Federal agents are peeling away the layers of an extensive domestic terrorist support nexus, and some of America’s most politically active Muslim groups have been implicated in the process. On August 22nd, President Bush designated five charities and six senior Hamas officials as Special Designated Global Terrorist Entities (SDGTs), freezing their assets and barring financial transactions with US nationals. The move was in response to the August 19 suicide bombing that killed 21 Israelis, for which Hamas claimed responsibility. As US Treasury Secretary John Snow said, “Hamas’ leaders and those who provide their funding again have the blood of innocents on their hands.”

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When the man who once said he would defend Osama bin Laden is defending a former AMC and CAIR employee; when an AMC board member is under federal investigation for his company’s illicit ties to terrorists; when founding members of American Muslim organizations become designated terrorists, we must ask ourselves how much longer we can continue to believe the claim that such groups represent the interests of America’s moderate Muslims, and whether the Bush administration should continue to give them a political avenue to further their dangerous agenda.