They won’t build it! Hardhats vow not to work on controversial mosque near Ground Zero
Blaster David Kaiser’s hardhat says what he thinks of the mosque planned for Park Place, near Ground Zero.
A growing number of New York construction workers are vowing not to work on the mosque planned near Ground Zero.
“It’s a very touchy thing because they want to do this on sacred ground,” said Dave Kaiser, 38, a blaster who is working to rebuild the World Trade Center site.
“I wouldn’t work there, especially after I found out about what the imam said about U.S. policy being responsible for 9/11,” Kaiser said. (Daily News)
Ground Zero imam plays hide & sheik
Does he really? Â Well, he “has been advised not to engage in fund-raising activity” during his jaunt. He is a man of his word, isn’t he? What could go wrong?
Lift the veil of secrecy!
People in the Persian Gulf kingdom of Bahrain fumed yesterday that the cleric behind the proposed Ground Zero mosque toured their country under tight wraps as part of a State Department-organized goodwill tour of the Middle East.
“This man comes from America to speak with us, but we can’t find him,” said Fatah Mardine, 27, in the capital city of Manama.
Feisal Abdul Rauf greets worshippers Friday in Bahrain, but locals are angry his travel schedule is secretive.
“Why must he be so secretive? It makes me think that his visit is just for show, which makes me angry.”
After a brief public appearance on Friday in which Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf preached about finding a way to “Americanize” Islam, he and his entourage have been under lock and key, with a tightly guarded itinerary that has locals scratching their heads.
“I think it is perfectly fine that he is here. I’d love to hear his point of view, but no one can tell me when or where I can see him,” said Sanan Faisal, 31.
“There’s no justification for hiding. Imam Rauf coming here, then hiding, does not help us come closer to Americans. In fact, it does the opposite.”
The Post visited several mosques in Manama yesterday where local imams said they had no idea that Rauf was even visiting, let alone where he was speaking.
Despite the fact that the $16,000 trip was covered by taxpayers, the department, which organized the trip, repeatedly refused to disclose the details of the two-week excursion to Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
Rauf said he’d seek funds from overseas to finance the $100 million project. But a mosque spokesman refused last week to say whether they’d reject money from the Holocaust-denying and nuclear-weapons-seeking Iranian government.
Department spokesman Darby Holladay would only repeatedly say that Rauf, “has been advised not to engage in fund-raising activity” during his jaunt.
Holladay also wouldn’t say whether a representative from the department would be monitoring Rauf’s activities.
“I have no information regarding his travelling party,” he said. Â More from New York Post
