The State Department is busy defending Imam Rauf of the Ground Zero mosque, warning the media not to cover the story too extensively. The excuse is that quotes may be taken out of context, and therefore those pesky bloggers who have dug up evidence of Rauf’s extremism should be ignored.

Rauf has gone on record opposing the state of Israel, excusing the 9/11 attacks, supporting the replacement of the American legal system with the brutal sharia system of Islam, and rejecting the idea of religious dialogue. He also belongs to the group behind the jihad flotilla intended to destroy Israel’s anti-terror blockade.

Most recently, it has been exposed that Imam Rauf believes the United States to be more brutal and murderous than Al Qaeda — the terror group responsible for the 9/11 attacks that opened up enough real estate in Manhattan for him to build his victory monument, er, cultural center.

No one quite knows who has provided funding for the Cordoba House — the name of the mosque — though the project has been praised by Islamic extremists, including Mahmoud al-Zahar, a leader of Islamic terror group Hamas.