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The documents kept by the Iraqi Intelligence Service were meticulous in detail and sweeping in scope. In some, Iraqi intelligence officers in the United States are directed to use informers to track the "criminal'' actions of one current and one former Chicago area resident, both Assyrian Christians from Iraq who founded an anti-Saddam Hussein political party. Another accuses the group of being influenced by "imperialists'' and "Zionists.'' Others include the exact dates of the group's meetings and conventions in Chicago and elsewhere, the names of the people who ran the events, those in attendance and what statements were made. Trips...

Accused spy had one-way ticket to Jordan WAR ON TERROR - Man accused of spying on Iraqi dissidents arrested one day before departure By MIKE ROBINSON Associated Press Writer CHICAGO -- An Arabic-language community newspaper publisher accused of spying on Iraqi dissidents in this country for Saddam Hussein's intelligence service apparently was planning to leave the country when he was arrested, an FBI agent testified Friday. Khaled Dumeisi, 61, was arrested on July 9, one day before the scheduled departure date on a one-way ticket to Jordan discovered in his home, agent Edward Lawson testified. The testimony came just before...

FoxNews just reported that an agent for Saddam Hussein has been arrested in Chicago. .....developing....

CHICAGO - A community newspaper publisher accused of spying on Iraqi dissidents in the United States was found guilty Monday of serving as an unregistered agent for Saddam Hussein. The jury took less than two hours to convict Khaled Abdel-Latif Dumeisi after the weeklong trial. "This sends an important message that people can't come to our country and spy on their fellow residents," U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald said. Dumeisi, 61, was convicted of failing to obey a federal law that requires agents of foreign governments to register with the Justice Department. Prosecutors maintained that the Palestinian-born Dumeisi spied on...

Guilty verdict in spying case Tue Jan 13,11:14 AM ET - Chicago Tribune By Matt O'Connor, Tribune staff reporter A federal jury deliberated less than three hours Monday before convicting a suburban Arabic-language newspaper publisher on charges he acted as a secret agent of Iraq before Saddam Hussein fall. The government alleged that since 1999, Palestinian-born Khaled Abdel-Latif Dumeisi provided information to Mukhabbarat, the Iraqi intelligence agency, about Hussein opponents living in the U.S. Prosecutors said Dumeisi betrayed the U.S. out of admiration for Hussein's support for the Palestinian cause and to get money for his cash-strapped publication, though he...

CHICAGO - A suburban Chicago newspaper publisher convicted of spying on Iraqi dissidents for Saddam Hussein was sentenced Wednesday to three years and 10 months in federal prison. Khaled Abdel-Latif Dumeisi, 61, is expected to be deported after he finishes his prison term. U.S. District Judge Suzanne B. Conlon also said he may not re-enter the United States without permission from the attorney general. "He helped to sustain a hostile foreign government," federal prosecutor Daniel Gillogly said in urging a tough sentence. Defense attorney William H. Theis argued that his client was not very important in the world of Iraqi...

Illinoispaytoplay.com (IP2P) has learned that Daniel S. Mahru, former business partner of Antoin "Tony" Rezko, made a deal with the Department of Justice (DoJ) for his silence. IP2P is the first to report that on, October 4 2012, Daniel S. Mahru will receive probation at his sentencing hearing. IP2P has also learned that this is being done to insure Mahru will not speak of crimes, of which he has knowledge, that implicate Barack Obama, Valarie Jarrett, Allison Davis, Tony Rezko and others. (Remember Tony recently saying he committed crimes for which Fitzgerald did not charge him.) IP2P is also investigating...

Whether the name of Richie Urso ever makes it into the corruption trial of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich next June is anybody's guess. You've probably never heard of Richie Urso. But the FBI sure has heard of him. His is a classic Chicago story, about a beefy yet charming guy born on Grand Avenue, who got in trouble with the law as a kid, only to make political friends and become extremely wealthy. He was arrested once for jewelry theft in the '60s by the Outfit's top Chicago police detective, William Hanhardt. Urso's alleged partner in the theft was the...

Pete Souza, Director and Chief Official White House Photographer, has released his 2014 version of “The Year In Pictures.” Would you like to play a game? Identify the book/movie that served as the inspiration for each of the photographs in his album. Extra credit if you can also provide actual quotes from the book/movie. Here are a few I recognized immediately, butt there are tons more to play with, so have a go at it. Girl With a Pearl Earring: “I hear you have been of great use to your master. All that grinding and stirring, eh?” - Van Ruijven Sunset...

Does anybody get the feeling the Dems are increasingly  desperate to find new talent that doesn't implode?  Weak bench if you ask me... and telling There's plenty of similarities between the way they promoted a poorly-vetted Wendy Davis in Texas -and now gubernatorial candidate (and political goober) Ed FitzGerald in Ohio-  only to collapse in a utterly failed effort. The Buckeye state Dems blame a firm they hired to vet him, so typical of leftists to point the finger when they screw something up. Both of these Democratic Party 'rising stars' imploded spectacularly, all but guaranteeing the Republicans will not only retain...

