Posted on 06/12/2002 7:42:31 AM PDT by mrsppmrxky
Senate Candidate Kirk has Links to Terrorism By MARC LEVIN
An Austin Review investigation has revealed that U.S. Senate candidate Ron Kirk is employing an anti-Israel activist who has defended terrorist groups and is friends with American Taliban John Walker Lindh. The Review has also learned that Kirk has received numerous campaign donations from individuals linked with terrorism and anti-Semitism, one of whom also violated U.S. export laws by shipping sensitive technology to Libya and Syria.
Kirk's recently filed campaign report shows payments to a Steven L. Hyland, Jr. of: $1133.22 for "payroll expense" and three separate payments totaling $638.30 for "postage and delivery." Hyland has a long history as an anti-Israel activist and apologist for terrorism.
The Review called Ron Kirk's campaign office and was connected to Hyland, who hung up on us after being asked to comment on his anti-Israeli activism and connection with Walker Lindh. The campaign's media office failed to return our call, so it is not clear what role Hyland is playing in the Kirk campaign, including his role in developing Kirk's Middle East policy.
Hyland, a former UT-Austin student in Middle Eastern Studies, wrote a June 23, 1995 op-ed piece in The Daily Texan attacking the Clinton administration for urging other nations to join a US embargo against Iran. Hyland declared, "The U.S. government labels Hizbollah and Islamic Jihad as terrorist organizations, but they are really freedom fighters defending their rights in Lebanon and Palestine." In another Daily Texan op-ed on July 14, 1995, Hyland stated, "to say a lot of Israeli actions and policies are Nazi-like is appropriate." In an August 24, 1995 Texan piece, he blamed Israel for terror bombings in West Jerusalem in Tel Aviv, which occurred while he was visiting Jordan for unknown reasons. Concerning these bombings, Hyland concluded, "Unfortunately, this tragic event highlights the vicious circle of killing that Israel created."
Two years later-on March 1, 1997-The Daily Texan published a letter-to-the-editor penned by Hyland in which he defended a UT campus protest by the militant Palestine Solidarity Committee. Hyland helped organize the protest, which blockaded the West Mall, obstructing students from passing through to get to their classes. Hyland's letter harangued a Jewish student who had defended Israel's right to exist, stating, "Avital, stop making an ass of yourself."
In May of 1997, Hyland signed an online petition, which described Israel as "a major link in the world network of repressive regimes" and characterized Zionism as a racist ideology. In the summer of 1998, at a time when the U.S. State Department had warned U.S. citizens not to visit Yemen because of anti-American violence (site of the later bombing of the USS Cole and an acknowledged al-Queda stronghold), Hyland felt comfortable traveling there, purportedly only to study and teach Arabic at the Yemen Language Center. There he became a friend and classmate of John Walker Lindh, the American Taliban.
Hyland was interviewed by Associated Press reporter Marge Mason concerning his relationship with Lindh and was quoted in several AP stories. Hyland's comments seem to conflict. In the January 16, 2002 AP story, Hyland was an apologist for Lindh:
"Steven Hyland met Lindh in 1998 while both studied abroad at the Yemen Language Center. Hyland said he's bothered by the severity of the charges Lindh now faces. 'I am concerned for the kid,' Hyland said from his Texas home. 'He was a very naive kid, and now 31/2 years later he is looking at 60 years incarceration.'"
However, despite Hyland's claim that Lindh was naïve, he told the same reporter a day earlier in the January 15 AP report that Lindh was an ideologue. Hyland said of Lindh, "This is an individual whose idealism led to ideology and he lost all ability for pragmatic thought."
In addition to employing Hyland, the Review has learned that Kirk has received numerous donations from leaders of the Dallas/Fort Worth chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) who have links to terrorism.
First, "Ishan Elashyi" (also spelled "Elashi") is identified on campaign donor lists as having given $500.00 to Ron Kirk's campaign for mayor of Dallas on April 24, 1995. In September of last year-just four days before the attacks on the WTC and Pentagon-Elashi's international export privileges were revoked by the Commerce Department, which alleged that he had been illegally shipping computer equipment and technology to Libya and Syria. In February of this year, Elashi was arrested by federal authorities for allegedly continuing these illegal shipments, this time to Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Jordan. If convicted on all charges, Ishan Elashi could be sentenced to 60 years in jail and fined $3,000,000 dollars.
