Posted on 03/28/2008 10:26:14 AM PDT by llevrok
Before he was alleged to have become a spy for Saddam Hussein's regime, Muthanna Al-Hanooti's charity work and political activism provided him with access to the highest echelons of government.
Newsletters collected by the Investigative Project on Terrorism, some published now for the first time, show Al-Hanooti photographed with dignitaries ranging from First Lady Hillary Clinton in 1996 and Vice President Al Gore along with significant members of Congress.
That may explain why Iraqi intelligence agents had confidence that Al-Hanooti would be able to persuade Congress to lift economic sanctions against Iraq. A federal indictment unsealed Wednesday accuses him of using his work with the Michigan-based Life for Relief and Development (LIFE), formerly known as the International Relief Association, Inc., to become an Iraqi agent.
According to the indictment, Al-Hanooti drafted a plan to undermine the sanctions for the Iraqis, listing members of Congress who would support the move. He then led tours to Iraq, indirectly funded by the Iraqi government, with congressional leaders including Democrats David Bonior of Michigan, Jim McDermott of Washington and Mike Thompson of California.
LIFE issued a statement in advance of a 2002 trip, saying it was designed to help the representatives "gain a better understanding of the humanitarian plight faced by innocent Iraqi civilians still suffering from the destruction caused by the 1991 Gulf War and the continuation of the 12-year embargo." Photos of the junket in question were included in a 2003 newsletter published by an organization called Focus on American & Arab Interests & Relations (FAAIR), of which Al-Hanooti was President.
According to the indictment, an intermediary for the Iraqis gave Al-Hanooti $24,000 in September 2002 to cover trip expenses, the indictment alleges. The next month, Al-Hanooti received $10,000 more. The indictment also claims he also was given the right to buy 2 million barrels of oil under Iraq's Oil for Food program.
FBI agents interviewed Al-Hanooti a year ago. He denied knowingly meeting with any Iraqi intelligence officials and denied being offered the oil contract. That led to three counts in the indictment of providing false statements to federal agents.
The alleged conspiracy began in 1999, the year Al-Hanooti went to work for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), and continued through March 2003 - covering the entire period of time he worked for CAIR.
A CAIR press release from June 2000 announced the opening of the organization's Michigan office and identified Al-Hanooti as its executive director, and he is similarly identified on CAIR's federal tax records from 2000. Michigan corporate records in 2000 also list Al-Hanooti as CAIR-Michigan's registered agent.
In previous cases in which other CAIR officials have been indicted or convicted, CAIR has tried to distance itself from the controversy, issuing statements, often false, claiming that the alleged crimes did not take place while the individual was employed with CAIR.
CAIR is not mentioned in the indictment. Rather, it focuses on Al-Hanooti's work with LIFE, a Muslim charity that operates in Iraq, Afghanistan, Sierra Leone, and the Palestinian territories.
Dawud Walid, CAIR Michigan's current executive director, told the Detroit News that his group "will be closely monitoring to make sure he has his rights afforded to him and that he receives due process. He is innocent until proven guilty."
Al-Hanooti's political clout remained intact. The spring 2005 LIFE newsletter showed him with political heavyweights ranging from Syrian dictator Bashar Assad to Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm.
Say that three times real fast. Somehow this needs to be a sketch in an SNL show.
Steven Emerson is a Great American!
The Hanooti may hit the fan over this one.....
Indictment: US v Al-Hanooti
NEFA "Spot Report": Muthanna al-Hanooti and Life for Relief and Development
Man accused of being Iraqi spy is released
The Dearborn Heights man accused of working for Iraqi intelligence was released from custody Thursday as Arab-American and Muslim community leaders met with federal law enforcement officials to discuss his case.
