Posted on 03/13/2006 7:29:32 AM PST by voletti
WASHINGTON: Two Muslim-American doctors involved in fundraising for charities that help Muslims and Palestinians have accused the US government of targeting Muslim charities after September 11.
The doctors claim that several Muslim charities have been closed down without any evidence of their involvement in any terrorist activity.
Laila al-Marayati and Basil Abdelkarim, who are on the board of a an Ohio-based charity ‘KinderAmerica’, writing in the Washigton Post on Sunday accused the US Treasury Department of “playing target practice” with American Muslim charities. They reported that Treasury agents last month seized the assets and froze operations of the charity ‘KindHearts’, acting on the “dubious” allegation that it was financing terrorism.
“There are folks here who look at you guys like notches on their belts ... just waiting to take the next one out,” an official told the charity.
They wrote that Muslims get mixed messages from the US government. While the government tells them that they can give to charities which function in a transparent manner, “it closes down legitimate Muslim charities using the weakest of evidence to support its actions”. This leads many American Muslims to believe that what is being opposed are efforts to help needy Muslims around the world, they said.
They write: “Moreover, the arbitrary freezing of assets ensures that the money will never reach the destination intended by the donors, the truly indigent. The government has consistently denied requests to have the frozen funds released to reputable organisations – that are not on any lists – doing similar work so that the donors’ intentions are honoured. Under the USA Patriot Act, the US government is authorised to close down a charity while an investigation is going on. The government is under no obligation to reveal the evidence used to justify the seizure of assets and the designation of the charity as a ‘specially designated national’, ... The organisation can file an appeal, but ... appealing Treasury actions to the federal courts is relatively useless, as the court’s scope of review is very limited.”
Al-Marayati and Abdelkarim recall that since 9/11, six American Muslim charities have been shuttered in this fashion. The government still doesn’t have a single terrorism conviction against any of the employees or board members of any of those charities. Similarly, the government has never been able to document a bona fide trail showing how money from the charity got into the hands of actual terrorists.
“We believe that it is possible to provide sustenance to people in need without supporting terrorism. But the message we are hearing is this: ‘All Muslims are suspected of supporting terrorism. Your charities are guilty of this crime until proven innocent. But don’t bother trying to prove your innocence because you won’t have the chance.’ The government has not taken action against a single non-Muslim charity that works in the same region helping to feed, educate and sustain people who had also received assistance from the Muslim charities accused of financing terrorism.”
The two doctors wrote that it is their right as American citizens to fulfill their religious obligation to help the needy both in the US and abroad. They say that they started a new charity in 2002 and have experienced what they call “our fair share of government harassment as a result”.
They write that their “crime” lies in the fact that they care about what happens to the children of Palestine. They point out that under former attorney general John Ashcroft, American Muslim charities were closed as part of “the charade to make the American people believe that the government was disrupting terrorist financing”. Today, under Alberto Gonzales, the message is that Muslim Americans will be punished if they want to help Palestinians, they wrote. “Either way, the assault on our charities is not about the safety and security of the American people but about politics.”
Why can't they raise money in their own countries?
"the assault on our charities is not about the safety and security of the American people but about politics.”
Right. You guys declare your holy sites off-limits, and then store rockets and mortars in them. Go pound sand.
Should be interesting to see who suddenly agrees with this so called racism.
You want to help children in Palestine?
Then get rid of your Jihadists and Jew murdering trash.
If we haven't done so four years after 9/11, its about time we did.
GOOD!
US govt said to target Muslims
Need to close down the State Department as well.
Well put!
What are they expecting? More Status Quo?
What? Life to be easier from now on?
Everyone's had it with: "We are the peaceful murdering Muslims"..."we demand our rights".
Too bad they're not raising money to take control of the ports.
"All Praise be to allah, the greatest deceiver of them all !" - BAGDAD BOB during the invasion of Iraq.
Here's one Islamic "charity" that got shut down in my folk's hometown in
flyover country:
http://www.discoverthenetwork.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=6408
One of the affiliates of the group provided a satellite phone for OBL's team
that bombed the US embassies in Africa.
My folks got to watch the home of the leader of the group get raided about
2 years ago.
The guy, his family and discussion about the charity have simply evaporated.
I think it's verbotten to discuss it in the local press of a politically-correct
university town.
As a charity they must be open to audits and investigations of all kinds. These are done in the background. The donors would not know of these checks; only the charity. So there should be no problems unless there are questionable dealings going on. Maybe to donors have something to hide too. Like they are illegal aliens. The charity must allow the government to see where the money is going. If the whine is getting louder one must be getting closer to the engine!
good!
Let's fix that headline. How about Muslims target US
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