In case you missed it, GreetingsFromYonkers posted an insightful comment late Wednesday night on the limitations of Twitter in a semi-illiterate age: “Gosh, wholly apart from whether we do or don't know what we do or don't know, I have an even more basic issue with Twitter.It's the 140-character limit. Frankly, most people are not literate enough to work around this roadblock, which calls for exceptionally high vocabulary and syntax skills. Thus tweets end up being an incomprehensible mélange of clichéd abbreviations, or extremely superficial.Let's all close our eyes and imagine what Twitter would be like in the hands of...

WESTLAKE, Ohio – Officers responding to a call of suspicious behavior found Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald and a woman who was not his wife in a parked car at 4:30 a.m. on a Saturday in 2012, police records here show. Nothing inappropriate happened in the car, FitzGerald, now the Democratic nominee for governor, said Friday in a telephone interview after a campaign stop in Cincinnati. FitzGerald, a former FBI agent, prosecutor and mayor of Lakewood, was not charged with a crime. He said the woman with him was a friend visiting from Ireland as part of a larger delegation...

“Historians and pundits always say that the first real decision a governor makes is the one of running mate,” Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald, Ohio Democrats’ likely nominee for governor next year, wrote to supporters when he announced he had chosen state Sen. Eric Kearney (D) as his running mate. FitzGerald may be starting to wish voters weren’t paying attention to his first gubernatorial decision. That’s because, in the two weeks since joining the ticket, Kearney has been under almost constant barrage for owing back taxes to the Internal Revenue Service. And the campaign’s response to the revelations about their...

In Schuyler and Seneca counties, some candidates ran against the city of Ithaca, rather than living, breathing opponents. They were running against what unsuccessful Schuyler County legislative GOP candidate John White called “the Ithaca mindset.” As puzzling as that vague description might seem, his comment pales compared to a campaign postcard circulated widely in the town of Covert. The postcard prominently featured a 1960s peace symbol and a floral decorated Volkswagen bug, all meant to alert voters that “Ithaca Liberals Are Coming To Covert.” The postcard also gravely warned: “They’re trying to take over the town board and bring Ithaca-politics...

Madison — The Senate plans to send Gov. Scott Walker a state budget Thursday that would cut income taxes by an average of $150, raise property taxes by $29 on the typical home, reject a key element of ObamaCare and allow voucher schools in all corners of Wisconsin. The budget passed the Republican-controlled Assembly on Wednesday 55-42 and is likely to get through the Senate by just one vote. Sen. Dale Schultz (R-Richland Center) told his colleagues on the Senate floor that without major changes, he would vote against the budget because it is "too far removed from the interests...

WASHINGTON — Barack Obama, the U.S. Senate candidate from Chicago who has become the Democratic Party's latest rising star, is drawing enough support from the entertainment industry to put on his own variety show. From comedian Chris Rock to singer Barbra Streisand to musician Herbert Hancock, entertainers have written out checks of $1,000 or $2,000 to help the 42-year-old Illinois state senator win the seat being vacated by retiring GOP Sen. Peter Fitzgerald. Film directors Rob Reiner ("The American President") and Edward Zwick ("The Last Samurai" and "Courage Under Fire") both contributed in the past three months, according to Obama's...

In the run-up to the 2012 election, a story surfaced about an Iraqi billionaire who managed to buy access to Washington policy makers while funding a Chicago Pay-to-Play scheme that helped produce a Governor, a U.S. Senator, and, ultimately, a President of the United States. The story was eight years in the making, yet despite the extent of his political influence, this Iraqi’s name remains widely unknown. He wants it that way. In fact, he has spent millions of dollars to hinder the reporting of his activities by the news media. The lack of attention paid to him, however, is...

It's business as usual in Chicago. After protecting President Barack Obama from criminal liability for his corrupt relationship with convicted political fixer Tony Rezko, former Chicago U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald has been rewarded with a partnership in the Chicago office of New York-based law firm giant Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. The firm counts among its partners, Greg Craig, Obama's first White House Counsel, who had to help navigate Obama through Fitzgerald's investigation of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich's attempt to sell Obama's Senate seat, from which he resigned shortly after being elected President but before he was sworn...

How 'bout a little refresher re. Obama political Godfather  and actual (16-count!) convicted felon Tony Rezko...? The Syrian-born Rezko is an infamous Chicago slumlord, fast-food restauranteur, and sleazy political operator who played a key role in the Blagojevich case- as well as the unlikley ascension to power of Barrack Hussein Obama.Obama's longtime ally, friend, and top fundraiser was found guilty of 16/24 counts of felony influence peddling back in June 2008. Of course the story was mostly buried/detached from his bud Barry in the run-up to that year's most unfortunate (for us) presidential election whilst the jury convicted Rezko of wire...

The 2013 summer movie slate will feature the standard popcorn bait, from the third installment of "Iron Man" to a "Superman" reboot and a new "Star Trek" adventure. Now, "The Great Gatsby" is joining that blockbuster-heavy crowd. Director Baz Luhrmann's update on the F. Scott Fitzgerald novel is being moved from December 2012 to Summer 2013. Why? Warner Bros. insists the switch means the film's potential audience will be best served by a summer crowd. The LA Times says its sources pin the blame on the film's 3D effects. They just aren't ready for their close up yet.