Nancy Pelosi was there today, and a few Republican reps. were there this week. President Bush urged both parties not to go, if I'm correct.
http://counterterrorismblog.org/2007...icials_mee.php
Why Are American Officials Meeting With Terrorists' Supporters?
By Andrew Cochran
The internet sites and cable TV shows are buzzing about the visit by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Syria today. She's not the only Member of Congress meeting with the Assad regime - three Republican Congressmen, including the normally sensible and reliable Rep. Frank Wolf of Virginia, also met with Assad this week against the express wishes of the Bush Administration. Do the four of them remember that they voted for the
Syria Accountability and Lebanese Sovereignty Restoration Act of 2003? The "Findings" in that Act include: "Terrorist groups, including Hizballah, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine--General Command, maintain offices, training camps, and other facilities on Syrian territory, and operate in areas of Lebanon occupied by the Syrian armed forces and receive supplies from Iran through Syria." and "The Government of Syria is pursuing the development and production of biological and chemical weapons and has a nuclear research and development program that is cause for concern." Did Speaker Pelosi, second in line to succeed to the office of President of the United States, forget
what she said on October 15, 2003, when she supported the Act? "The people of Israel and the cause of peace in the Middle East have been the traditional targets of the groups helped by Syria, but today’s attack on the U.S. convoy in Gaza is a reminder that the United States, and our interests around the world, are foremost on terrorist target lists." What possible good could come out of meeting with Syria and why send the unmistakable signal that the Act was a mistake? I called three of the Congresspersons' offices to ask for an explanation and received no response.
But there's no need to limit this criticism to just Congress. One top Bush Administration official, DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff,
invited Dr. Yahya Basha to set up a dinner with Muslim Americans in Detroit in February. Does Secretary Chertoff know or care about Dr. Basha's past and that of the organizations with which he has associated for years? Dr. Basha is a board member of the Muslim Public Affairs Council in Los Angeles and was the president of the
American Muslim Council, two groups with a long history of associations with terrorists and their supporters. For instance, the AMC is now defunct because its founder and chairman,
Abdurahman Alamoudi, was convicted for plotting to kill the Saudi Crown Prince.
According to the Treasury Department, Alamoudi had "a close relationship with al Qaida and had raised money for al Qaida in the United States."
Basha personally refused to support the Afghanistan campaign to remove the Taliban and Al Qaeda after the 9-11 attacks.
MPAC's "senior adviser,"
Maher Hathout (also president of the Islamic Center of Southern California), called Israel "the apartheid brutal state" and a nation of "butchers," and accused the United States of committing state terrorism. He also raised funds to defend
a convicted cop-killer, the militant formerly known as H. Rap Brown. On March 12 of last year, Hathout spoke at a fundraiser for Sami al-Arian, who ran Palestinian Islamic Jihad from his offices at the University of South Florida and was ultimately convicted of funding PIJ.
MPAC consistently criticized the Treasury Department and the Bush Administration for freezing the assets of the charities in the U.S. used to funnel money to the terrorists.
The dinner raises serious questions whether the Secretary of Homeland Security has any idea against whom we should set up our homeland security.
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