Taxpayers should not be funding terrorists(The Messenger, Fort Dodge, IA, February 14, 2008)A very, very disturbing indictment was handed down by a federal grand jury in Missouri recently. It should prompt Americans to wonder just where to begin in battling against our most vicious enemies. Right here at home seems to be a distinct possibility.
The 42-count indictment involves allegations that an Islamic “relief agency” was aiding and abetting a terrorist — with help from taxpayers’ money and a former U.S. congressman. Activities by the Islamic American Relief Agency, which closed in 2004 after being identified as an international terrorist organization, are at the heart of the indictment. It alleges that the IARA assisted Islamic terrorist Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who allegedly participated in and supported terrorist actions by al-Qaida.
One of those indicted is former Rep. Mark D. Siljander, a Republican who was elected three times to represent Michigan in Congress. After being defeated in a 1986 re-election bid, he served for about a year as an alternate U.S. delegate to the United Nations. According to the indictment, Siljander was hired in 2004 to assist the IARA in a futile attempt to convince the U.S. Senate Finance Committee to remove the organization from a list of groups suspected to have been supporting international terrorists. Siljander was paid at least $50,000 for his work. The indictment accuses him of money laundering, conspiracy and obstruction of justice.
Alleged involvement of a former congressman with an organization that supported terrorism is bad enough. But it gets worse: According to the indictment,
the money for Siljander somehow was stolen from the U.S. Agency for International Development. It's a good thing we have Republicans to protect us from the Islamofascists!