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BREAKING: Largest U.S. Islamic Charity Raided by FBI!
Debbie Schlussel ^ | 9/18/06 | Debbie Schlussel

Posted on 09/18/2006 11:35:20 AM PDT by areafiftyone

September 18, 2006

BREAKING: Largest U.S. Islamic Charity Raided by FBI

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By Debbie Schlussel

I've been writing about LIFE for Relief and Development for years, and I think my columns (especially this one), have finally made a difference. Ditto for my complaints about LIFE to Assistant U.S. Attorney for counterterrorism, Ken Chadwell.

Less than half an hour ago, the FBI began raiding LIFE and hauling out documents. Well, it's about time. LIFE--the largest Islamic charity still open for business in America--openly admitted on its 1995-'97 taxes to be a major funder of HAMAS. Headquartered in the Orthodox Jewish suburban Detroit subdivision in which I grew up, it gave millions to Human Appeal International, which the FBI identified as HAMAS' Jordanian operation. It has done many vague "Katrina," "Lebanon Relief," and "Afghanistan Wheelchair" fundraisers and believed to have laundered the money to terrorists.

Then, there are its multiple fundraisers over the last couple of years "for more Fallujahs" according to sources at a secret 2004 Los Angeles area fundraiser held by LIFE. LIFE is believed to be a major funder of the insurgent terrorists in Iraq. That's why, in 2004, the U.S. Army raided its Iraqi headquarters, frequently operated by its spokesman and operative Mohammed Alomari (more on him below).

The disturbing thing is that for years, the feds--including Homeland Security civil rights officer Daniel Sutherland, U.S. Attorney Stephen Murphy III, and his predecessor Jeffrey Collins--have feted this charity, all while it was apparently funding Islamic terrorists.

murphyhamadjassem3.jpg
U.S. Attorney Stephen Murphy with Terrorist Charity Officials Khalil Jassem (left), Ihsan Al-Khatib (far right) & "Former" Terrorist Imad Hamad (Murphy's left)

collinsliferd.jpg
Then-US Attorney Jeffrey Collins (center) w/LIFE Officials Muthanna Al-Hanooti, Imad Hamad, unidentified person, and Mohammed Alomari

My columns on LIFE certainly made a difference with its top officers. Mohammed Alomari--LIFE's spokesman and the author of an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory book and an article complaining that there are Jews in the Bush Administration--has been harassing me ever since I started writing about him and LIFE, including this page on his website. He also has repeatedly tried to alter the already inaccurate entry on me on Wikipedia.

LIFE's in-house general counsel, Ihsan Alkhatib, wrote a column in the Arab American News calling me a "verbal terrorist," whatever that means. Alkhatib is also the President and general counsel for the Midwest Regional ADC (American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee), headed by former PFLP terrorist Imad Hamad--who also has close ties to LIFE. Senator Carl Levin, Alomari, and LIFE credited Hamad with getting LIFE USAID tax-funded status to administer our tax money in Iraq.

In 2002, LIFE led the Saddam Hussein propaganda trip that U.S. Democratic Congressmen David Bonior, Jim McDermott, and Mike Thompson, which was also funded by Iraqi oil-for-food scam artist Shakir Alkhafaji--who is living, free, in the Detroit suburb of West Bloomfield, despite $70 in earnings he obtained from doing business with Saddam.

From my 2003 column on LIFE, Imad Hamad lost a scheduled FBI award from Director Robert Mueller, because he was under investigation for terrorism:

One of those investigations apparently involves Hamad's close ties to Muthanna Al-Hanooti, Mohammed Alomari, and their charities, LIFE for Relief and Development and FAAIR (Focus on Arab American Issues and Reform). Hidden in an Orthodox Jewish neighborhood in Southfield, Michigan, LIFE is believed to fund Hamas via contributions to Hamas front groups identified in 2001 by FBI Assistant Director for Counterterrorism and Counterintelligence, Dale Watson.

