Bonior defends Arabs in wake of report calling metro Detroit a haven for terror groups

Macomb Daily ^ | 10/23/01 | Chad Selweski

[veronica]

Bonior defends Arabs in wake of report calling metro Detroit a haven for terror groups

By: Chad Selweski, Macomb Daily Staff Writer October 23, 2001

Calling it "character assassination," U.S. Rep. David Bonior said Monday that he hopes to question FBI officials about a report suggesting that the Detroit area Arab community is a U.S. stronghold for 28 international terrorist groups.

Bonior, a Mount Clemens Democrat with strong ties to the Arab community, said a report revealed by Newsweek magazine relies on FBI information that may be questionable.

"I'm often skeptical of the FBI pointing fingers. They have a history of doing this and not being correct," Bonior said. "This insinuation, this kind of character assassination of a community, is the kind of thing that went on during the McCarthy era."

Relying on a Michigan State Police document, Newsweek reported that police consider the Detroit and Dearborn area a major financial support center for Middle Eastern terrorist groups. Metro Detroit represents a lucrative recruiting area and a potential support base for terrorist groups, the state police report said.

Relying on information supplied by the Detroit FBI office, the state police report was prepared in an attempt to gain more federal funding for anti-terrorism efforts in Michigan.

Bonior said he hopes to team up with some other members of the Michigan congressional delegation to question the information supplied by the FBI. He said he and other lawmakers were never told that the FBI has made the assertion that metropolitan Detroit is a terrorism stronghold.

"We certainly want to stop terrorism. But I want to see some hard evidence," said Bonior, the No. 2-ranking House Democrat as the Minority Whip. "It's irresponsible to suggest that this is a nest (of terrorism). The problem is that sometimes the FBI won't reveal information.

"I have serious misgivings about this whole approach."

FBI officials at the Detroit office could not be reached for comment. The FBI also did not offer comments to Newsweek. The state police told the magazine that the report outlining the need for more federal funds was "not intended for public distribution." <

The Detroit area has the world's largest Arab population outside of the Middle East. According to the FBI information supplied to the state police, some 28 terrorist organizations have sympathizers in the Detroit area, including Hezbollah, Hamas and Osama bin Laden's terrorist network, Al Qaida.

Bonior commented on the report Monday following an appearance at the Mount Clemens Public Library to talk about his new book, "Walking to Mackinac." The congressman said the House is ready to get back to work this week and he denounced critics who said the House was wrong to shut down while offices in the Capitol Hill complex were screened for anthrax contamination.

"There are tens of thousands who work there. We have young people -- interns, pages. We have thousands of people who visit every day," he said. "We did the responsible thing." ©The Macomb Daily 2001

[veronica]

Heads up.

[Congolese]

Doesn't "Freak Night" occur every October 30th in Detroit - basically an arson free-for all? Who's behind it?

[KLT]

Well, no wonder they didn't blow up Michigan!!!!!

[kingh99]

We are all the walking dead. Simple put, our political system is too beholden to special interests to adequately protect the people.

[apackof2]

Bonior, a Mount Clemens Democrat with strong ties to the Arab community,

A perfect emmissary to send to "negotiate" with the Arab community of Taliban

One way ticket of coarse

[There's millions of'em]

LOL... looks like it didn't take long to "smoke out" a few more and get them on the run. These terrorcrats are just unbelievable.

[Bekki4Bush]

Boniar wants to be gov. I live in Ohio: about 20 miles from a city depressed and losing jobs daily. Suddenly we have a "Detroit connection" and lots of drug trade. Most busts appearing in news around here......the perp has a Detroit "last known address." Detroit can keep their terrorists and drug dealers. I say we start patrolling the Michigan/Ohio border.

Oh, and I hate the Wolverines!

[Magician]

Wayne county (mainly Detroit plus Dearborn) has unique population statistics:

African Americans - 1,000,000.
Arab Americans - 100,000.
Others - 0

/sarcasm

More seriously, the Detroit area has the largest Arab population in the country, about 100,000. It undoubtedly is the most fertile ground in the U.S. for raising money for Arab organizations as well. A certain percentage of that money goes directly or indirectly to the several Palestinian based terrorist groups, mainly Hamas and the "armed wings" of the PLO.

