listen to spoke against terrorism.
If i recall,shortly after 9/11 CNN broadcasted (or reported) Bin Laden's motive for the attack as : "In response for the US support of Israel in its aggression against the palestinians"
IMHO, that's a political statement not religious at all.
It is lame that some christian preachers jump on this issue to score some points against islam out of "religious competition" and market it to the mainstream as "sensitive issue to the families of 9/11 victims""