Was There No One Better?

New York Newsday is reporting that the FDNY is preparing to install as chaplain of the FDNY a Muslim iman who believes in crank conspiracy theories about 9/11 and doubts that the towers were attacked by al Qaeda and Islamic terrorists:

In a telephone interview Thursday, Imam Intikab Habib, 30, a native of Guyana who studied Islam in Saudi Arabia, said he doubted the United States government's official story blaming 19 hijackers associated with al-Quaida and Osama bin Laden.

"I as an individual don't know who did the attacks," said Habib, 30, a soft-spoken man who immigrated to New York in July 2000 after spending six years in Saudi Arabia getting a degree in Islamic theology and law. "There are so many conflicting reports about it. I don't believe it was 19 ... hijackers who did those attacks."

Asked to elaborate on his reasons for doubting that story, he talked about video and news reports widely disseminated in the Muslim community.

"I've heard professionals say that nowhere ever in history did a steel building come down with fire alone," he said. "It takes two or three weeks to demolish a building like that. But it was pulled down in a couple of hours. Was it 19 hijackers who brought it down, or was it a conspiracy?"

Questioned about who he believed was responsible for the attacks, Habib said he didn't know. He said, however, that he did not expect to raise his doubts with rank-and-file firefighters -- nor did he share them two weeks ago when he participated in several Sept. 11 memorials on behalf of the Fire Department.

"My position as a chaplain is that whoever did it, it's a tragic incident," he said. "I feel sorrow for the families who lost loved ones and for the firefighters who died in it. Whoever did it, it was a very wrong thing. It's always wrong to take an innocent human life."

A spokesman for the Fire Department, Frank Gribbon, said that Habib was recommended by the department's Islamic Society and was hired "based on his credentials as a religious person. We don't ask new employees about their political views before we hire them."

Let's see. When was the first time that a plane was purposely flown into skyscrapers? Oh, that would be on 9/11. Twice that day in fact. Who did it? 19 hijackers who were members of al Qaeda. al Qaeda took credit for the attacks. We have OBL on tape saying just that. Is he denying that OBL was involved? In fact, he discounts the whole hijacker story. He doesn't believe in facts. Or his own eyes and ears as OBL takes credit on video tape.

How will this fly with the rank and file firefighters who would ostensibly be ministered to by this guy? I don't think they'd be pleased about it one bit. In fact, I think they'd protest the fact rather vigorously.

Is this who the FDNY wants to proffer to the rank and file as a chaplain? And just how pervasive is this particular worldview within the Muslim community from which Habib was selected?

UPDATE:
Michelle Malkin has more, and calls Habib a moonbat. Conspiracy mongering moonbat at that.

UPDATE:
Habib submitted a letter of resignation. That was quick. Newsday has more.

UPDATE:
California Yankee, American Future, and Rick Moore weigh in.

Technorati: World Trade Center, WTC, 9/11, muslim chaplain, fdny, habib.