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Upstate charity tied to illegal Iraqi cash: Feds say N.Y. group laundered millions
New York Daily News ^ | April 6, 2003 | DOUGLAS FEIDEN

Posted on 04/06/2003 6:43:35 AM PDT by sarcasm

Even as war rages in Iraq, federal agents have begun to unlock the secrets of an unlicensed, unregistered Islamic charity in upstate New York that allegedly pumped millions of dollars into Baghdad.

Flouting U.S. economic sanctions, the group shipped cash out of Syracuse, laundered it in banks in Jordan and then illegally funneled it into Iraq, according to an unsealed federal indictment.

Operating under the name Help the Needy, the organization described itself as a tax-exempt nonprofit that provided food and humanitarian assistance to the "starving children and suffering Muslims of Iraq."

But it lacked charitable status, misrepresented itself in appeals to donors, never got a license to send aid to Iraq, as required by federal law - and, more ominously, had ties to groups accused of supporting Al Qaeda, investigators say.

"There are only one or two degrees of separation between groups like Help the Needy and groups that back terrorism," said Steven Emerson, a Washington-based terrorism analyst and author. "The case shows the convergence of ideological interests arrayed against the United States."

Since Sept. 11, 2001, U.S. intelligence agencies and Justice Department prosecutors have scoured the globe for the elusive links they say exist between the secular Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein and the Islamic jihadists of terror chief Osama Bin Laden.

Intriguing clues

The hunt has produced few smoking guns. But it has led the feds to the middle of Onondaga County - 5,980 miles from Baghdad, 215 miles from Ground Zero - where an outfit run by four Arab men left a paper trail allegedly tying it to three other charities suspected of funding terrorism.

Among the clues tantalizing government probers:



TOPICS: News/Current Events; US: Idaho; US: Michigan; US: New York
KEYWORDS: alawdah; alhawali; alqaeda; alqaedaandiraq; alwahaidy; auburn; awdah; aymanjarwan; bush; clerics; correctional; dhafir; drrafildhafir; facility; greenquest; hawali; helptheneedy; hospital; iana; imams; iraq; iraqandalqaeda; iraqi; jarwan; jordan; maherzagha; moneylaundering; moneytrail; obl; osamehalwahaidy; oswego; prisons; rafildhafir; romememorial; safaralhawali; salmanalawdah; sleepers; suny; syracuse; syracuseuniversity; terrorcharities; terrorism; universities; uofidaho; wahaidy; zagha

1 posted on 04/06/2003 6:43:35 AM PDT by sarcasm
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To: sarcasm
"...When the feds searched Al-Hussayen's University of Idaho office and home, they found...A photo of President Bush with a bull's-eye on his head; thousands of pictures of the World Trade Center, before and after Sept. 11; an aerial image of the Pentagon; hundreds of photos of the destroyer Cole and other terrorist targets, and dozens of images of Bin Laden and the two Saudi sheiks whose fatwas he had posted online..."
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Another "charity" organization exposed.
Maybe we should just turn this guy loose in Idaho.
I am quite sure he will be properly 'cared for'...
2 posted on 04/06/2003 6:53:24 AM PDT by error99 (this space for lease)
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To: sarcasm
Excellent work. Praise God! Another funnel of terrorist cash is stopped.
3 posted on 04/06/2003 7:04:39 AM PDT by Freedom'sWorthIt
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To: error99
Another "charity" organization exposed.

I'm sure that they were just feeding the hungry.

4 posted on 04/06/2003 7:06:43 AM PDT by sarcasm (Tancredo 2004)
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To: Freedom'sWorthIt
Another funnel of terrorist cash is stopped.

How many more are there?

5 posted on 04/06/2003 7:08:20 AM PDT by sarcasm (Tancredo 2004)
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To: sarcasm
Where's Hillary?????????
6 posted on 04/06/2003 7:11:05 AM PDT by Unicorn
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To: sarcasm
Since 9/11 and one by one, muslim spies, moles, agents and terrorists, all spiffy in business suits, manicured hands and respectable mein, are being unearthed. Has anyone noticed a common denominator in most of these cases? I have.

Most of those nabbed have a connection with a tax-payer-supported university or college, usually as professors.

They use our colleges as cover for their activities, contaminate our childrens' minds, support their homelands' terror cells, all the while concealing their subversive roles by appearing to be jolly, upstanding citizens of the community and respectable tutors of our young boys and girls.

These collegiate fifth columnists appear to be rife in our citadels of higher learning where they operate with varying degrees of impunity and immunity under the eyes of navel-gazing administrators and trustee boards who are so delighted and enamored with "cultural diversity" on their professorial staffs and campuses that they remain oblivious to the dangers right under their ivoried noses.

If we don't get a grip on our colleges and universities soon, our educational system will continue to be the breeding ground, not just of student radicalism, but of subversive, ivy-covered "cells" of the worst kind seeking to destroy our country and way of life.

Leni

7 posted on 04/06/2003 7:13:00 AM PDT by MinuteGal (THIS JUST IN ! Astonishing fare reduction for FReeps Ahoy Cruise! Check it out, pronto!)
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To: MinuteGal
Excellent assessment Leni. We've certainly had the opportunity to see this up close and locally in Tampa.
8 posted on 04/06/2003 7:26:27 AM PDT by NautiNurse (Michael Moore: Trolling for Concubine)
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To: MinuteGal
I'd also go back to Auburn and find out who Al Wahaidy ministered to in prison. Some of those men might bear watching.
9 posted on 04/06/2003 7:30:44 AM PDT by mewzilla
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To: mewzilla
Let me say right off that I am suspicious of all Middle Eastern immigrants. In my mind they all bear watching.

Come to the US to educate themselves and then staying here just seems odd to me. Why not take their new found education back to Saudia Arabia, Jordan, Syria, Iraq, Kuwait, or Eygpt and become much better off than the locals?

Because their religious leaders are telling them to stay here and make money to send home to support anti American groups? That's my answer, predjudiced or not.

10 posted on 04/06/2003 8:07:09 AM PDT by B4Ranch (Keep America safe! Thank the troops for our freedom. No slack for Iraq!)
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To: JohnHuang2; Lion's Cub; Cindy
fyi
11 posted on 05/29/2003 3:42:09 AM PDT by piasa (Attitude adjustments offered here free of charge.)
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