Ex-Professor Orders Bombing

ACCURACY IN MEDIA ^ | 06/27-28/02 | By Reed Irvine and Joe Jablonski

[fight_truth_decay]

A group called Islamic Jihad took responsibility for the bus bombing in Israel in which 17 Israelis were killed. It is based in Syria and is headed by Ramadan Shallah, who lived several years in Florida and was a professor at the University of South Florida. But that’s not all – his alleged former associate, another University of South Florida professor, is still here, defending the rights of Muslims accused of terrorist activities.

The media are preoccupied with the president’s plan to create a new department of homeland security. But we still don’t have answers to the question of how terrorists or their alleged sympathizers got here in the first place. As detailed by Steven Emerson, Shallah’s connections to Islamic Jihad go back to the 1970s in Egypt. He moved to London in 1986 before coming to the U.S. in the 1990s. While here, on two occasions he was invited to brief U.S. military officers at U.S. Central Command at MacDill Air force Base near Tampa. This is where the war against terrorism is being planned and coordinated today.

This strange story gets even more bizarre because one of Shallah’s associates at the university, Professor, Sami "Osama" al-Arian, solicited funds for Islamic Jihad. A tenured professor, al-Arian was put on paid leave following an appearance on "The O'Reilly Factor," where he appeared evasive in response to questions from Bill O’Reilly about his alleged ties to terrorists. He is a founder of two groups described by a federal agent as fronts for Islamic Jihad. His home and officer were raided by federal authorities in 1995, when they found the controversial fundraising letter.

Al-Arian, who sponsored Shallah to come to this country, claims he wasn’t aware of his terrorist background. Al-Arian is himself a permanent resident of the United States, and has been here since 1975. He applied for U.S. citizenship five or six years ago but has not received an answer from the Immigration and Naturalization Service. He has never been charged with a crime.

Shallah’s base, now in Syria rather than Florida, is relevant because Syria has been elected by other members of the U.N. to the U.N. Security Council and recently assumed the presidency of this high-ranking body. Under Article 23 of the United Nations Charter, members of the Security Council are supposed to be selected with "due regard being specially paid...to the maintenance of international peace and security. . ." Syria is identified by the U.S. State Department as a sponsor of terrorism and occupies Lebanon in violation of a U.N. resolution.

Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres says it is unbelievable that Syria, home of Islamic Jihad, should hold the presidency of the U.N. Security Council, while orders to carry out terror attacks are issued from its midst. But U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher could only say that Syria "has to act impartially" as Security Council president. The Bush State Department could not even muster a feeble criticism of Syria’s record or the hypocrisy of the U.N. Perhaps we need a reorganization of this department too.

[archy]

Professor, Sami "Osama" al-Arian:

[E. Pluribus Unum]

CAUSE AND EFFECT

[tsomer]

Question:

Can Israel indict this professor, or name him as a witness, allowing us to ship him out of here?

What would prevent this?