Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Congressional Terrorist

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8U76PK82&show_article=1

This link will take you to an article that discusses the involvement of former US congressman and UN representative Mark Deli Siljander, a Republican from Michigan, in aiding a known terrorist in Pakistan. The allegation goes, that Siljander was working as a fundraiser for an Islamic charity that was sending money to supposed orphanages that later turned out to only be the addresses of personal property of a known terrorist Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.
Moreover, Representative Siljander is accused of taking $50,000 from the Islamic American Relief Agency for lobbying. As it turns out the $50,000 dollars was supposedly stolen from the US Agency for International Development. In other words, a US representative accepted stolen money from a charity that was using its donations to fund terrorists linked with the Taliban and Al Qieda. The same representative also aided the organization in gaining the funding that it needed to operate. Does Siljander qualify as a terrorist?
I feel that as long as he knew that he was supporting an organization that was directly funding a terrorist he is also a terrorist. Our readings point out that different members of terrorist cells and organizations have different responsibilities. Former Representative Siljander may not have ever fired a weapon or detonated a bomb, but he was fundamental in securing funding for organizations that are engaging in just such activities.

1 comment:

RC14 said...

Assuming the information here is true, I still would not consider the congressman to be a terrorist. To me, a person needs to be more actively involved in the specific operations of the terrorist organization to be considered a terrorist. For now, let's just consider him a sponsor of terrorism.