Former GOP congressman charges with helping al Qaeda supporter

BBC:

A former US congressman has been charged with helping to fund "a key al-Qaeda supporter" in Afghanistan.

A US grand jury indicted ex-Republican congressman from Michigan, Mark Deli Siljander, with money laundering, conspiracy and obstructing justice.

It is alleged he lobbied for a charity that sent funds to al-Qaeda and Taleban supporter Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.

Mr Siljander was a congressman from 1981-1987 and served one year as a US delegate to the United Nations.

The 42-count grand jury indictment alleges Mr Siljander lied about lobbying senators on behalf of the Missouri-based Islamic American Relief Agency (IARA).

The indictment alleges the charity sent about $130,000 (£66,000) in 2003 and 2004 to accounts in Peshawar, Pakistan, that Gulbuddin Hekmatyar had access to.

It alleges the charity paid Mr Siljander $50,000 that was stolen from a US development agency.

It says Siljander "engaged in money laundering and obstruction of a federal investigation in an effort to disguise IARA's misuse of taxpayer money that the government had provided for humanitarian purposes".

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While the amount of money involved is not large the charges are significant. It will be interesting to see where all this money trail leads. This case is a reminder of another time when Muslims favored the GOP over the Democrats. That situation has changed since we were attacked by Muslim religious bigots. The Muslims now favor the Democrats who are desperate to lose the war in Iraq.