Republican donor charged with attempting to fund TERROR

[Bluebear]

Prosecutors Allege Suburban NYC Businessman Tried To Send $152K For Afghan Terrorist Training Camp


Alishtari


(CBS/AP) Terrorism charges brought Friday against the administrator of a loan investment program claimed that he secretly tried to send $152,000 to the Middle East to buy equipment such as night vision goggles for a terrorist training camp in Afghanistan.

Abdul Tawala Ibn Ali Alishtari, 53, of Ardsley, N.Y., pleaded not guilty in U.S. District Court in Manhattan to an indictment accusing him of terrorism financing, material support of terrorism and other charges. The charges carried a potential penalty of 95 years in prison...

CBS News has confirmed that Alishtari is a donor to the Republican Party, as he claims on his curriculum vitae. Alishtari gave $15,500 to the National Republican Campaign Committee between 2002 and 2004, according to Federal Election Commission records. That amount includes $13,000 in 2003, a year when he claims to have been named NRCC New York State Businessman of the Year.

Alishtari also claims to be a lifetime member of the National Republican Senate Committee's Inner Circle, which the NRCC describes as "an impressive cross-section of American society – community leaders, business executives, entrepreneurs, retirees, and sports and entertainment celebrities – all of whom hold a deep interest in our nation's prosperity and security."

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/02/16/terror/main2488520.shtml

=====================
Incidental to the story, but I found this online: "Love buckets full of liquid goo"...sounds like a Republican!

POETRY by the subject:

Joy and tears by Abdul Tawala Ibn Ali Alishtari

"We are love buckets
full of liquid goo
swooshing around our duckets
subsumed by passions too."

http://allpoetry.com/poem/2578190

[In Truth We Trust]

1. Oh so Kicked &rR. Please let there be photos with Bush** Cheney, libby onthedole

[vanboggie]

2. Agreed, and oh so recommended and kicked again

SWEET!

[Bluebear]

4. :)

[liberaldemocrat7]

10. When will these people arrest Congressman Peter King for raising money for the IRA?

Congressman Peter King raised money for the Irish Republican Army during the 1980's after the IRA killed Lord Mountbatten, a member of the British Royal Army.

Why does this Republican get arrested but not Peter King? Do we only care about those who give money to Arab and muslim terrorists and leave those who give money to Irish terrorists alone?

[Erika]

3. An article tonight on the news told how W's donors

have multiplied their wealth because of W and his obsession with Iraq.

The Bush family has held close ties to the Saudis for decades.

[Senator]

5. Alishtari: "When I .... met with VP Cheney..."

Dunno what this journal is about, but it includes this:

When I went to DC in the Fall of 2003 and met with VP Cheney, I was first in a room full of advisors where I asked how to resolve this and they advised me to talk to counsels which led to this solution.

Con man? Delusional? or much, much worse?

--

[GreenTea]

6. A long line of these patriotic liars & hateful greedy republican thugs...

Anything to keep the war for profits rolling along (with hopes of recognition for some republican job). These are pitiful, shameless republican slobs.

[specimenfred1984]

7. Repukes are terrorist sympathizers

It's a proven fact now.

[sofa king]

8. Just a hunch here, but....

I've long suspected that the real reason why the al Qaeda financial network has been so difficult to unravel is because part of it flows through the GOP.

That would explain a lot of things, like how John Ashcroft stifled any inquiry into various terrorist financial operations, the gagging of Sibel Edmonds, and how the 9/11 terrorists managed to wander onto Jack Abramoff's casino boat on September 5, the day after they were directed to launder their remaining funds back to al Qaeda.

To launderers, it's probably a standard maneuver: move your illicit cash through the most corrupt politicians you can find, thus guaranteeing their protection. It doesn't matter if they know about it or not, because once they find out you've bought their allegiance forever.

[Bluebear]

11. 'part of it flows through the GOP.'

Evidently that is indeed the case!

[progressoid]

9. Hey, I just saw an in depth story on FOX about this...

psyche!

[pauldp]

14. LOL! Coming right up after the story on Saudi financed insurgents in Iraq. n/t

[Venus Dog]

12. Remember Delay entertaining the Taliban in Sugarland

back in 2001?

