Posted on 03/12/2003 11:15:33 PM PST by JohnHuang2
WASHINGTON -- A former Democratic congressman years ago hampered FBI efforts to investigate terrorist suspects in his Arab-dominated district in Detroit, which is now a hotbed for al-Qaida sympathizers and cells, former FBI officials say.
Former Rep. David Bonior, D-Mich., led a campaign on Capitol Hill to pressure the FBI to back off an intelligence-gathering operation in Detroit aimed at deterring terrorism during the last Gulf war.
Former Rep. David Bonior and Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., in Baghdad |
Under the short-lived counter-terrorism program, started by then-Assistant FBI Director William Baker in 1990, FBI agents tried to cultivate Arab sources and informants who could lead them to terrorists and help them foil their plots. They questioned Arab-American leaders in Detroit and other cities about their political views, asked if they knew any terrorists, and advised them to contact FBI field offices if they learned of planned acts of terror.
But Bonior, whose district has one of the largest Arab-American populations in the country, heard about the interviews and cried racism. He and other Democrats threatened to hold hearings unless the FBI stopped the counterterrorism interviews. Baker met with them privately to explain the national-security benefits of the program, but could not allay their concerns.
"After a few weeks and many interviews, we backed off," said former FBI special agent Robert M. Blitzer in an exclusive WorldNetDaily interview.
"There were a few members on the Hill that were outraged that we would ask for help from the Arab-American community," added Blitzer, who was assistant section chief of the FBI's Counterterrorism and Middle East Section from 1991 to 1995. "And if my memory is correct, this outrage was mainly from members who had Arab-American voters in their districts."
FBI counterintelligence veteran I.C. Smith singled out Bonior for rebuke, but complained that the "politically correct" FBI caved easily to his demands. William Sessions was bureau director then.
"His Detroit area was much involved" in the FBI's Arab outreach program, Smith said in a recent phone interview. "He led a hew and cry on the Hill about the good and decent Arab citizens being singled out, and the FBI pulled in its horns and dropped the program instead of explaining why they were doing it."
Attempts to reach Bonior, now a professor at Wayne State University in Detroit, were unsuccessful.
It was recently revealed that the longtime congressman took $3,200 in campaign donations from alleged terrorist co-conspirator Sami al-Arian, who was arrested last month in Florida. Of lawmakers who received money from al-Arian, Bonior got the most. And he hired al-Arian's eldest son, Abdullah, as an intern in his Washington office.
What's more, Bonior in 1998 lobbied to have al-Arian's brother-in-law, Mazen al-Najjar, released from jail. He was later deported for visa violations and alleged terrorist ties. Al-Najjar attended North Carolina A&T State University's engineering school at the same time as Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the al-Qaida lieutenant and Sept. 11 mastermind who was arrested earlier this month in Pakistan.
Bonior also has been cozy with Arab-American groups accused of sympathizing with terrorist groups. The American Muslim Council in 1999 gave Bonior a special service award. The plaque read: "In appreciation for distinguished political activism on behalf of the Muslim community."
AMC board member Abdurahman Alamoudi, who has declared support for Hamas and Hezbollah, gave $1,000 to Bonior's 2000 House campaign, records show.
At the Islamic Society of North America's 2001 convention, held just weeks before the Sept. 11 attacks, Bonior reportedly "urged Muslim Americans to organize at the grassroots level, noting that in terms of political contributions, Muslims are outspent by Jewish Americans by only about $2 million," according to ISNA member Mahjabeen Islam, who heard Bonior speak at the convention in Rosemont, Ill.
"I look forward to the day in the not-to-distant future when I will serve alongside Muslim-Americans in the U.S. House," Bonior said in a 1998 speech at the American Muslim Alliance in Hempstead, N.Y.
Bonior, who supports a Palestinian state, has also worked closely with the Council on American-Islamic Relations to secure airport-security jobs for Middle Eastern nationals, and at the same time has joined CAIR in fighting federal attempts to profile Arab passengers at U.S. airports.
"I am working with members of the Muslim community and government officials to end discriminatory profiling at airports," Bonior told Muslims gathered at the American Muslim Alliance convention in 1998. "This is terribly wrong."
"I have been in close contact with the Federal Aviation Administration about this policy," he added, "and met last month with FAA Administrator Jane Garvey and leaders of the Arab-American community in Detroit."
It was in Detroit that FBI agents last summer indicted five al-Qaida-tied suspects -- Karim Koubriti, Ahmed Hannan, Youssef Hmimssa, Farouk Ali-Haimoud and a man only known by the first name Abdella. In a raid of their Detroit apartment after the Sept. 11 attacks, agents found a videotape that appeared to case U.S. landmarks such as Disneyland in Los Angeles and the MGM Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. The men also checked Detroit's airport for gaps in security.
Thanks to leads from the raid on Mohammed's safehouse in Pakistan, the FBI is zeroing in on other al-Qaida sleeper cells in Detroit, authorities say.
Blitzer says that he didn't expect last decade's interviews to produce many good leads even if they were allowed to continue, because agents got only mixed results from the interviews they managed to conduct. He said few Arab-Americans cooperated, and some were "very negative and hostile."
"The Arab-American community was penetrated with many supporters of Hamas, the Islamic Jihad (and other terrorist groups), and were contributing large sums of money to these groups thinking they were helping the widows and orphans of 'freedom fighters,' who they did not view as terrorists then or now," Blitzer added.
But he says recent FBI interviews in Detroit and other Muslim-dominated communities have produced solid leads.
"Since Sept. 11, I understand many in the Arab-American community have been helping the bureau," he said.
This is an informative article. However, it doesn't mention Grover Norquist.
I must have missed this stuff by flight 800 lie & coverup just falling apart........where was that info?
Bonior is another Moran, who has taken money from the Islamofacists who hate Americans/Jews and pushed their mass murder agendas. Moran has some very good reasons for making his remarks--So why isn't it being reported?
Bonior and Moran are just the tip of the Rats in congress now and in the past, who have been financed by the Mass Murdering Islamofacists to push their kill Americans and Jews agendas.
Surely that was the American Museum Council....
Wrong district. His district was in Macomb County, the largest Arab-American population in the country is located about 35 miles west in Dearborn in Wayne County.
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