Rarely do local land-use decisions become fodder for national controversies, but debate on the plans to construct a $100 million mosque and community center just two blocks from Ground Zero in New York City has engaged Americans across the country. Those who oppose the plan are justifiably concerned.

A recent poll found that six in 10 New Yorkers oppose the construction of the mosque, and, judging from media reports and messages that I have received, that sentiment is shared throughout the country.

The uneasiness that many Americans feel is understandable. Ground Zero, of course, is not just a plot of land awaiting development. Thousands of innocent people lost their lives at the hands of Islamist terrorists there. For those who lost family and friends in the attacks, the site will always be associated with a deep, personal tragedy. Decisions about developing the area require special consideration and sensitivity to those who lost loved ones in the September 11 terrorist attacks.

Supporters of the planned mosque claim that it will promote tolerance and foster a sense of community among those of different faiths. Feisal Abdul Rauf, the imam behind the project, however, has refused to hold the Islamist terrorists who brought down the World Trade Center fully culpable for their acts, telling 60 Minutes that "United States policies were an accessory to the crime that happened." In June, he equivocated when asked if Hamas is a terrorist organization and refused to condemn the group. "The issue of terrorism is a very complex question," he told New York's WABC radio.

Even if we take proponents of the mosque at their word, radical Islamists won't see the center as a place intended to unite those of different faiths. As Newt Gingrich recently wrote, "for radical Islamists, the mosque would become an icon of triumph, encouraging them in their challenge to our civilization." We are still at war with adherents of radical Islam, and it would be foolish, if not destructive, to risk giving militant Islamists a victory to exploit.

Moreover, it's not clear who is financing the project and what connection, if any, the donors have with groups abroad that seek to do harm to the United States and our allies. I would like to see those responsible for the approving the project ask those questions, but so far they have not.

While it will ultimately be up to city and state officials to determine whether the project can proceed, those officials should recognize that this project is different than other proposals that come before them. They must understand that our country is still at war with radical Islamists and that victims of the 9/11 attacks have a stake in their decision too.

As the Anti-Defamation League observed, "building an Islamic Center in the shadow of the World Trade Center will cause some victims more pain-unnecessarily-and that is not right."

New York is a big city, and there are plenty of other places to build.