FBI Raids Largest US Islamic Group for Ties to Terror

Blogger Debbie Schlussel has been trying to warn the world for years about the connections between LIFE for Relief and Development, the largest Islamich charity in the US, and terrorist groups like Hamas, Hezbollah, Muslim Brotherhood, the Taliban, and Iraqi insurgents. In this time, this group has been feted by government officials, given awards, and treated as one of those "moderate" muslim groups we keep hearing about.

However, the hammer has dropped. At around 12:30 this afternoon, the FBI raided the US headquarters of this group, Schlussel reports, and has been hauling out crates of documents this afternoon.

LIFE openly admitted in its '95-'97 tax filings that it was a major funder of Hamas. It gave millions to Human Appeal International, which the FBI identified as Hamas' Jordanian operation. LIFE has staged many allegedly fraudulent fund raisers, including "Katrina Relief", "Lebanon Relief", and "Afghanistan Wheelchair", and is believed to have laundered this money to terorists. Its founding resident agent and current and former employees have ties to al Qaeda and other terrorist groups.

It has had multiple fundraisers in the last few years "for more Fallujahs", and used that money to fund Iraqi insurgents through its Iraq office, which the US Army raided in 2004. A keynote speaker at one of these in Los Angeles has been deported because of his meetings with two of the 9/11 hijackers.

Meanwhile, Homeland Security personnel have courted the group, including civil rights officer Daniel Sutherland, US Attorney Stephen Murphy III, and his predecessor Jeffrey Collins. LIFE organized and led the now infamous propaganda trip to Iraq to meet Saddam Hussein taken by Democratic Rep. David Bonior, Jim McDermott, and Mike Thompson, a trip that was funded by Iraqi oil-for-food scam artist Shakir Alkhafaji, who remains living free in West Bloomfield, Michigan, with the $70 million he earned from his corrupt business dealings with Saddam.

One of those investigations apparently involves Hamad's close ties to Muthanna Al-Hanooti, Mohammed Alomari, and their charities, LIFE for Relief and Development and FAAIR (Focus on Arab American Issues and Reform). Hidden in an Orthodox Jewish neighborhood in Southfield, Michigan, LIFE is believed to fund Hamas via contributions to Hamas front groups identified in 2001 by FBI Assistant Director for Counterterrorism and Counterintelligence, Dale Watson.
One such front, Human Appeal International, believed by the FBI to be Hamas' Jordanian operation, was listed in LIFE tax returns as one of three supported organizations receiving millions in contributions. Human Appeal and another organization LIFE works with, Human Relief Foundation, are listed as participants in the "101 days campaign" website of Sheikh Youssef Al-Qaradawi, spiritual leader of terrorist group Muslim Brotherhood. The site is believed to raise money for homicide bombings Al-Qaradawi supports.

Alomari's book, "The Secrecy of Evil", and other writings allege Jewish control of the world and the Bush administration. His Daru Salam mosque radio website claimed Jews and the U.S. "organized" the 9/11 attacks. A 1996 LIFE fundraiser, arranged by Hanooti, featured speaker Sheik Abdulmunem Abu Zant, an ardent Hamas supporter, who said, "May G-d attack the Jews and those who stand with them. May G-d attack the Americans and those who stand with them." Hanooti appeared with indicted Islamic Jihad frontman Sami Al-Arian at a recent American Muslim Council lobbying seminar. LIFE's original registered agent (under its previous name, International Relief Association), Masood Aijazi, worked for Khalid bin Mahfouz, the financier of Muwafaq Foundation, designated a terrorist charity by the U.S. government.

Hamad's relationship with these parties is long-term and tight. A 1999 press release by Hamad's American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee credits Hamad with getting Senator Carl Levin, then-Senator Spencer Abraham, and David Bonior to grant LIFE a license to send millions to Iraq. "We have a special relationship with ADC here in Detroit." Hanooti said. "This is another example of the value of cooperation between our organizations . . . to advance our common agenda." In May 2003, Hamad visited terrorist-sponsor Syria and Lebanon with Hanooti and Alomari. Given all of this, a recent FAAIR newsletter photo of Collins (below) smilingly posing between Al-Hanooti, Hamad, and Alomari, at a FAAIR event, is disturbing. It is bad enough that a U.S. Attorney would associate with known anti- Semites. Worse, if Collins' office ever indicts them, it could be embarrassing.

Congratulations to Debbie for her vindication. We all wait with baited breath for news from the FBI.