[rebdov]

Character assasination? I can understand the assasination part, but character? Is Bonior on the Al-Qeda payroll? We should have sanity tests before someone can run for office.

[blackdog]

Once again, I say....Any ethnic or religious group/s who immigrate to the USA (since the 1700's) must police their own in a viscious purposeful way. It is not good public relations for ethnic groups to be behaving badly, and such group's American citizens not to rip them a new back-side.

If this means ratting out lowlife, cutting off all charity, cesation of sending money home, telling the feds who to tap/monitor, you must do it folks. That is why the immigration story of the 1800/1900's are what made America. People with a concience and a work ethic saught the rewards and freedoms that those qualities offer an American citizen.

Now immigration is a joke, filled with selfish, lawless thugs bent on using the system that made us great to kill us as a society. I say deport everyone who's arrived since 92' and make them re-apply for entry. That is unless they call on their friends to stop the crap today.

[The Energizer]

Bonior has taken campaign contributions from these groups. That's why he's defending them.

[Moosilauke]

Bonior complaining about "character assassination", that's a good one! It's a subject he should be expert in, just ask Newt.

[Magician]

RE: Freak Night or Devil's Night in Detroit.

An old and honorable tradition participated in by yours truly when a teen ager 50 years ago, mainly by soaping car windows.

In more recent years, the tremendous number of guns and of abandoned buildings in Detroit opened new possibilites. Now the place gets shot up on Devil's Night and the abandonned building not yet burned down all get torched, usually more than 100. It's probably great fun for the participants, but not for the home owners whose houses get set on fire when the abandoned house next door is torched.

[steenkeenbadges]

"Bonior has taken campaign contributions from these groups. That's why he's defending them. "

Sounds like Algore taking DNC contributions from the airlines to hush up the security concerns - with disastrous consequences. I think it may be too late for the ol' USofA. We let too many America-haters into our beautiful country, and now they're buying scruples-free politicians who don't seem to care that we may end up in bloody domestic warfare in the streets between Muslims and us.

[Azzurri]

Bonior is an idiot. Unfortunately, he is my US representative. Our district (Macomb County) is 99% white so his pandering to the Arabs in Wayne County indicates a run for governor. He is being squeezed out of his district by the Republicans and sees the handwriting on the wall. The FBI labeled Detroit #3 on the terrorist hit targets (after NY and DC, I believe) for good reason. With the Canadian border and the number of Arabs in the area it makes an inviting staging point to terrorists.

[Cachelot]

I can understand the assasination part, but character?

As in "unsavoury character". A person to be treated with the utmost suspicion and rubber gloves.

[115thINTC]

You know that was a topic of conversation we had just the other night. Nobody looks out for the polity, just their pocketbook. Unless you can buy or lease a congress critter you're on your own.

[gaspar]

Michigan will lose a seat in the House of Representatives and Bonior is the odd-man-out. Being a professional politician, he is planning to run for Governor and hopes to get every Muslim vote he can scrape up -- and damn the consequences.

[ProudFossil]

He also has voted against both anti-terrorism bills, the first one which Ashcroft wanted and the one today which attempts to "...deter and punish..." terrorists in the US and abroad. Wonder why he is going against his precious political party on such matters?

[praise]

I heard on channel 7 news in Detroit the Arab population is 250,000 in the Detroit area.

WOLVERINESGOWOLVERINESGOWOLVERINESWOLVERINESGOWOLVERINESGOWOLVERINESWOLVERINESGOWOLVERINESGOWOLVERINESWOLVERINESGOWOLVERINESGOWOLVERINESWOLVERINESGOWOLVERINESGOWOLVERINESWOLVERINESGOWOLVERINESGOWOLVERINESWOLVERINESGOWOLVERINESGOWOLVERINESWOLVERINESGOWOLVERINESGOWOLVERINESWOLVERINESGOWOLVERINESGOWOLVERINESWOLVERINESGOWOLVERINESGOWOLVERINESWOLVERINESGOWOLVERINESGOWOLVERINESWOLVERINESGOWOLVERINESGOWOLVERINESWOLVERINESGOWOLVERINESGOWOLVERINESWOLVERINESGOWOLVERINESGOWOLVERINESGO

[Gimme]

"Oh, and I hate the Wolverines!"

