HE IS UNMOSQUED – AT 8:54 A.M. ET:  The Ground Zero mosque controvery isn't going away.  The imam in charge is returning to the U.S. soon from his State Department-sponsored jaunt around the Mideast, and has promised to explain himself.  It will take quite a bit of explaining, as this report from CBS News demonstrates:

As the Ground Zero mosque controversy continues to simmer, questions continue about the background of the man who wants to build the $100 million Islamic cultural and religious center.

Mosque developer Sharif El-Gamal has often been reluctant to answer questions.

We wonder why.  Could it have something to do with his rap sheet?

His most recent arrest was in 2005 for assault on a man he met while working as a waiter at Serafina Restaurant, who sublet an apartment from his brother. He reportedly punched the man, breaking his nose and cheekbone and spit on him.

El-Gamal first said he didn’t hit the man, but arrest documents obtained by CBS 2 showed he later conceded “his face could have run into my hand.”

Records showed El-Gamal also had trouble coming up with the $15,000 settlement reached in 2008, and had to pay interest . El-Gamal also has a number of other arrests on his record:

-In 1990, he was arrested in Nassau County and pled guilty to disorderly conduct.
-In 1992, he pled guilty in Nassau to DWI and paid a $350 fine.
-In 1993, he pled guilty in Nassau to attempted petit larceny and paid a $100 fine.
-In 1994, arrested for disorderly conduct in Manhattan.
-In 1998, there was another Manhattan disorderly conduct arrest.
-In 1999, yet another Manhattan disorderly conduct arrest.

A potential problem for the mosque developer is a deposition he gave in the assault case in October 2007. When asked if he was ever convicted or pled guilty to a crime, El-Gamal replied “no.”

And...

El-Gamal also owes over $227,000 in unpaid real estate taxes and a spokesman for the Department of Finance said interest will be added for each and every day its unpaid.

COMMENT:  So, just your average builder of a house of worship.  And yet, we're told we must not ask questions lest we run afoul of First Amendment freedoms.  Sorry, we don't buy.  Can you imagine the uproar if someone with that rap sheet were behind a church, a cathedral, a synagogue? 

Of course, the trendy left considerers convicted felons to be mere victims of an oppressive society, so we won't get any help from that quarter.  But the mosque controversy will continue, with overwhelming numbers of Americans, including New Yorkers, opposed to its placement so close to a national shrine.  I'm betting the thing never gets built.

September 1, 2010