It is increasingly clear that there is either a) a major communication gap or b) a very deliberate campaign to keep repeating an unfounded assertion until everyone has heard it so many times they assume it must be true. Case in point, an article in yesterday's Toledo Blade, "Group claims snub by U.S. Treasury", states:
"A public relations battle is continuing between the treasury department and the nation's largest Muslim organizations — whose leaders say their charities have been shut down without cause since the War on Terror began after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks."
It is not a coincidence that most of the charities referred to here were part of the Council of American Muslim Charities (CAMC) and should be looked at as a network of like-minded Islamist charities rather than several charities which happen to be Islamic.
Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLFRD) (See the Department of Treasury Press Release; the Department of Justice Indictment {pdf}; and the Department of Justice Press Release)
Al-Haramain (See the Department of Treasury Press Release)
Islamic African Relief Agency (IARA) (See the Department of Treasury Press Release)
Benevolence International Foundation (BIF) (See the Department of Treasury Press Release)
Global Relief Foundation (GRF) (See the Department of Treasury Press Release)
Without Cause?
Perhaps this is where there is a loss of translation. What does "cause" mean? The reasons for the closures, in all of these cases, have been outlined in painful detail in indictments, press releases, and sentencing documents. In the case of the Holy Land Foundation, the HLF even had the opportunity to sue the Department of Justice for their funds. They lost, generating even more evidence to the public. These are not esoteric documents, they are easily accessible to anyone who wishes to read them. Media outlets have also tracked down original source materials and reported on the evidence.
Let us get into specifics: The article quotes Agha Saeed, founder of the American Muslim Alliance, complaining about the Treasury Department's latest action against a Hamas-linked charity, KindHearts, in February of this year. Saeed states, "Our community wants to be on the right side of the law, but it's not clear what is the right side." What Mr. Saeed might not want to acknowledge is that the law in this area could not be any clearer.
Title 18 § 2339B of the U.S. Criminal Code explicitly states, in part:
(a) Prohibited Activities.—
(1) Unlawful conduct.— Whoever, within the United States or subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, knowingly provides material support or resources to a foreign terrorist organization, or attempts or conspires to do so, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 15 years, or both, and, if the death of any person results, shall be imprisoned for any term of years or for life.
(2) Financial institutions.— Except as authorized by the Secretary, any financial institution that becomes aware that it has possession of, or control over, any funds in which a foreign terrorist organization, or its agent, has an interest, shall—
(A) retain possession of, or maintain control over, such funds; and
(B) report to the Secretary the existence of such funds in accordance with regulations issued by the Secretary. [emphasis added]
And Hamas, as everyone knows - or should know - is currently designated as a "foreign terrorist organization" and has been since January 23, 1995, by virtue of President Clinton's Executive Order 12947 (pdf).
Which brings us to the freezing of KindHearts' assets by the Treasury Department earlier this year. Again in today's Toledo Blade:
"If there is evidence then throw the book at them," Mr. Saeed said. "But why is it they have been shut down without any formal trial or court of law? This has become the easiest way — accuse them of something, keep them in the cold storage for a while, and then they are dead."
Again, Mr. Saeed should read 18 U.S.C. § 2339B, and, if he's actually interested in evidence, he should read the Department of Treasury's press release on KindHearts, with three sections, entitled, "Support to Hamas in Lebanon," Support to Hamas in the West Bank," and most damagingly, "Cooperation with U.S.-Based Hamas Leader," which outlines KindHearts' use of indicted HLFRD fundraiser Mohammed El-Mezain, identified by Hamas Secretary General, and Specially Designated Global Terrorist, Khaled Meshaal, as the leader of Hamas in the United States.
The evidence presented at the forthcoming HLFRD trial will determine the ultimate fate of the charity and its leadership. In the meantime, the U.S. government is tasked with preventing present and future violence, and the funding of organizations that traffic in violence against civilians, as much as with bringing perpetrators to justice. Freezing the assets of entities that funnel resources to terrorists is nothing more than locking the barn door before the horses bolt.
http://counterterrorismblog.org/2006/05/lost_in_translation_misunderst.php