One such front, Human Appeal International, believed by the FBI to be Hamas' Jordanian operation, was listed in LIFE tax returns as one of three supported organizations receiving millions in contributions. Human Appeal and another organization LIFE works with, Human Relief Foundation, are listed as participants in the "101 days campaign" website of Sheikh Youssef Al-Qaradawi, spiritual leader of terrorist group Muslim Brotherhood. The site is believed to raise money for homicide bombings Al-Qaradawi supports.

Alomari's book, "The Secrecy of Evil", and other writings allege Jewish control of the world and the Bush administration. His Daru Salam mosque radio website claimed Jews and the U.S. "organized" the 9/11 attacks. A 1996 LIFE fundraiser, arranged by Hanooti, featured speaker Sheik Abdulmunem Abu Zant, an ardent Hamas supporter, who said, "May G-d attack the Jews and those who stand with them. May G-d attack the Americans and those who stand with them." Hanooti appeared with indicted Islamic Jihad frontman Sami Al-Arian at a recent American Muslim Council lobbying seminar. LIFE's original registered agent (under its previous name, International Relief Association), Masood Aijazi, worked for Khalid bin Mahfouz, the financier of Mawafaq Foundation, designated a terrorist charity by the U.S. government.

Hamad's relationship with these parties is long-term and tight. A 1999 press release by Hamad's American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee credits Hamad with getting Senator Carl Levin, then-Senator Spencer Abraham, and David Bonior to grant LIFE a license to send millions to Iraq. "We have a special relationship with ADC here in Detroit." Hanooti said. "This is another example of the value of cooperation between our organizations . . . to advance our common agenda." In May 2003, Hamad visited terrorist-sponsor Syria and Lebanon with Hanooti and Alomari. Given all of this, a recent FAAIR newsletter photo of Collins (below) smilingly posing between Al-Hanooti, Hamad, and Alomari, at a FAAIR event, is disturbing. It is bad enough that a U.S. Attorney would associate with known anti- Semites. Worse, if Collins' office ever indicts them, it could be embarrassing.

Apparently, I'm not such a verbal terrorist at all, because the FBI finally took my investigative work on LIFE seriously. Again, they're raiding the charity as I write.

We'll see what they do with it after that. Given the incompetence of U.S. Attorney Stephen Murphy III--who has let other Islamic terror raidees flee the country before he indicts them--I'm not holding my breath.



TOPICS: Breaking News; US: Michigan; War on Terror
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To: Grampa Dave; Cindy
Remember this one?

JULY 30, 2003 : (SUSAN LINDHAUER HAS PHONE CONVERSATION WITH MUTHANNA AL-HANOOTI, PRESIDENT OF THE SOUTHFIELD MICHIGAN GROUP 'FOCUS ON AMERICAN AND ARAB INTERESTS AND RELATIONS' aka FAAIR; See also TERROR CHARITIES, LIFE FOR RELIEF AND DEVELOPMENT, HAMAS ) To demonstrate her commitment to nonviolence, Lindauer also shared with me portions of the evidentiary material contained on a stack of compact disks turned over to her by the government.
The evidence against her, which includes wiretapped conversations with friends, neighbors, foreign diplomats and fellow activists, is currently in the hands of her new court-appointed attorney, who was not representing Lindauer at the time I spoke to her. Among the documents Lindauer showed me was a transcript of a telephone conversation with Muthanna al-Hanooti, the president of Focus on American and Arab Interests and Relations, a nonprofit organization in Southfield, Mich., dated July 30, 2003, two days before the Arab-American activist made one of his frequent trips to Iraq.
During the call, Lindauer praised al-Hanooti for being a ''man who believes in peace'' and exhorted him to ''stay with God -- just stay with God.'' As the conversation continued, al-Hanooti seemed to hover between impatience and boredom. ''Other people are doing bad things, and they may try to use you as cover for bad things,'' Lindauer said. ''So don't let them.'' ''It's a very delicate balance, as you know,'' al-Hanooti replied. ''But, ah, we'll do our best, you know. We'll do our best.''
------------Source: "Susan Lindauer's Mission to Baghdad," ["spy" story -- long, strange], by DAVID SAMUELS, New York Times Magazine, August 29, 2004 Posted on 08/29/2004 12:38:16 PM PDT by 68skylark