[struggle4progress]

13. Press coverage of "Abdul Tawala Ibn Ali Alishtari" is interesting:

Saturday February 17, 2007 1:01 AM
NY Man Accused of Wanting to Fund Terror
... A businessman ... also known as Michael Mixon ...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6421382,00.html

Westchester Man Accused Of Helping Terrorists
... also known as Michael Nixon ...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17190928/

NY businessman charged with financing terrorism
12:50PM Saturday February 17, 2007
... A New York businessman ... a US citizen born in the United States ...
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10424459

Cops: Man tried to fund terror
February 16, 2007, 7:54 PM EST
... A Westchester man ... whose country of origin and citizenship weren't disclosed ...
http://www.amny.com/news/local/am-terror0217,0,3082404.story?coll=am-local-headlines

Ardsley businessman accused of aiding terrorists
... calls himself a "conservative Republican" and a "Reagan Republican" devoted to peace, dedicated to halting child slavery as well as "Internet fraud, violence and online scams hurting innocent children, women, and families so help me God" ... says he now heads a company called IDPixie LLC that purports to offer identity theft protection solutions ... also claims to be a two-time recipient of the National Republican Congressional Committee's New York state Businessman of the Year award ... says he founded the Global Peace Film Festival ...
http://www.nynews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070217/NEWS02/702170352/1216

'TERROR' $$ MAN CHARGED
... purported peace activist ... drew media attention in 2003 for launching an annual movie project in Florida called Global Peace Film Festival ... self-described activist has also posted poetry on numerous Web sites advocating peace and radical Muslim ideology, as well as personal pledges to dedicate his time and money to stopping child slavery, fraud and violence ...
http://www.nypost.com/seven/02172007/news/regionalnews/terror__man_charged_regionalnews_kati_cornell.htm

Businessman accused in NYC of trying to help fund terror
... the administrator of a .. a fraudulent loan investment program ...
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny--terrorismcharge0216feb16,0,1124651.story?coll=ny-region-apnewyork

The press could aim at "Republican donor and scam artist Michael Nixon, a native-born US citizen " but often prefers "peace activist Abdul Tawala Ibn Ali Alishtari, whose country of origin and citizenship weren't disclosed"

[ooglymoogly]

15. Gee the GOP and terror are one and the same quell supreeeeze. nt

[Lucky Luciano]

16. Why am I not the least bit surprised?

As an aside, Bluebear, who is the woman in your avatar? I see several DUers with the same avatar. I assume I should therefore know who she is.

[walldude]

18. That's Molly Ivins the Texas columnist who passed away

last week of cancer. She is sorely missed..

As far as this story goes, it's amazing. I wonder what Fox news would be saying if this guy were a member of the Democratic "inner circle".

[Lucky Luciano]

19. ahhh...I did not recognize her younger picture.

I only know what her pics look like in her older years. A shame to see her go...definitely a clever wit and a truthteller. :patriot:

[Bluebear]

26. Cheers LL

She is irreplaceable. :(

[NoSheep]

17. naturally.

[Cabcere]

20. You know what's sad?

I am not in the least bit surprised. The only thing that even remotely shocks me about this is that there haven't been reports of more Republican donors doing stuff like this. x(

[FatDave]

21. What I find interesting

The indictment said Alishtari tried to support terrorists between June and December by accepting an unspecified amount of money to transfer $152,000 that he believed was being sent to Pakistan and Afghanistan to support an Afghanistan terrorist training camp.

He wasn't transferring his own money to Pakiganistan, he was paid by somebody else to transfer somebody else's money. The question I'd like answered is who those other parties are. Follow the money.

Chances are he's just your typical right-wing money-grubber who will chase a buck wherever it leads. But it could be more. That he was cooperating and suddenly clammed up, well, that's interesting too.

[KittyWampus]

22. Katrina Leung was a Chinese spy and big GOP fundraiser. She also fucked the guy investing Gore

for the bogus charges HE was getting illegal money from Buddhists...

[Katherine Brengle]

23. ...

:spray:

[kestrel91316]

24. Oy vey.

"...We are love buckets
full of liquid goo..."

I am speechless.

[Bluebear]

25. kick

[PhilipShore]

27. Yasith Chhun member of the National Republican Congressional Committee Indicted

Terrorist Fundraiser of the Year
TPMmuckraker
February 19, 2007

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/002601.php

Oops! Building on my last post on the NRCC's bogus Business Advisory Council and "Businessman of the Year" program, it turns out that Abdul Tawala Ibn Ali Alishtari isn't the first member of the council to be indicted on charges of supporting terrorism.

Yasith Chhun, the head of the Cambodian Freedom Fighters, a group designated by the State Department as a terrorist organization, was indicted in May of 2005 for charges of plotting to overthrow the Cambodian government. He was also, The Los Angeles Times reported, a member of the NRCC's Business Advisory Council:

Before his federal indictment this week had raised $6,550 for the National Republican Congressional Committee and was invited to sit on the group's Business Advisory Council, which has tens of thousands of members nationwide, said Carl Forti, a spokesman for the committee....

Chhun attended the annual meeting of the National Republican Congressional Committee's business advisory council in Washington, D.C., last year. Forti said the committee did not know Chhun's group had been designated a terrorist organization, saying it was impossible to do background checks on all its members.