Posted on 09/18/2006 11:35:20 AM PDT by areafiftyone
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.
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.
hahah! Too funny.
should be a 1 way trip to Club Gitmo for all guilty involved.
Man, I bet Katie Couric is going to LEAD with this.
Now we need the FBI to raid all the mosques in America. Every one of them.
You're welcome to consider this sad. I consider 3,000 dead Americans on 9/11/01 to be sadder.
Yup...read my sig line...sums it up nicely...
My Christian, Middle-Eastern friends know EXACTLY which stores/restaurants are run by Muslims. They won't shop in them. They say that the Muslims stores send $$$$ back to the Middle East to help terrorists. Really helps alot if you can speak Arabic, though. So I won't shop in them either.
Childish argument in my opinion. I'm glad it's a free country for me to shop where I want and you shop where you want.
YIKES! And to think I got lectured for running with scissors.
You're welcome!
Islamic Charity=Money for Terrorism. That's how mohammad set it up!
Thanks Dave!
They gotta get a few things done right,it being an election year and all.....
"civil rights officer", my experience has been that most if not all of them promote the civil rights of some by taking away the civil rights of others. Hence my name, 2nd class citizen. Do not be surprised by the company civil rights officers keep. They are not promoting equality.
thanks for the news, areafiftyone. I did a search, and evidently the MSM is ignoring this one:
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=24490
http://wizbangblog.com/2006/09/18/fbi-raids-us-muslim-charity.php
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/09/18/america/NA_GEN_US_Muslim_Charity_Raided.php
and the latest, from the Detroit Free Press:
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060919/NEWS99/60919034
Muslim charity stays open after raid
September 19, 2006
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By Niraj Warikoo
Free Press Staff Writer
An official with a Muslim charity based in Southfield that was raided this week said Tuesday that the group is still open and accepting donations.
Mohammed Alomari, an official with Life for Relief and Development, said that the charity is continuing to operate.
The charity was raided Monday morning by federal agents with the FBI and IRS who are part of the Joint Terrorist Task Force. The raid was based on sealed search warrants, but an attorney with the charity has said that the raid might be related to activity the charity did inside Iraq before the war started in 2003.
Alomari and other Life officials were at the Southfield offices on Tuesday. The charity plans to hold a press conference on Thursday, said Dawud Walid, head of the Michigan branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
In a statement released Tuesday, Life officials said that the raid came as a total shock and surprise to the staff and officers of the charity. They said that Life has been open about its work and places a high priority on transparency and adherence to all appropriate legal guidelines.
According to charity officials, Life has distributed more than $50 million since it was founded in 1992, mainly to Muslim regions around the world.
Contact Niraj Warikoo at nwarikoo@freepress.com.
I heard about this connection after 9-11 and put it together because I noticed that for years, every time I bought a sunday paper from a convenience store ( like 7-11), with Islamic owners, the coupons were missing.
I heard a story on the news that millions in coupon fraud were funnelled from USA, to Afghanistan to fund the Taliban in the name of the Red Crescent charity.
Traditional literature in a liberal democracy. Too bad the muzzies aren't aware of how obnoxiously self-righteous they are.
No need, using an ea in pieces was funny enough. Not exactly the Red Cross.
Pray for W and Our Freedom Fighters
I overjoyed that the FBI raided this front for terror. The fundamental purpose of Islam is to force conversion or tax. The process by which they accomplish either is through violence. So, to raise money in the name of Islam is to support terror. That's all there is to it.
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