At the meeting in Dearborn, local leaders said they were surprised by the federal indictment of Muthanna Al-Hanooti and stressed the importance of giving him due process. The meeting had been scheduled months ago and was not intended to focus on the arrest and indictment of Al-Hanooti, who prosecutors say worked to manipulate U.S. officials as an agent for the Iraqi government of Saddam Hussein. In return, he was given 2 million barrels of oil......(Detroit Free Press)
More information on the Al-Hanooti Case
http://www.investigativeproject.org/2692/ex-cair-official-faces-sentencing
“Ex-CAIR Official Faces Sentencing”
IPT News
March 16, 2011
SNIPPET: “A Michigan man accused of spying for Saddam Hussein’s regime faces nearly four years in prison when he is sentenced on a related charge in federal court Friday.
Muthanna Al-Hanooti pleaded guilty last June to one count of violating an executive order prohibiting people from doing any business with Iraq and imposing sanctions. He had a deal with senior Iraqi officials to control 2 million barrels of oil. By transferring that to a third party, Al-Hanooti stood to make $100,000, a prosecution sentencing memo said.
Al-Hanooti was identified as executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ (CAIR) Michigan office in 2000. But the charges against him deal with his work with a charity called Life for Relief and Development (LIFE) and its spinoff group, called Focus on American and Arab Interests and Relations (FAAIR). He worked for LIFE from 1995-2006, the sentencing memo said, noting the organization was “created after the first Gulf War in response to the economic sanctions that the United States imposed on Iraq.””
Read more at: http://www.investigativeproject.org/2692/ex-cair-official-faces-sentencing
#
Previously...
http://www.investigativeproject.org/626/another-ex-cair-official-in-legal-trouble
“Another Ex-CAIR Official in Legal Trouble”
IPT News
March 26, 2008
SNIPPET: “Add the former head of the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ Michigan office to our report on CAIR officials in trouble with the law. In an indictment unsealed Wednesday, Muthanna Al-Hanooti is accused of spying for Saddam Hussein and the Iraqi government. The Detroit Free Press reports that Al-Hanooti is charged with conspiring to work for a foreign government and with making false statements to the FBI.
The indictment involves Al-Hanooti’s work with Life for Relief and Development (LIFE), a Muslim charity that operates in Iraq, Afghanistan, Sierra Leone, and the Palestinian territories. According to the Free Press, the indictment alleges “Al-Hanooti would travel to Iraq and meet with conspirators of the Iraqi Intelligence Service. The indictment says that Al-Hanooti was rewarded with 2 million barrels of oil for his work.”
According to a Dec. 3, 1999 story in the Arab American News, Al-Hanooti was moving to Washington to work for CAIR. Then, a CAIR press release in June 2000 identified Al-Hanooti as executive director of its new regional office in Michigan. It isn’t clear when he left the organization.
The Detroit News reports Al-Hanooti was arrested at the airport Tuesday night as he returned from a Middle East. A federal judge ordered him to post a $100,000 bond and wear an electronic monitor.”
Hillary 2016 bump
al Hanooti reminds me of a joke ....
It was the first day back at school in Birmingham, England.
The teacher began calling out the names of the pupils.
“Mustafa al Eih Zeri?” - “Here.”
“Achmed El Kabul?” - “Here.”
“Fatima Bin Pardin? “ - “Here.”
“Ali Abdul Olmi?” - “Here.”
“Mohammed Bin Kadir?” - “Here.”
“Ali Son al En?” - Silence in the classroom.
“Ali Son al En?”- Continued silence, as everyone looked around the room .
The teacher repeated the call, “Ali Son al En?”
Then a girl stood up and said,
“Sorry, teacher, I think that’s me. It’s pronounced Allison Allen.”
Sierra Leone, today known for ebola, a hemorrhagic disease not unlike another hemorrhagic disease that recently broke out in Venezuela. The two counties share a cocaine route, and the governor of the Venezuelan state where the ebola-like disease with a funny name is a Syrian born Arab who belonged to the Iraqi Baathist party.
Sierra Leone's an interesting location for this jihadist-linked terror charity.
Is this investigation of LIFE the one Obama cut short on getting into office or was that a different Islamic charity?
bump
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