81 posted on 09/18/2006 12:49:38 PM PDT by piasa (Attitude Adjustments Offered Here Free of Charge)
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To: All
Here's an expression of Islam I can accept:


82 posted on 09/18/2006 12:51:06 PM PDT by Fitzcarraldo
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To: eyespysomething

That's the patron saint of exploding houses.


83 posted on 09/18/2006 12:51:32 PM PDT by cripplecreek (If stupidity got us into this mess, then why can't it get us out?)
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To: cripplecreek

She's multi-purpose.


84 posted on 09/18/2006 12:52:08 PM PDT by eyespysomething (http://crumbsandfun.blogspot.com/2006/09/ana-centeno-tribute.html)
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To: areafiftyone

You GO girl!
Sounds like you were a "key' element in getting the FBI to move on this.


85 posted on 09/18/2006 12:52:13 PM PDT by Panzerlied ("We shall never surrender!")
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To: wagglebee
For some reason I thought that this was the largest Islamic charity in the United States:

I would bet it is our own US Congress.
86 posted on 09/18/2006 12:52:36 PM PDT by TomGuy
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To: Fitzcarraldo
Why can't Allah be pleased with living a simple life such as this, free of the hazards and temptations of modern technology?


87 posted on 09/18/2006 12:52:47 PM PDT by Fitzcarraldo
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To: Bronzewound

This better?

88 posted on 09/18/2006 12:52:58 PM PDT by conservativecorner
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To: Lancey Howard; Grampa Dave; Cindy; Howlin
* LIFE for RELIEF AND DEVELOPMENT aka INTERNATIONAL RELIEF ASSOCIATION : LIFE's original registered agent (under its previous name, International Relief Association), Masood Aijazi, worked for Khalid bin Mahfouz, the financier of Mawafaq Foundation, designated a terrorist charity by the U.S. government.
[Imad] Hamad's relationship with these parties is long-term and tight. A 1999 press release by Hamad's American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee credits Hamad with getting Senator Carl Levin, then-Senator Spencer Abraham, and David Bonior to grant LIFE a license to send millions to Iraq. "We have a special relationship with ADC here in Detroit." Hanooti said. "This is another example of the value of cooperation between our organizations . . . to advance our common agenda."
In May 2003, Hamad visited terrorist-sponsor Syria and Lebanon with Hanooti and Alomari. Given all of this, a recent FAAIR newsletter photo of Collins (below) smilingly posing between Al-Hanooti, Hamad, and Alomari, at a FAAIR event, is disturbing. It is bad enough that a U.S. Attorney would associate with known anti- Semites. Worse, if Collins' office ever indicts them, it could be embarrassing.
...Collins, too, has been a Justice Department disappointment, with a mediocre record of terrorism convictions. Some of Collins' blunders were made under the tremendous influence of Hamad. After 9-11, federal agents visited temporary visa holders from Middle Eastern countries for surprise interviews. But in the Detroit area, Hamad convinced Collins to send out warning letters asking the men to voluntarily show up for interviews at his office. Only a third did. Others disappeared. "It's like telling terrorists and aliens: We're looking for you, go hide," said one Special Agent in Charge, at the time. More frightening, a USA Today article implies Collins and Hulon may have employed Hamad as a translator. Their relationship is a little too close for comfort. In May, while other awardees brought their significant others, Collins was Hamad's date to a Detroit News awards banquet.
---------FBI, Justice PC Buffoonery Continues October 15, 2003 Abridged NY Post version ----http://64.233.187.104/search?q=cache:fY3h0n_bnWMJ:www.debbieschlussel.com/columns/column101503.shtml+%22MUTHANNA+AL-HANOOTI%22&hl=en
89 posted on 09/18/2006 12:54:47 PM PDT by piasa (Attitude Adjustments Offered Here Free of Charge)
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To: AliVeritas


"Did Judith Miller lose the number, preventing her to call and warn them?"