Hey now... GO BLUE =) (I wont vote for Bonior when he runs for Govenor because he's a windbag)

[praise]

I heard on channel 7 news in Detroit the Arab population is 250,000 in the Detroit area.

WOLVERINESGOWOLVERINESGOWOLVERINESWOLVERINESGOWOLVERINES
WOLVERINESGOWOLVERINESGOWOLVERINESWOLVERINESGOWOLVERINES
WOLVERINESGOWOLVERINESGOWOLVERINESWOLVERINESGOWOLVERINES
WOLVERINESGOWOLVERINESGOWOLVERINESWOLVERINESGOWOLVERINES
WOLVERINESGOWOLVERINESGOWOLVERINESWOLVERINESGOWOLVERINES
WOLVERINESGOWOLVERINESGOWOLVERINESWOLVERINESGOWOLVERINES
WOLVERINESGOWOLVERINESGOWOLVERINESWOLVERINESGOWOLVERINES
MUCH BETTER

[Gimme]

"Doesn't "Freak Night" occur every October 30th in Detroit - basically an arson free-for all? Who's behind it?"

The would be "devils night" and the people behind it would be the inner city youths mostly. They have made a lot of progress over time and have neighborhood watch patrols and curfews so their are fewer fires.

[praise]

I heard that Ohio State's Head Football Coach was only dressing twenty     players for the upcoming battle against Michigan. He said the rest can dress     themselves.

[jackbill]

Bonier is a shameless pimp for votes. But then, aren't all DemocRATs?

[denydenydeny]

"I'm often skeptical of the FBI pointing fingers. They have a history of doing this and not being correct," Bonior said. "This insinuation, this kind of character assassination of a community, is the kind of thing that went on during the McCarthy era."

The insanity of identity politics has never been more clearly demonstrated. 6000 Americans were murdered by Muslim Arabs. Fingers are going to have to be pointed or we are all going to be dead. Deal with it, Bonior.

[JCG]

I heard on channel 7 news in Detroit the Arab population is 250,000 in the Detroit area.

Figger 25k up are potential killers then.  Least that's what Middle East expert Daniel Pipes says:

    Islamists constitute a small but significant minority of Muslims, perhaps 10 to 15 per cent of the
    population. Many of them are peaceable in appearance, but they all must be considered
    potential killers.

Article here...

 America's Fifth Column ... watch JIHAD! In America -- here

[MomwithHope]

Is that billboard in Michigan as your post suggests?? Where exactly??

[KLT]

Is that billboard in Michigan as your post suggests?? Where exactly??

Now, that would be an interesting sign if it really existed wouldn't it? No, Freepers redesign things, we are little devils...LOL

[Sueann]

"this kind of character assassination"

Excuse me?? This from the guy who was on the TV every night with character assassination statements about ANY CONSERVATIVE he didn't like! Appalling!!

[AMERIKA]

I wonder who opens Bonior's mail for him? LOL!

[Bekki4Bush]

Ann Arbor was a whore............LOL>

[Skip Ripley]

Bonior is a joke. Talk to anyone with the slightest connections politically in the Detroit area and they will tell you that there have been fund raisers for Arab terrorists going on in Dearborn for years.

It is also no secret that INS and the FBI are now taking a very special interest in cleaning the area up.

Bonior KNOWS better than to make this type of ludicrous statements.

[timestax]

This Bonior MUST be voted out of office !!

[timestax]

CLEAN OUT DETROIT!!

[Magician]

re: Ohio state

LOL

[sruleoflaw]

Some folks in Michigan need to use the writings of Steve Emerson and Daniel Pipes to make Rep. Bonier look like an absolute suck-up fool.

[timestax]

Bonior sucks!!

[timestax]

Bonior sucks!!

[timestax]

He needs to be kicked out of office, then tarred and feathered, for real!!

[freekitty]

Be glad to accomodate.

[timestax]

BTTT

[timestax]

bump to the top!!

[timestax]

bttt

[timestax]

BTTT

[timestax]

bump to the top!!

[timestax]

bump to the top for the newbies coming on board!!

[timestax]

bttt