Free Republic

efreedomnews         WAR ON TERRORISM - AN AMERICAN PERSPECTIVE Muslim Money Machine Shut DownJonathan RhodesOctober 12, 2002       Arnaout & Osama(click to enlarge photos)  Enaam Arnaout, a Syrian born naturalized American Citizen and director of Benevolence International Foundation (BIF), an Illinois-based charity,  was indicted for conspiracy to fraudulently obtain charitable donations to provide financial assistance to organizations engaged in violence and terrorism. He was first arrested for perjury in May, 2002 when the assets of the BIF were frozen. He went to court to have the assets released. His written statement to the court states: "BIF has never provided aid...

An Afghan army special forces commander has defected to an insurgent group allied with the Taliban in a Humvee truck packed with his team's guns and high-tech equipment, officials in the eastern Kunar province said on Sunday. Monsif Khan, who raided the supplies of his 20-man team in Kunar's capital Asadabad over the Eid al-Adha religious holiday, is the first special forces commander to switch sides, joining the Hezb-e-Islami organization. "He sent some of his comrades on leave and paid others to go out sightseeing, and then escaped with up to 30 guns, night-vision goggles, binoculars and a Humvee," said...

<p>A spokesman for an Afghan militant Islamist group says members carried out a suicide attack near Kabul airport that killed at least nine people in reprisal for an anti-Islam film that ridicules the Prophet Muhammad.</p> <p>Haroon Zarghhon claimed responsibility for Tuesday’s attack near Kabul airport in an email to The Associated Press. He said the attack was carried out by a 22-year-old woman named Fatima.</p>

SNIPPET: "On Friday, Mubarak Hamed, the former director of the now defunct Islamic American Relief Agency-USA (IARA) based in Columbia, Missouri, pled guilty to three counts of a federal indictment charging that he illegally sent more than a million dollars to Iraq in violation of U.S. sanctions, conspiracy, and tax violations. Federal agents raided IARA's offices in 2004, seized its assets, and said it was part of a global network of similar Islamic charities that supported terrorist organizations. As part of his plea agreement, Hamed admitted the U.S.-based charity was part of this international network, with the IARA branch based...

The Obama administration finally highlights Iran’s key role in supporting al Qaeda On July 28, the Treasury Department designated six al Qaeda operatives involved in shipping money and men from the Persian Gulf to senior al Qaeda leaders in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The move targets a node of the global terror network that is critical to its overall strength, freezing any of its financial assets under U.S. jurisdiction and prohibiting any transactions with the operatives. Of the many conduits for al Qaeda funds and personnel across the world, the U.S. government believes this one is the most important. “This network...

SNIPPET: "Ahmadullah Sais Niazi, 34, who was arrested without incident this morning at his Tustin residence by members of the joint terrorism task force, was named in a five-count indictment returned Feb. 11 by a federal grand jury. The indictment, unsealed this morning, alleges Niazi hid associations with "Specially Designated Global Terrorists," groups including Al Qaeda, Hizb-i-Islami and the Taliban, when he completed nationalization papers five years ago. During one visit, the government alleges Niazi visited Dr. Amin al-Haq, the security coordinator for Osama bin Laden."

Page A01 After jumping out of helicopters at daybreak onto jagged, ice-covered rocks and into water at an altitude of 10,000 feet, the 12-man Special Forces team scrambled up the steep mountainside toward its target -- an insurgent stronghold in northeast Afghanistan. "Our plan," Capt. Kyle M. Walton recalled in an interview, "was to fight downhill." But as the soldiers maneuvered toward a cluster of thick-walled mud buildings constructed layer upon layer about 1,000 feet farther up the mountain, insurgents quickly manned fighting positions, readying a barrage of fire for the exposed Green Berets. A harrowing, nearly seven-hour battle unfolded...

Afghanistan: A warlord Hekmatyar claimed the ambush against the French KABUL - The Afghan warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar claimed responsibility for the ambush in which ten French soldiers were killed near Kabul on August 18 and acknowledged the death of ten of its own fighters in this battle, in a video received Monday by a private news agency Afghan. The attack had previously been claimed by the Taliban, which form a separate group Hezb-e-Islami (Islamic party, HIG) to Hekmatyar. On 18 August, a French patrol fell into an ambush mounted by 140 to 170 well-armed insurgents in the valley Uzbeen...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The CIA fired a missile from an unmanned Predator in hopes of killing a former Afghan warlord who was plotting to overthrow the new government and was threatening American troops, U.S. officials said Thursday. Former Afghan Prime Minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, the leader of a hardline Islamic group, was targeted Monday near the capital, Kabul, but the missile missed him, defense officials said on condition of anonymity. The strike is believed to have killed some of Hekmatyar's followers. CIA officials declined comment. An official of the Afghan Defense Ministry, who spoke only on condition of anonymity, said...

Pakistan (AP) - In a rare video message, Afghan insurgent leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar claims that American troops will be forced out of Afghanistan like the Soviets before them. The leader of the Hezb-e-Islami militant group also touts the Republican Party defeat in last month's U.S. midterm elections as a victory for militants fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq. "It seems that every bullet that mujahedeen had fired toward the Americans in Iraq and Afghanistan has turned into a vote against Bush," Hekmatyar said in the undated video statement received by Associated Press Television in Pakistan. "There is no doubt that is...

Canadian Soldiers Help to Capture Terrorism Suspect By PAUL KORING UPDATED AT 10:15 AM EDT Wednesday, Apr. 14, 2004 KABUL -- A high-ranking terrorism suspect has been captured in a late-night raid by a heavily armed joint Afghan-Canadian team, North Atlantic Treaty Organization officials said yesterday in Kabul. "The arrested person was a suspected senior member of Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin" and "posed an imminent threat to NATO," said Commander Chris Henderson, a spokesman for the 6,000-strong NATO force deployed in and around Kabul. He would not name the suspect. More than 100 heavily armed Canadian soldiers in armoured vehicles supported Afghan...

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) - Afghan warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, one of America's most-wanted men, has urged his compatriots to rise up against the U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan. In a statement obtained by The Associated Press on Sunday, Hekmatyar calls for an Afghan uprising in a competitive spirit with Iraq. He welcomed the uprising by supporters of the Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who have been battling U.S. forces in Iraq. Afghans "like Iraqi mujahedeen, will choose the way of uprising against the occupiers," said the Pashtu-language statement, translated by the AP. Hekmatyar heads Hezb-e-Islami, an Islamic guerrilla faction that fought invading Soviet...

CHICAGO, Oct. 9 — The leader of a Chicago-area Islamic charity was indicted on racketeering charges Wednesday, and the government accused him of fraudulently obtaining donations to support Osama bin Laden’s network and other terrorist groups. Attorney General John Ashcroft said that, if found guilty, Enaam Arnaout faces up to 90 years in prison with no possibility of parole.