Apparently, the NY Slimes was left out of the loop on this. So they couldn't print a front page warning the day before the raids.


90 posted on 09/18/2006 12:56:31 PM PDT by Grampa Dave (There's a dwindling market for Marxist Homosexual Lunatic lies/wet dreams posing as news.)
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To: wolfcreek
There will be riots in the Motor City. CAIR NEXT!

The only riots will be the rest of the Detroit area torching the muslim areas. People are finally getting fed up.

91 posted on 09/18/2006 12:56:31 PM PDT by Tokra (I think I'll retire to Bedlam.)
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To: areafiftyone

Fantastic! Here's another link: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1703683/posts


92 posted on 09/18/2006 12:57:42 PM PDT by Matchett-PI (To have no voice in the Party that always sides with America's enemies is a badge of honor.)
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To: piasa

Thanks. I didn't remember that little remembrance.


93 posted on 09/18/2006 12:59:48 PM PDT by Grampa Dave (There's a dwindling market for Marxist Homosexual Lunatic lies/wet dreams posing as news.)
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To: massgopguy

I notice in a lot of these rallies that the signs are in English...obviously because the rallies are staged for consumption by the English-speaking media. I find it interesting, however, that in some of the most poor and wretched places on Earth, so many people can write good, idiomatic English....


94 posted on 09/18/2006 1:00:24 PM PDT by letsgonova19087
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To: areafiftyone
In 2002, LIFE led the Saddam Hussein propaganda trip that U.S. Democratic Congressmen David Bonior, Jim McDermott, and Mike Thompson, which was also funded by Iraqi oil-for-food scam artist Shakir Alkhafaji.

And the dems complain about DeLay...
95 posted on 09/18/2006 1:01:00 PM PDT by Liberty Valance (Keep a simple manner for a happy life)
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To: areafiftyone

Hopefully, CAIR is on the FBI's list as well.


96 posted on 09/18/2006 1:03:21 PM PDT by Bloody Sam Roberts (Winning shows strength. Winning without fighting shows brilliance.)
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To: txflake

Freeze it? Hell, we should confiscate it. And then what would we do with it? Oh, the possibilities are endless...subsidize a synagouge, maybe put it into a "slush fund" and use the money to do covert things that Congress may not want to know about. Personally, I'd like to see it go to a fund to help families with soldiers fighting in the war. I'm not sure what kind of assets this "charity" has, but I'm looking online now. Methinks it could go a long way to helping our guys.


97 posted on 09/18/2006 1:03:59 PM PDT by letsgonova19087
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To: TomGuy
you are probably correct.....
:'(
98 posted on 09/18/2006 1:04:02 PM PDT by From One - Many (Trust the Old Media At Your Own Risk)
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To: areafiftyone
There are some other links at the lifeusa.org website under the credentials page, but this one listed under "Michigan" it particularly curious:

Life for Relief and Development is a 501(c)(3) non-government organization in consultative status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. Below you will find just some of the various documents issued by state, federal, and international authorities that have invested us with the legal authority to work as a globally recognized relief organization.

US Government Credentials

Michigan Department of Attorney General
License to solicit charitable contributions


99 posted on 09/18/2006 1:06:16 PM PDT by TomGuy
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To: TomGuy

Sounds like there are a lot of Muslims in this country donating to this so called 'charity'.

Now that is very scary!


100 posted on 09/18/2006 1:09:14 PM PDT by JulieRNR21 (Go Katherine "ALL your base are belong to us." Go here: http://www.ElectHarris.org)
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