Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Soros funded Stewart defense
NRO.com ^ | 10-16-06 | Byron York

Posted on 10/16/2006 3:22:36 PM PDT by veronica

The anti-Bush billionaire supported lawyer who aided terrorists.

Billionaire financier George Soros, whose opposition to President Bush's conduct of the war on terror caused him to pour millions of dollars into the effort to defeat the president, made a substantial donation to the defense fund for radical lawyer Lynne Stewart, who last week was found guilty of giving aid to Islamic terrorists.

According to records filed with the Internal Revenue Service, Soros's foundation, the Open Society Institute, or OSI, gave $20,000 in September 2002 to the Lynne Stewart Defense Committee.

In filings with the IRS, foundation officials wrote that the purpose of the contribution was "to conduct a public education campaign around the broad civil rights implications of Lynne Stewart's indictment."

Answering questions by e-mail, Amy Weil, a spokeswoman for the Open Society Institute, said the foundation contributed to Stewart's fund because "it appeared to us at that time that there was a right-to-counsel issue worthy of our support."

Stewart's legal troubles stemmed from her defense of Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, sometimes known as the Blind Sheikh. Rahman led an Egyptian-based terrorist organization known as the Islamic Group.

In 1996, Rahman was sentenced to life in prison for his involvement in the first attack on the World Trade Center, in 1993, and for his part in failed plots to blow up the United Nations building and the Lincoln and Holland tunnels in New York.

After his conviction, Rahman's followers threatened a series of terrorist attacks against American targets unless he were released. In 1998, the U.S. government reportedly had intelligence that Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda were plotting to hijack aircraft in the United States in order to demand freedom for Rahman and other convicted terrorists.

Because of those threats, the government issued a special order that the imprisoned Rahman not be allowed to communicate with his followers, to prevent his inciting them to further violence. He was allowed to communicate only with his wife and with his lawyers, who were not allowed to relay his wishes to his followers.

Stewart promised to abide by those rules. But at her trial, the government produced evidence showing that Stewart and two codefendants on a number of occasions used their privileged access to Rahman to help transmit Rahman's orders to his followers in the Islamic Group.

On February 10, Stewart was convicted on two counts of providing material aid to terrorists and three counts of lying to federal investigators. She is planning to appeal.

Before the verdict, officials of the Open Society Institute characterized Stewart's work as that of a "human rights defender." In an October 2004 speech in Norway, Gara LaMarche, head of OSI programs in the United States, said, "The right to counsel, and its erosion in the United States since September 11, strikes with particular force at the role of human rights defenders. One troubling trend has been the arrest and prosecution of lawyers and other defenders as 'material witnesses' to terrorism. These include Lynne Stewart, attorney for Sheik Abdel Rahman..."

At one point, Stewart's Defense Committee website, lynnestewart.org, bore the notation, "This website is made possible by the generous support of the Open Society Institute."

Amy Weil told National Review that while the Institute initially underwrote Stewart's defense, the foundation's commitment was not open-ended. "More recently, OSI was asked for additional funding and we turned down that request," she said.


TOPICS: Extended News; Front Page News; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: alqaeda; democrats; lynnestewart; shadowparty; soros; terrorism
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-74 next last

1 posted on 10/16/2006 3:22:36 PM PDT by veronica
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: veronica
Amazing how he seems to be financing evil wherever he goes. He probably has stock in abortion clinics and shares in companies that sell nuclear reactors to Iran.

Regards, Ivan

2 posted on 10/16/2006 3:24:19 PM PDT by MadIvan (I aim to misbehave.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: veronica
This doesn't surprise me. Anything the left does, doesn't surprise me anymore.

Soros and his cronies on the left have backed one Amendment on the Montana ballot this year.

3 posted on 10/16/2006 3:26:41 PM PDT by BigSkyFreeper (Karl Rove you magnificent bastard!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: veronica; All

Treasonous rat bastard ping!


4 posted on 10/16/2006 3:29:07 PM PDT by Mr. Jazzy (God Bless the United States of America and all that defend her hard earned freedom!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: veronica
Soros is a sworn enemy of freedom and democracy... and he owns the Democrat Party.


5 posted on 10/16/2006 3:29:55 PM PDT by FormerACLUmember
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: veronica
Stewart's legal troubles stemmed from her defense of Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman

Lies!

Her legal troubles stemmed from aiding and abetting terrorists.

6 posted on 10/16/2006 3:31:27 PM PDT by SmithL (Where are we going? . . . . And why are we in this handbasket????)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: veronica

Soros makes his money via the Quantum Fund. Presently, this is based off shore and is the usual tax haven.

