Marathon Pundit: Bridgeview Mosque expansion

The reputed hot bed of radical Islam in the Chicago area, the Mosque Foundation of Chicago, better known as the Bridgeview Mosque, is expanding.

On a last minute lark, I decided to drop by with my while the Marathon Pundit family was en route to my mom's house for a Mother's Day celebration.

As you can see by the photograph, there's construction going on, it looks like the mosque is doubling its size. Note the tractor, it's an Hitachi, not a Caterpillar. The membership of the Bridgeview Mosque is mostly Palestinian, and we know many of them don't like Caterpillar. As for Caterpillar, you mostly see their bulldozers and tractors at construction sites in Illinois; "Cat" is one of the largest private employers in the state.

I got a lot of evil eyes as I took my photographs. Hey, I'm on a public street, I can do pretty much what I want, including taking pictures.

Here is an excerpt from a 2004 Chicago Tribune expose (reprinted by the Orlando Sentinel) on the mosque:

Among the leaders at the Bridgeview mosque are men who have condemned Western culture, praised Palestinian suicide bombers and encouraged members to view society in stark terms: Muslims against the world. Federal authorities for years have investigated some mosque officials for possible links to terrorism financing, but no criminal charges have been filed.

Mosque leaders deny encouraging militancy and have denounced terrorism, including the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. They shun the fundamentalist label, saying they follow the true form of Islam and others do not. They point out that an elected board sets mosque policy; if the worshipers wanted a more liberal mosque, they would vote for one.

"It's an election, a democratic process," mosque President Oussama Jammal said.

The mosque now attracts thousands of worshipers--most of them Palestinian-Americans--by offering pro-Palestinian sermons, a spiritual refuge and a strict version of Islam. The ultraconservative Saudi Arabian government partially pays the salary of prayer leader Sheik Jamal.