"Ghassan Elashi"-Ishan's brother-is identified on papers filed with the Secretary of State's office as one of four principal incorporators of CAIR in Texas. Ghassan has also been identified as a principal of the Richardson-based internet service provider InfoCom Corporation. His brothers Ishan, Bayan, Basman, and Hazim are either principals or employees of InfoCom.
At the same time Ishan Elashi was being arrested for his violations of export restrictions (early September, 2001), InfoCom's offices were being raided and it's assets frozen by the North Texas Joint Terrorism Task Force. NTJTTF's asset-freezing order cited a $250,000 investment in the firm made by Nadia Marzook-Ghassan's cousin, and wife of Mousa Abu Marzook.
Abu Marzook is a senior commander of the Islamic terrorist group HAMAS. From his current residence in Syria, Abu Marzook openly advocates and celebrates suicide bombings against Israeli civilians.
Ghassan Elashi has also been identified as a primary incorporator of the Islamic Association for Palestine (IAP). His brother Basman has been identified as IAP's President, and IAP was founded by none other than Mousa Abu Marzook. IAP has reproduced and distributed Hamas's charter (which calls for the total destruction of the State of Israel) across the United States, has produced training material for terrorists on how to interrogate suspected "collaborators," and has even sponsored a Hamas-affiliated music troupe whose theme song includes the lyrics "We Buy Paradise with the Blood of the Jews."
Ghassan Elashi is also as a principal of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF). Mousa Abu Marzook found HLF and provided $210,000 in start-up capital. HLF was outlawed and it's assets frozen by President Bush on December 2nd, 2001. At a Rose Garden ceremony the President explained that:
"Hamas has obtained much of the money that it pays for murder abroad right here in the United States, money originally raised by the Holy Land Foundation. The Holy Land Foundation is registered with the IRS as a tax-exempt charity based in Richardson. It raised $13 million from people in America last year. The Holy Land Foundation claims that the money it solicits goes to care for needy Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. Money raised by the Holy Land Foundation is used by Hamas to support schools and indoctrinate children to grow up into suicide bombers. Money raised by the Holy Land Foundation is also used by Hamas to recruit suicide bombers and to support their families."
"Majida M. Salem" is listed giving $100.00 to Ron Kirk on April 25, 1995. The address Salem provided in making his donation has been linked by federal authorities to the aforementioned terrorist sugardaddy Ghassan Elashi. Kirk's contributors' connections to Middle East terror go further.
"Mohammed Suleman"-currently a board member of CAIR-DFW-donated $50.00 to Ron Kirk on May 1, 1995. Only eleven days after September 11, federal agents arrested a deported to Jordan an HLF employee named Ghassan Dahduli. Dahduli-a former head of IAP-has acknowledged being friends in the 1980s with Wadi El-Hage, a close associate of Osama bin Laden. Hage was convicted in 1998 and sentenced to life in prison for his role in the U.S. embassy bombings in East Africa. Dahduli's name and phone number were found in Hage's diary-which also made reference to a "joint venture" between himself and HLF. At the time of Dahduli's arrest, Kirk donor and CAIR-DFW board member Mohammed Suleman expressed concern and support for Dahduli, and argued against his deportation.
"Ghulam Warriach"-a current and longtime CAIR-DFW board member-hosted a dinner in honor of Ron Kirk in August of 1995. This event occurred under the auspices of the Dallas Muslim Council, of which Warriach was both founder and President. The omnipresent Ghassan Elashi-incorporator of InfoCom, the Islamic Association for Palestine, the Holy Land Foundation, and CAIR in Texas-is also the Executive Director of the Dallas Muslim Council.
Also honored at the same dinner as Kirk was then Democrat Congressman John Bryant who, after returning to private practice, would go on to become a lobbyist for HLF. Bryant has frequently expressed hostility to conservative-Likud administrations in Israel, and vocally advocated withholding loan guarantees to resettle Russian Jews as a way to pressure Israel to abandon Jewish communities located in the so-called occupied territories.
While CAIR purports to "present accurate information about Islam and Muslims to the general public through communication with elected officials, media personnel, corporate employers, government agencies, schools and universities, religious organizations, and civic groups," the true activities of the group are hardly so innocuous. CAIR has vociferously opposed the Bush administration's freezing of assets held by U.S. Islamic charities that are fronts for terrorist organizations. They have also spoken out against the voluntary interviews of Arabs suspected of having knowledge concerning terrorist activities conducted by Attorney General John Ashcroft's office.
