State Department lists 29 projects under ‘cultural preservation’

Posted: August 30, 2010 By Aaron Klein © 2010 WorldNetDaily

The State Department is funding the construction of mosques around the world as part of the U.S. government’s outreach programs to Muslims.

Six million dollars in taxpayer funds will be used this year to restore dozens of Islamic cultural sites and mosques around the world as part of State’s Ambassador Fund for Cultural Preservation.

The State Department website documents some 29 of those projects, including:

Funds for the preservation and restoration in Afghanistan of the 17th century Mullah Mahmud Mosque, which the site calls a “rare surviving example of late Mughal vernacular architecture”

Funds to support the restoration of the Kurshum Mosque in Silistra, Bulgaria

Funds to support the restoration of the bazaar area at the entrance of the Wazir Khan Mosque in Pakistan

Funds to support the preservation of the remaining fragments of a mosque in Mali built in 1324 by Emperor Kankou Moussa following his pilgrimage to Mecca

Funds to support the documentation of the site and architectural fragments of the Aladza Mosque in Bosnia

Funds for the restoration of the Amiriya Madrasa in Yemen – completed in 1504, the Madrasa is described as “one of the most important Islamic monuments in Yemen.”
The U.S. government also helps to fund the restoration of Christian and Budhist sites.
The information comes as the State Department has taken heat for sponsoring four Middle East tours for the controversial Islamic leader behind the plan to build a 13-story, $100 million Muslim cultural center and mosque two blocks from Ground Zero.

The department sponsored Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf’s visit to Qatar, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates as part of stated Muslim outreach efforts.

One group, the American Center for Law and Justice, announced it will file a protest letter with the State Department demanding the government halt its sponsorship of Rauf’s Mideast trip.