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CORRECTION
A fact check Thursday on Page 9A misidentified one of the mosques in a television ad from the campaign of Republican congressional candidate Renee Ellmers. The mosque shown in the ad is the Hagia Sophia, built as a Christian basilica between A.D. 532 and 537. The building was later converted to a mosque when Muslims conquered Constantinople in 1454. A more complete explanation is in today's Under the Dome on Page 3B.
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Republican congressional candidate Renee Ellmers has released a television advertisement that calls the planned Muslim community center in New York City a "victory mosque" and associates it with terrorists.
She began running the ad Wednesday on cable channels throughout the 2nd Congressional District, a largely rural district that includes parts of Wake, Chatham, Harnett, Johnston and Franklin counties, among others. Ellmers, a tea party advocate, is taking on U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge, a seven-term incumbent considered a moderate-to-conservative Democrat. Etheridge's campaign called the ad offensive.
The ad's script echoes the words of conservative commentators in recent months who have complained about Park51, the Muslim community center being planned two blocks from the site of the former World Trade Center.
In the ad a male narrator, his voice backed by an ominous music score, says Muslims built "victory mosques" after conquering Jerusalem, Cordoba and Constantinople centuries ago.
"And now, they want to build a mosque by ground zero," the narrator says.
Then Ellmers appears on the video. "The terrorists haven't won, and we should tell them in plain English, 'No, there will never be a mosque at ground zero,'" she says.
The ad says Etheridge "won't take a stand" on the community center.
Ellmers said the planned mosque is relevant in North Carolina.
"One of the interesting things we've found in talking to people in District 2 is they're overwhelmingly concerned about and against the mosque being built in New York," Ellmers said in an interview. "I think it's a very serious issue."
Etheridge answers
In response, Etheridge campaign spokesman Mike Davis said Ellmers "is desecrating hallowed ground" and distracting voters with her ad.
"Bob Etheridge has never thought building this mosque and community center so close to ground zero is a good idea," Davis said in his statement.
Ellmers pounced back, saying it was her ad that prompted Etheridge's public skepticism of the Park51 project.
"Why did it take him so long to say that?" she asked.
Davis acknowledged that Etheridge has never offered his opinion publicly. Davis said that's because "he's not going to get involved in it. ... That decision is for New York."
The ad began airing on CNN and Fox News, Ellmers said. Her campaign consultant, Carter Wrenn, said it likely will run about a week. He would not disclose the amount the campaign is spending.
As of June 30, the last time campaigns had to disclose their finances, Ellmers had raised less than $190,000 and had about $46,000 on hand. Etheridge had raised $909,000 and had about $417,000 on hand.
Islamic history
Ebrahim Moosa, an associate professor of Islamic studies at Duke University, corrected the ad's assumptions about "victory mosques," saying Ellmers' ad perpetuates misinformation about Islam.
"All conquering nations built temples, churches and mosques whenever they arrived in new territories," Moosa said. "But these were not 'victory' shrines, but rather testaments of faith. Claims that Muslims have built victory mosques in Jerusalem or Cordoba are sheer flights of fancy with no historical testimony to support it."
The 17th floor of the south tower included a Muslim prayer room when the World Trade Center was destroyed in the Sept. 11 attacks, according to people who worked in the center. An estimated 60 Muslims were killed when the towers fell.
Ad goes viral
Within hours of being posted on Ellmers' site, the ad was all over political blogs, receiving attention from Capitol Hill newspapers and cable news networks. A separate version of the ad, on YouTube, encouraged viewers to contribute to Ellmers' campaign.
"Did we think we might get some national attention? Yeah, we thought this might strike a nerve," Ellmers said.
A blogger at the left-leaning Salon.com, Justin Elliott, called it the "most baldly anti-Muslim ad of the year."
Ellmers disagreed.
"This is the anti-Muslim card that they're going to pull out," she said. "Well, I'm not anti-Muslim. As a nurse, I've taken care of people of all races, creeds and colors and respected all their traditions. What I am is pro-American."
Wrenn, who consulted for U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms, said several years ago he regretted the race-baiting ads that Helms ran in his races in the 1980s and '90s.
But Wednesday, Wrenn said he doesn't see Ellmers' ad in the same light.
"I think it's just absolutely wrong to say, 'Well, if you're opposed to putting a mosque at ground zero, you're a bigot,' he said. "That's playing the race card in reverse."
A YouTube video surfaced this summer showing Etheridge grabbing a young man who tried to question him with a video camera on a Capitol Hill sidewalk. Etheridge, clearly angry, was seen repeatedly asking the man, "Who are you?" and holding his arm.
Etheridge apologized for his actions, but Ellmers has not made much of the video politically.
Ellmers said Wednesday she has recorded one other political advertisement, though - a repudiation of Etheridge's voting record in Congress.
That ad, she said, has not yet been released.
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SPONSOR: Renee Ellmers for Congress
AUDIO: The ad opens with scary music and the voice of a narrator saying: "After the Muslims conquered Jerusalem, and Cordoba and Constantinople, they built victory mosques. And now they want to build a mosque by ground zero."
After the narrator criticizes Rep. Bob Etheridge for "not taking a stand" on the proposed building in New York, Ellmers appears on the screen.
"The terrorists haven't won, and we should tell them in plain English, 'No, there will never be a mosque at ground zero,'" Ellmers says.
IMAGES: The screen shows a series of paintings of rampaging Muslims from the fall of Jerusalem in 638 A.D., Cordoba in Spain in 711 A.D. and then Constantinople in 1454, followed by photos of the Dome of the Rock, the "Cordoba Mosque" and Blue Mosque.
WHAT THE RECORD SHOWS: None of the buildings shown in Ellmers' ad were built to celebrate Muslim victories.
The Dome of the Rock, located on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, was erected between 689 and 691 - 50 years after Muslims captured the city. It was built not as a mosque, but as a shrine for pilgrims to the site where Muslims believe the Prophet Muhammad rose to the heavens to receive a message from God.
The Temple Mount was the site of the second Hebrew Temple, the holiest site in Judaism, which was destroyed by the Romans 500 years earlier. In 1099, when Christian Crusaders conquered Jerusalem, the Dome was converted to a church and then a palace.
In Cordoba, the building shown in the ad was built as a Christian church in 600 A.D. and later remodeled and converted into a mosque in 784 -- 73 years after Muslim Moors conquered the city. In 1236, after a Christian king conquered the city, the building was converted back to a church. Today it is known as the Cathedral of Cordoba.
The Blue Mosque in modern-day Istanbul, Turkey, was built between 1609 and 1616 - more than 150 years after Muslims conquered the city and made it the capital of the Ottoman Empire.
The proposed Park51 project in Lower Manhattan is not "at ground zero," but on Park Place, a street two blocks north of the World Trade Center site. It is also not a mosque, but a community center to include a restaurant, fitness center, basketball court, swimming pool and child care center, along with a prayer room.
IS THE AD ACCURATE?: No. While it's true that Etheridge had not previously taken a public stand on the community center near ground zero, the ad contains both factual errors and historical inaccuracies.
Staff writer Michael Biesecker