In October 1998, CAIR demanded the removal of a Los Angeles billboard describing Osama bin Laden as "the sworn enemy," finding this depiction "offensive to Muslims." That same year, CAIR denied bin Laden's responsibility for the twin East African embassy bombings. As CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper saw it, those explosions resulted from some vague "misunderstandings of both sides." A New York court, however, blamed bin Laden's side alone for the embassy blasts.
Following September 11, CAIR denied bin Laden's culpability for the World Trade Center and Pentagon massacres, saying only that "if [note the "if"] Osama bin Laden was behind it, we condemn him by name." Only in December did CAIR grudgingly acknowledge his role. CAIR has a long record of defending militant Islamic terrorists. It labeled the conviction of the perpetrators of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing "a travesty of justice." Similarly, it called the conviction of Omar Abdel Rahman, the blind sheikh who planned to blow up New York City landmarks, "hate crime." CAIR termed the extradition order for suspected Hamas terrorist Mousa Abu Marook "anti-Islamic" and "anti-American."
CAIR also backs those who finance terrorism. When President Bush closed the Holy Land Foundation in December for collecting money he said was "used to support the Hamas terror organization," CAIR decried his action as "unjust" and "disturbing."
CAIR even includes at least one person associated with terrorism in its own ranks. On Feb. 2, 1995, U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White named Siraj Wahhaj as one of the "unindicted persons who may be alleged as co-conspirators" in the attempt to blow up New York City monuments. Yet CAIR deems him "one of the most respected Muslim leaders in America" and includes him on its advisory board.
In light of this and other evidence, the FBI's former chief of counterterrorism, Steven Pomerantz, concludes, "CAIR, its leaders and its activities effectively give aid to international terrorist groups." However, embracing terrorism is not the only black mark on CAIR's record.
CAIR has defamed moderate Muslims such as Hisham Kabbani and Khalid Durán who reject its extremist agenda, leading to death threats against them.
CAIR also defended a murderer when it responded to the arrest and conviction of Jamil Al-Amin (the former H. Rap Brown) by praising him, raising funds for him and then denying his guilt after his conviction for the murder of an Atlanta policeman. Similarly, CAIR declared Ahmad Adnan Chaudhry of San Bernardino, Calif., who was convicted of attempted murder, "innocent" and set up a defense fund for him. It seems no Arab can be guilty of a crime in CAIR's slanted view of the world.
Not surprisingly, CAIR traffics in anti-Semitism. The head of CAIR's Los Angeles office, Hussam Ayloush, routinely uses the term "zionazi" when referring to Israelis. CAIR co-hosted an event in May 1998 at which an Egyptian militant Islamic leader, Wagdi Ghunaym, called Jews the "descendants of the apes."
CAIR isn't exactly peachy about Christians either. As reported by the San Ramon Valley Herald, CAIR Chairman Omar M. Ahmad told a crowd of California Muslims in July 1998, "Islam isn't in America to be equal to any other faith, but to become dominant. The Koran . . . should be the highest authority in America, and Islam the only accepted religion on earth."
One of the "accomplishments" listed on the website of the Dallas/Fort-Worth chapter of CAIR is the claim that they have "developed" a "relationship" with Ron Kirk. The question Texans must answer is whether they want Kirk to bring this relationship, and perhaps Steven Hyland, to the U.S. Senate.
Especially this stuff:
CAIR isn't exactly peachy about Christians either. As reported by the San Ramon Valley Herald, CAIR Chairman Omar M. Ahmad told a crowd of California Muslims in July 1998, "Islam isn't in America to be equal to any other faith, but to become dominant. The Koran . . . should be the highest authority in America, and Islam the only accepted religion on earth."
"Connect the dots!" Indeed.
BTW, heard about the "Muslim Ballot Box Barbeque" at Texas Stadium in Irving last Sunday?
I'll bet all those CAIR *ss-wipes were there!
Have y'all seen this?
How's this for a bumper sticker:
Just a thought.
Hmmmm.... Here's a question.
If Crime Fighters fight crime.....AND
Firefighters fight Fire....
Then what do Freedom Fighters fight?
We need for this stuff to come out on Kirk. It would be tragic to elect a dem to the Senate from Texas. Cornyn is a good man, but not exactly loaded with charisma.
Kirk is loaded with charisma and has the Black vote pretty well locked in. The Mexican vote may backlash against him, who knows?
Anyway, this is exactly the kind of stuff that we need to defeat Kirk.
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