Former congressman indicted as part of terror fund-raising ring
Update: He’s Debbie Schlussel’s former boss.
Update: Oops. There goes the book! (Hat tip – Kevin)
Former Michigan congressman Mark Siljander will recount his spiritual journey in which he “discovered commonalities between Islam and Christianity” in Reconcilable Differences: The True Story of the Quest to Bridge the Divide Between Islam and Christianity, slated for a summer 2008 publication by HarperSanFrancisco. Siljander also served as US ambassador to the United Nations.
Update: Here you go…he’s a Republican from Michigan who shilled for the Islamic American Relief Agency…
A former congressman and delegate to the United Nations was indicted Wednesday as part of a terrorist fundraising ring that allegedly sent more than $130,000 to an al-Qaida and Taliban supporter who has threatened U.S. and international troops in Afghanistan.
The former Republican congressman from Michigan, Mark Deli Siljander, was charged with money laundering, conspiracy and obstructing justice for allegedly lying about lobbying senators on behalf of an Islamic charity that authorities said was secretly sending funds to terrorists.
Bastard.
Background on the “charity” via the Kansas City Star:
A Kansas City grand jury has charged a defunct charity in Columbia with sending money to an Afghan terrorist with ties to al Qaida and the Taliban.
The indictment, returned early this afternoon, also accuses a former U.S. congressman of money laundering, conspiracy and obstruction of justice.
The new charges were added to an earlier indictment that charged the Islamic American Relief Agency and several of its officers with sending money to Iraq during Saddam Hussein’s reign in violation of U.S. sanctions.
According to the new charges, the charity sent about $130,000 in 2003 and 2004 to bank accounts in Pakistan, allegedly for an orphanage housed in buildings owned by Glubuddin Hekmatyar, an Afghan mujahideen leader.
The U.S. government designated Hekmatyar as a global terrorist in February 2003 because of his links to al Qaida and the Taliban.
The new charges also accuse Mark Deli Siljander, who represented Michigan in Congress from 1981-1987, of receiving $50,000 from the charity in 2004. Siljander, who operates a Washington D.C. public relations firm, was hired to lobby Congress to remove the charity from a U.S. Senate Finance Committee list of non-profit organizations suspected of being involved in supporting international terrorism.
Lawhawk is tracking down the 42-count indictment.
***
That’s what an AP alert is reporting at the moment. No word on the identity.
Who is it?
And bets on which political party and which state the former congressman belongs to? Keep in mind–both parties have flirted with jihadis.
See what others have said
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- Former Congressman indicted on terrorist fundraising charges | Infidels Are Cool
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- Right Voices » Blog Archive » Former Michigan Congressman, And Lobbyist/Loyalist for Rev. Moon, Now Indicted As Shill for “Islamic charity”
- JABbering Stooge :: Another Stereotype Bites the Dust :: January :: 2008
- Former Republican Congressman Accused of Aiding Islamic Terrorists, and Receiving $50K in Return
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Anyone taking bets on names and party affiliation?
Whoever it is……..
I wasn’t there.
Nobody saw me
You can’t prove a thing
It’s all a right wing plot
That’s my story & I’m sticking to it.
100% Dem…
Don’t be so sure.
Because they don’t mention the party in the alert, it must be the Democrat party.
What an AP alert. You would think they could muster more than one sentence.
Mark Deli Siljander
Check in the freezer!
Now that I think about it, if it is a Democrat, we probably won’t hear about it.
Fund raising indictment….. I’ll give you three guesses as to who will be associated with this. But she will deny, deny, deny, and the “press” will ignore, ignore, ignore.
See the update. It’s Michigan Republican Mark Deli Siljander.
Where did you get that, MrC_5150?
He is a former Republican congressman from Illinois. Did you find an article somewhere implicating him?
Former Congressman Mark Deli Siljander Indicted
they name the congressman, but not the delegate to the UN.
Surely, it is NOT Bolton? So maybe it is the one that they (the Dems) allowed in? Maybe why they were so adamant about fighting Bolton’s nomination?
I give up, who?
Ahhh! Got it!
I’m with you, Michelle. He’s a pretty worthless individual. He deserves the worst he can get from it, regardless of party affiliation, period!
OK, never heard of him, but Michigan makes sense. I’m sure now the NYT and the rest of the MSM (now that it’s a Republican) will be hyperventilating on this one ig time. As I said previously, if it was a Dem, it would probably be a footnote on page 48.
