If the past few months have shown us anything, it's that the debate over Park51's location has often been tinged with anti-Muslim rhetoric. As Media Matters has noted, experts have agreed that this rhetoric threatens to undermine anti-terror efforts because, among other things, it “plays into al Qaeda's framework that the West is at war with Islam.” In stark contrast to the recent opinion on the right that “there is no good reason for our government to be doing 'Muslim outreach,'” the Bush administration invested heavily in reaching out to the Muslim world to counter al Qaeda's propaganda. One of their early efforts occurred in 2003, when the State Department produced five videos whose sole purpose was to inform Muslims around the world of the tolerance of Americans and the value we place on the free expression of religion. As the Boston Globe reported, these videos, called “Shared Values,” “featured videotaped testimonials from American Muslims about their positive experiences in the United States” that was intended for “Muslim audiences overseas.”

The videos featured American citizens and immigrants, including a baker, a schoolteacher, a journalism student, a firefighter, and the Muslim head of the National Institute of Health to discuss being Muslim in America. Many of the videos emphasized the freedom of religion in America. As the baker, Abdul Hammuda, put it, “Religious freedom here is something very important, and we see it practiced, and no one ever bothers us. Living the straight path in America, I don't think is hard, because it is a choice you have to make.”

In another, police chaplain Abdul Malik opined, “I think Muslims in America have more freedom to work for Islam, perhaps than any other country I have visited.”

The teacher, Rawia Ismail proudly stated that “In general, it's very practical to practice Islam and live in U.S. My neighbors, they are fair-minded, and good people, so they are, they understand us...Islam in United States can be followed just as well as I can follow in my village where I was raised.”

This was exactly the type of outreach supported by the Bush administration following the attacks on September 11 that is currently being undermined by the right-wing outcry over Park51. As Karen Hughes said in a March 29, 2006 speech, “In the struggle against violent extremists, for example, the voices of government officials are not always the most credible or powerful -- Muslim Americans have far more credibility to debate issues of their faith than I do as a Christian.” One has to wonder, why is the right trying to dismantle these efforts by playing into al Qaeda's stereotype of America? If Park51 was being built during the Bush administration, would the right have reacted similarly?