Associate of Ground Zero Imam Is a 9/11 'Truther

A founding member of an organization run by imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, the lead protagonist for the proposed Cordoba mosque near Ground Zero, has made claims that the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 were an "inside job" and that Muslims have been falsely and improperly made into scapegoats.

According to a report from the New York Post, Faiz Khan has preached at the proposed Cordoba site on at least two separate occasions in the past and partnered with Rauf for years in the American Society for the Advancement of Muslims. The Post reported today that Khan also serves on the advisory board of Muslims for 9/11 Truth and co-founded the Muslim-Jewish-Christian Alliance for 9/11 Truth (MUJCA). On the MUJCA Web site, Khan wrote: "the inescapable fact [is] that 9/11 was an inside job."

"The prime factor for the success of the criminal mission known as 9/11 did not come from the quarter known as 'militant Islam,' although the phenomenon known as 'militant Islamic networks' may have played a partial role, or even a less than partial role -- perhaps the role of patsy and scapegoat," Khan wrote.

When The Post asked Khan who he thought was responsible for 9/11, he initially declined comment, but later said in an e-mail: "I am certain of a few things . . . The towers and WTC 7 could not have collapsed without controlled demolition place from the 'inside.'"

Ray Locker, managing director of the Investigative Project on Terrorism, said: "For someone who claims he wants the mosque project near Ground Zero to help build bridges and heal the wounds from 9/11, it's odd that one of Feisal Rauf's fellow bridge builders is someone who thinks the attacks that killed more than 3,000 people were an 'inside job' by the US government."

Steve Emerson’s Investigative Project on Terrorism also reports on "a trove of videos and writings" that outline Khan's views, including a 2006 speech in which he claimed “the most logical explanation” for 9/11 is that the hijackers were "working for us" to further "a corporate-controlled scheme involving gigantic stock trades, billions of dollars in heroin sales and interest in Caspian Sea resources."

The Post reports that Imam Rauf was not immediately available for comment.