From Wikipedia…
Sound the alarm.
Siljander was both a former-congressman and delegate to the UN, I believe, uhangtight.
What a complete loser. What would Washington do with traitors?
When are we finally going to see one of these lowlifes tried on treason charges? What will it take?
Wow, suprised they didn’t wait until a month before presidential election to announce it.
From Michigan….well go figure, a state who elects Granholm (Gov) and Kilpatrick (Detroit Mayor) for second terms.
How come they don’t hang traitors anymore??? That’s what I call securing the country.
You’re welcome.
They need to make an example out of this bastard and try him for treason!!!!!
It’s the money. It’s always about the money. Wonder what was in it for him?!
If true, this goes to the extreme power that the ideology of Islam exerts over the every day lives of Muslims that seem ordinary in every other way.
This basically underlines the need for the 2nd amendment. What with the jihadis in the pentagon throwing their weight around and the UN always plotting against American interests and now this congressman earning money from giving favors to our enemies, basically with a government like this, who needs enemy governments?
Eventually we are going to have to use our 2nd amendment rights (if we have any left) against our government. If this is a government ‘for the people, of the people, and by the people’, the only question is who are the people that the government is for, of, and by? Apparently not the taxpayers.
Money.
here is his bio
What the deuce!
Oh no, just you wait. They’re holding out on that. We’ll have plenty of October surprises. Especially if the Clinton machine is working on it.
Nice choice of words…… The word ‘treason’ also comes to mind.
He was a “radio commentator”? Does Al Jazeera have a radion network for whom he was working or something?
Who in the U.S. had him on their line-up?
Get over the party affiliation crap folks. There are unmitigated bums everywhere.
Taint knows no bounds regardless if you’re conservative or liberal.
Okay. How’s about “Treasonous Bastard”?
“Don’t indite me bro!”
I’m with you josetheguerilla and give the low life lying crapweasel the ultimate penalty he deserves for betraying this country and those that risk their lives to defend it.
Obviously no worse that Hanoi Jane Fonda.
Let’s put him in a burqa and give him a one-way ticket to the next Taliban convention. Or would that be going too easy on him?
#27 On January 16th, 2008 at 3:01 pm, ThackerAgency said:
“This basically underlines the need for the 2nd amendment. What with the jihadis in the pentagon throwing their weight around and the UN always plotting against American interests and now this congressman earning money from giving favors to our enemies, basically with a government like this, who needs enemy governments?
Eventually we are going to have to use our 2nd amendment rights (if we have any left) against our government. If this is a government ‘for the people, of the people, and by the people’, the only question is who are the people that the government is for, of, and by? Apparently not the taxpayers.”
Exactly.
This dovetails with the discussion at yesterday’s “liberalnomics” thread.
It seems that we might be approaching the time when:
1-We REALLY might not be able to trust “our” government (i.e., more than just a general comment during conversation), and;
2-Nontaxpayers may become the voting majority…what do you think might happen then?
To bad I was’nt picked for this one cause I would vote to have him shot.
Oh yeah I forgot we just send them to prison for 10 year’s.
Nothing less than firing squad, and not the human resources type.
He should and will pay a very high price. Useless garbage.
I’m sorry but you have to know the Lame Stream Media will blast his party affiliation loud and clear. Funny how that is left out when a Democrap is in trouble but it’s mentioned quite often when it’s the other way around. But there’s no bias in the media.
Waterboard the bastard in boiling oil.
10 years for “support of terrorism”? How about trying him for treason? It would seem that he has indeed committed treason for providing aid and comfort to the enemy in a time of war. He is being treated, however, with kid gloves. Perhaps his buddies in DC put in a good word.
#43 On January 16th, 2008 at 3:22 pm, hatelibs said:
“But there’s no bias in the media.”
‘Course there isn’t.
What WERE you thinking?!
Sure he’s a former comgressman from Michigan, and which majority in Michigan do you think elected him to office? And, Obama did not run in the primary in Michigan most likely because he didn’t want everyone to see the degree of support coming from the same folks who elected Siljander. Pieces are coming together.
ROFLMAO
Here’s a suggestion. Should he be found guilty, I recommend he be sentenced to serve as a tackling dummy at the Marine Corps Basic School in Quantico.
Wow, Just WOW.
Two things:
1 ~ We need to see some people (like this guy) up on treason charges where the penalty is death.
