Mosque in Boston Potential Terrorist Haven?

Despite claims to the contrary, Boston Globe columnist Jeff Jacoby recently expressed doubts concerning the peaceful intentions of The Islamic Society, which is behind the $24M mosque.  In the article, Questions the Islamic Society should answer, Jacoby wonders why The Islamic Society is answering its critics with accusations of defamation and lawsuits, rather than believable reasons why the following facts seem to contradict their claims at being moderate muslims:

• The society's original founder, Abdurahman Alamoudi, is now serving a 23-year prison term for his role in an assassination plot. The Treasury Department identified him as a fund-raiser for Al Qaeda, and he has publicly proclaimed his support for two notorious terrorist groups, Hamas and Hezbollah.

• Yusef al Qaradawi, who for several years was listed as a trustee in Islamic Society of Boston tax filings and on the Islamic Society website -- the Islamic Society now claims that was due to an ''administrative oversight" -- is a radical Islamist cleric who has endorsed suicide bombings and the killing of Americans in Iraq.

And the list goes on.  The author concludes astutely:

But the last thing Muslims in Boston or anywhere else need is a leadership that treats legitimate public misgivings as an anti-Muslim ''conspiracy," or that launches specious lawsuits in order to intimidate those looking into its record. The Islamic Society's overreaction does rank-and-file Muslims no favors -- and gives all of us, Muslim and non-Muslim alike, another reason to wonder about its motives.