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Posted on 08/23/2004 4:03:30 AM PDT by Theodore R.
Florida's national security threat
Posted: August 23, 2004 1:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com
The leading Democratic candidate for a U.S. Senate seat from Florida, the former president of the University of South Florida, chose to ignore repeated warnings that her faculty included terrorist supporters.
Betty Castor is seeking the seat vacated by Sen. Bob Graham. Her biggest claim to fame is her tenure as president of the university at the time it employed Sami al-Arian.
Al-Arian awaits trial in January on a 50-count federal terrorism indictment, stemming from Palestinian Islamic Jihad operations he allegedly managed with several others from Tampa.
For seven years leading up to Sept. 11, 2001, Castor was warned about al-Arian's connections to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, an international ally of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida terrorist network.
Those warnings began in November 1994, when PBS aired "Jihad in America," produced by Middle East terrorism expert Steven Emerson. Al-Arian and his links to Palestinian Islamic Jihad were clearly identified in this documentary.
In 1995, the Tampa Tribune published a series of articles detailing al-Arian's alleged involvement with terror support activities. Later that year, Ramadan Abdullah Shallah, a former USF professor, publicly emerged in Damascus, Syria, as the new leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Shallah, and al-Arian's brother-in-law Mazen Al-Najjar, later deported, both worked at USF as instructors in violation of U.S. immigration law. In November of that same year, federal search warrants were executed in Tampa in the case, an event widely reported in the press.
Finally, in 1996, Castor commissioned a lawyer, William Reece Smith, to investigate the al-Arian matter and several months later suspended him with pay. In other words, al-Arian got a long, paid vacation, giving him more time to work on his Palestinian Islamic Jihad pursuits.
It might have been different if the investigation had been conducted by an entity with subpoena power.
Castor opted not to turn the matter over to the Florida Office of Inspector General, specifically charged with investigating waste, fraud, abuse, misconduct and mismanagement.
Why didn't she? A June 1995 memo to her top staff might explain what she was thinking: "I am deeply concerned by implications that the university should 'investigate' entities or people and be the arbiter of what political, social or religious ideology is 'good' or 'evil.'"
In other words, Betty Castor is a moral relativist who is uncomfortable with the idea of even investigating people associated with terrorism.
Of course, it's not entirely true that Betty Castor had an absolute aversion to investigating her professorial staff. When bogus accusations were made in an Arab-American newspaper against another professor, Abdelwahab Hechiche, of being an Israeli spy, Castor ordered an investigation by her chief of police and general counsel and even contacted the local FBI.
It seems for Betty Castor, academic freedom was a one-way street – nearly unrestricted for Islamist jihadist terrorist operatives, but not for those who stood falsely accused by those same people.
By the way, Hechiche was assaulted on campus, his life threatened by the Islamists and he ultimately resigned under the pressure – all because he sought to bring together Jews and Muslims on campus in a spirit of peace, harmony and open dialogue.
How someone like Betty Castor parlays that disgraceful record of moral and leadership failures as president of the University of South Florida into a promising political career, I just don't understand.
Yet, I repeat, she is the leading Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate from the state of Florida.
She faces a primary election a week from tomorrow and polls show her with a double-digit lead over her opponent, Rep. Peter Deutsch.
Oh, by the way – Castor is running as a "centrist." That should give you a pretty good idea of the total moral bankruptcy of her party in general. If she's a centrist, Sami al-Arian and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad are just misunderstood freedom fighters.
Betty Castor is a bonafide terrorist enabler. Sending her to the U.S. Senate would be a grave mistake for national security.
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Yeah... will they tread lightly on her treasonous past because she's a woman as well as a Democrat? The reason the Swifies have hit hard is they're don't care about the political fallout. Conservatives can't be Republicans since the interest of the two doesn't always coincidence. Like the libs, its time for us to re-establish our own identity so we can protect our interests without fear or favor.
Well, lessee: with a state that has re-elected the like of Corrine Brown, Lawton Chiles and Bob Graham in the past, who are they kidding? This wench will get a free pass, and a tenure job longer than academia: The U.S. Senate.
If the GOP would recruit and finance really aggressive candidates, the party could win more than just offering "nice guy" personalities against hard-core liberals. War hero Bob Dole in 1996 even said he would rather lose than really be aggressive against the popular Bill Clinton.
Oh, I could agrre with you more - but not by much.
I've maintained since December 2001, when The Left threw away the gloves for good, that the New Tone has been a miserable failure. How I wish there would be a regiment of Rush's, a company of Coulter's, and a squad of Sean Hannity's, to do the knife-fighting for all of us.
Three votes for Mel out of this household. He's the only one with any chance to take this seat from the lib/dems. And frankly, I think Castor would be worse than Graham.
Hey, that rhymes! $:-)
I would rather see Martinez as the nominee over McCollum. But isn't Mel a former trial lawyer, like Edwards? I hope he doesn't have a sleazy, unscrupulous record like Edwards does though.
In any case, I hope primary voters don't nominate a loser like McCollum again. This election is far too critical.
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