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| Fifth Column |
| Ex-Lawmaker Charged in Terror Conspiracy |
| 2008-01-16 |
| A former congressman and delegate to the United Nations was indicted Wednesday as part of a terrorist fundraising ring that allegedly sent more than $130,000 to an al-Qaida and Taliban supporter who has threatened U.S. and international troops in Afghanistan. The former Republican congressman from Michigan, Mark Deli Siljander, was charged with money laundering, conspiracy and obstructing justice for allegedly lying about lobbying senators on behalf of an Islamic charity that authorities said was secretly sending funds to terrorists. Note which comes first, the name or the party affiliation. A 42-count indictment, unsealed in U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Mo., accuses the Islamic American Relief Agency of paying Siljander $50,000 for the lobbying—money that turned out to be stolen from the U.S. Agency for International Development. Siljander, who served two terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, was appointed by President Reagan to serve as a U.S. delegate to the United Nations for one year in 1987. The indictment charges IARA with sending approximately $130,000 to help Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, whom the United States has designated as a global terrorist. The money, sent to bank accounts in Peshawar, Pakistan in 2003 and 2004, was masked as donations to an orphanage located in buildings that Hekmatyar owned. Authorities described Hekmatyar as an Afghan mujahedeen leader who has participated in and supported terrorist acts by al-Qaida and the Taliban. The Justice Department said Hekmatyar "has vowed to engage in a holy war against the United States and international troops in Afghanistan." The charges "paints a troubling picture of an American charity organization that engaged in transactions for the benefit of terrorists and conspired with a former United States congressman to convert stolen federal funds into payments for his advocacy," said Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Wainstein. It paints a troubling picture of second generation American Muslims. I'll definitely remember that when I see the name Mubarrak Hussein Obama on a ballot. Authorities described Hekmatyar as an Afghan mujahedeen leader who has participated in and supported terrorist acts by al-Qaida and the Taliban. The Justice Department said Hekmatyar "has vowed to engage in a holy war against the United States and international troops in Afghanistan." |
| Posted by:Nimble Spemble |
#1 I checked to see why Nimble said "second generation." From Wikipedia:Siljander takes an interest in conflict resolution, particularly in the Islamic world, and in recent years has tried to publicize the common ground between Christianity and Islam, particularly in the portrayal of Jesus in the Qur'an. This is a turnaround from a previous position in which he objected to the Qur'an being read at a prayer breakfast, asking the emcee: "How can you read the book of the devil at a prayer breakfast?"[3] He described himself as "trained as an evangelical Christian; I was a poster boy for Jerry Falwell." |
| Posted by: James 2008-01-16 18:29 |