He can well afford his hateful hobbies. He made 750,000,000 dollars in 2005 just from the Quantum Fund. Yes, that is right 750 million!

Here is a man given everything who now spends his time trying to take away everything from those who took him in.

Besides a messianic complex he fancies himself a philosopher since his mentor was Karl Popper.


7 posted on 10/16/2006 3:31:38 PM PDT by shrinkermd
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: veronica

Do you remember not too long ago how evil Richard Mellon Scaiffe was? He was the puppetmaster, funding all things Conservative. It's funny how he was portrayed as opposed to this real evil monster, Soros.


8 posted on 10/16/2006 3:34:14 PM PDT by Hildy
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: BigSkyFreeper; MadIvan; dighton; Senator Bedfellow
Don't forget one other Stewart, er, lover ...

The author Gore Vidal wrote to ask the judge to “side with our Bill of Rights” by not imprisoning Ms. Stewart.

Link.

9 posted on 10/16/2006 3:36:17 PM PDT by aculeus
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: aculeus
Well Gore Vidal is another one of those people who endorses anything evil, and has been rewarded far beyond what his talents merit.

Regards, Ivan

10 posted on 10/16/2006 3:37:35 PM PDT by MadIvan (I aim to misbehave.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: veronica

Someone should send this to Neil Cavuto. He told O'Reilly Soros is a kindly old grandfather type and harmless (after Soros came on Cavuto's show for a one-on-one interview).


11 posted on 10/16/2006 3:38:02 PM PDT by Arizona Carolyn
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: veronica

I'm shocked! Oh wait, I'm not.


12 posted on 10/16/2006 3:43:48 PM PDT by verum ago (The Iranian Space Agency: set phasers to jihad!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Hildy
Do you remember not too long ago how evil Richard Mellon Scaiffe was?

I remember the reporting like it was yesterday, well, actually it was more like 8 years ago. Exhibit A:

CNN: Who Is Richard Mellon Scaife? - 04.27.98

It doesn't refer to him as "evil" per se, it does say he operated "in the shadows", and that he was "rich and powerful".

You could almost change the name to George Soros in that article.
 

13 posted on 10/16/2006 3:43:57 PM PDT by BigSkyFreeper (Karl Rove you magnificent bastard!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: veronica

After his comment that the "insurgency" in Iraq didn't have the results he had hoped for I really wonder just how much ($$$) of an interest he had there.


14 posted on 10/16/2006 3:44:31 PM PDT by cripplecreek (If stupidity got us into this mess, then why can't it get us out?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

Comment #15 Removed by Moderator

To: veronica
The anti-Bush billionaire supported lawyer who aided terrorists.

No surprise here. That jackass also supports every other terrorist-loving Dhimmicrat out there. This case should be no different.

16 posted on 10/16/2006 3:46:15 PM PDT by Prime Choice (True Conservatives don't vote for Liberals just because they have an 'R' by their name.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MadIvan
He doesn't just fund Big Evil Things--he funds thousands and thousands of small evil things. There are hundreds of "activists" out there that he gives a little money to--and that's what's going to be toughest to fight.

He's got every film society, every University filmmaking club, with their hands in his pockets. He buys them equipment and sends them to competitions.

Just this week the Austin Film Society is trying to get Texas taxpayers to share in funding leftist filmmaking because it's supposed to be such an economic boon to Texas. The head of that society makes anti-Bush commercials for Soros.

It's great to have the loyalty of Little Media along with MSM.

17 posted on 10/16/2006 3:46:44 PM PDT by Mamzelle
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Berosus; ValerieUSA; Fedora; FairOpinion; Ernest_at_the_Beach; dervish; Convert from ECUSA; ...

Soros knows his having benefited from Clinton's war in Yugoslavia is going to bite him in the ass one day -- not from the USAG's office, but from extranational retribution.


18 posted on 10/16/2006 3:48:30 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Dhimmicrati delenda est! https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Mamzelle
Of course, Soros got a good deal of his money by pummelling the British economy into the dirt through speculative attacks on the British pound. He made over $1 billion out of that little tryst of his; we got a recession as a result.

I find it amazing that he tore up my country, so he could finance tearing up others, including yours.

Regards, Ivan

19 posted on 10/16/2006 3:49:16 PM PDT by MadIvan (I aim to misbehave.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: areafiftyone; dirtboy; Mo1

ping


20 posted on 10/16/2006 3:49:24 PM PDT by onyx (We have two political parties: the American Party and the Anti-American Party.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-74 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson