Friday, January 16, 2004
I've previously posted on the issue of the new proposed Boston Mosque and the pressure being put on Mayor Menino to alter the decision to allow construction on land the City has given at a massively discounted price.
Previous Solomonia posts on the Boston Herald series here and here, with a representative of the Islamic Soicety of Boston's response to the allegations re-posted here. Note: The original Boston Herald links are dead, but both articles are mirrored here: Part1, Part2. (With thanks to emailer Jonathan for several of the links used in this post.)
The story has picked up again with a post at Robert Spencer's Jihad Watch site here where Spencer points to this UPI report printed in the Washington Times that seems to bring new allegations against Islamic Center's Chair, Osama M. Kandil, specifically that he "is one of three directors of Taibah International Aid Association, a Muslim charity long suspected by investigators in the United States and Europe of funding international terrorism." Further, "records show during the past 15 years Kandil has surrounded himself with an array of individuals investigators say are working within the United States to support militant Islam's worldwide agenda..."
The Washington Times report is referring to a pair of new Herald articles, Hub Islamic leader’s radical links run deep and Islamic leader included in fed finance probe.
From the first article:
``I was never part of that group,'' Kandil said. ``I was never involved in their activities.''
The Islamic Society of Boston echoed that claim: ``There is absolutely no other connection between Dr. Kandil and any other organization that supports terrorism.''[...]
However, findings by the Herald in the past two months are starkly at odds with those claims. The most striking fact is Kandil's leadership position with Taibah International Aid Association, which has been the subject of terrorism investigations dating back to 1997.
In 2002, Taibah was identified by investigators in Bosnia as ``under the direction of'' the Muslim Brotherhood, one of the oldest Islamic terrorist groups in the world.
Both U.S. and Bosnian officials determined Taibah worked hand-in-hand in Bosnia with another Islamic charity, Global Relief Foundation in Bridgeview, Ill., which the United States named as a ``Specially Designated Global Terrorist'' in October 2002.
According to the U.S. Treasury Department, Global Relief's Arabic newsletter regularly sought donations for armed Islamic jihad, including one solicitation for money ``for equipping the raiders, for the purchase of ammunition and food, and for their (the Mujahideen's) transportation so that they can raise God the Almighty's word.''
The relationship between Taibah and Global Relief was so close, Taibah stepped in to represent Global Relief's interests in Bosnia after the government there shut down Global Relief for supporting terrorists, FBI records show.
In 2001, one month after the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States, Taibah's Bosnia office was raided in connection with a terrorist plot to blow up the U.S. Embassy there. It turned out at least one of the six men arrested in the scheme worked for Taibah.
At present, Taibah is targeted in two related federal cases as involved in financing terrorist groups. In one, Taibah is named as a member of the Safa Group of companies and charities, which the government says has financed terrorist groups including Hamas and al-Qaeda.
In the other, investigators found Taibah served as an agent for another non-profit group, the Success Foundation in Falls Church, Va, which the government alleges has funneled money to the terrorist group Hamas...
Sometimes what people don't say is just as instructive as what they do say:
But when the Herald asked him for his views on suicide bombings, he declined comment.
``I'd rather not discuss this issue,'' Kandil said. ``I'd rather focus on the ISB (mosque) project. I'm the chairman of the board of trustees and the board has never discussed this subject. I don't want to talk about my personal opinion because I don't want it to be confused with the board's opinion.''
