Free Republic

A congressional committee has included a local Islamic charity in a new round of inquiries into suspected ties between not-for-profit groups and terrorists. The U.S. Senate Finance Committee has requested the financial records of 25 Islamic charities, including the Columbia-based Islamic American Relief Agency, or IARA. In particular, the request included donor lists that are reported to the IRS but protected under a privacy statute. The request comes two years after FBI, Department of the Treasury and other federal agency investigations into charities suspected of having ties to international terrorists. Since 2001, the United States has frozen more than $136...

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CAIR FILES FOIA REQUEST ON SECRET WIRETAPS Request seeks legal basis for President Bush’s orders, list of those targeted A prominent national Islamic civil rights and advocacy group today announced the filing of a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for all government records relating to President Bush’s post-9/11 executive orders authorizing electronic surveillance of Americans and others in the United States without first obtaining court approval, as required by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). Media reports indicate that in some cases, the secret surveillance program intercepted...

WASHINGTON – House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi of California has called for an end to racial and religious profiling of Muslims in a meeting with a group tied to Hamas and Saudi Arabian purse strings. "We appreciate the opportunity to interact with national leaders and to share the Muslim community's concerns on issues of mutual concern," said Arsalan Iftikhar, legal director of the Council on American Islamic Relations, who joined Pelosi and other prominent Democratic members of Congress. Other national Muslim groups represented at the meeting included the Islamic Society of North America, Indian Muslim Council, Muslim Public Affairs Council,...