2 ~ After reading this and the thread about the Mexican lawmakers lobbying to have that AZ law repealed, I think we need a law (or enforce it if it already exists) to outlaw the ability of non-citizens to petition any lawmaker anywhere – federal, state or local…
If we send him to Gitmo the libs will protest ON his behalf. The Traitorous Scum.
Sunshein~
Then why did most all the other Dems withdraw from that meaningless primary, since the DNC stripped the state of all it’s delegates to the nominating convention. Sounds too tinfoil hat for me…
#50
On January 16th, 2008 at 3:39 pm, Miss Ladybug said:
Two things:
1 ~ We need to see some people (like this guy) up on treason charges where the penalty is death.
Use a firing squad and televise it.
Sorry gang, I forgot to use the “sarcasm” tag in mentioning no media bias.
Then again, I know you knew I was being sarcastic and just using it to have some fun of your own.
There is something to be said for reducing the rate of recidivism with public executions, madchef. LOL
He deserves a fair trial and then a hanging in front of a firing squad.
He deserves the same fate a Bill Keller at the NY Slimes.
Well, Miss Ladybug, Sen. Clinton ran and did receive approbations from the MSM for the votes she received. Had Sen. Obama run, with his supporters there, he would have most likely won, regardless of whether it was a meaningless primary or not.
With a lethal injection in one arm and current running through a nice headpiece too?
Sunshein~
That still doesn’t answer why most all other Dem candidates also withdrew from that contest. I don’t want any of the Dems in office (they are all socialists), but I think you are seeing some conspiracy where there isn’t one…
We don’t try people for treason anymore around here. It might offend someone. Nah, we just smack em on the hand, say “bad boy” and send him home…on probation, of course. Or, get him sentenced to 10-20 years, and let him out in 30 days…on good behavior.
My own list of “Commonalities between Islam and Christianity”…
1. Christians and Muslims both have human DNA.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Okay, that’s all I’ve got.
Also, he endorsed Duncan Hunter for the presidency. Not saying he is Rep. Hunter’s responsibility, but surprising considering he’s held in such high esteem here.
Siljander’s Reverend Moon connections
Exactly Ladybug, but the piglets always want to make sure the sow has enough teats to go around. They’ll never shut off a source of funding.
Ever notice that “Islamic Charity” is always synonymous with “Islamic Terrorist”?
Ever notice that when ou get invovled with Islam, you come out stinking of terrorism?
Why is it, that no one ever comes away from dealing with Islam stinking of Moderation? Why is it, that they never come away stinking of Liberalism? Why would such a small “Miority Faction” of such a large religion hold such a large influence?
Why, the mind boggles at these questions. And…why is it, every time I have repeatedly posed these and similar questions to the Liberal Peanut Gallery, they not only go unanswered, the Liberal Peanut Gallery clears out faster than a Tiajuana Whore House when the lights go on and the money and tequila run out?
Yup…truly mind boggling…even here in Kentucky…
The traitor is a…
As Bryan said, throw the book at him. And I’ll add, make that literally.
And the story breaks right after the primary… hmmmm.
What difference would it have made? 10 out of 10 Michigan residents wouldn’t have been able to tell you who he was yesterday…Now they know who he is!
Bag ‘em and tag ‘em, then dye ‘em and fry ‘em.
Hope they hand him his balls in a bag.
Peejz, I question the timing, but I guess you are right… it would have made no difference.
Should Mr. Mark Deli Siljander be found guilty of treason in a time of war, he should be reminded on his hide that our imaginative ancestors knew what to do with traitors. Going medieval, or Mohammedan as might be more to his liking, on a white-male Republican should summon forth few protests and the execution could serve as a pointed warning to others.
And before anyone complains about the prohibition against “cruel and unusual punishment,” let me state that drawing-and-quartering, as an example only, was hardly unusual in those days. Moreover, no-one pays any attention to what the Constitution says on any other matter these days, so why fret about that one?
I wasn’t being flip when I responded, I was being serious..I’d have questioned it had it come out as an October surprise…
I am sure that both Obama and Edwards would have loved to have run in MI, but they adhered to the rules of the DNC..big shocker that Sir Hillary didn’t..Michigan Democrats, led by the Governor, moved the primary up in violation of party rules. Michigan was given ample opportunity to go back to the “Super Tuesday” date but refused..DNC stripped the delegates, but rumor is that they will come back into play in the event of this race being in a tie situation..Candidates asked to skip Michigan, all agreed including Hillary, but then she changed her mind..
So unless those are the pieces that are coming together for you, I would hope this makes it more clear..
He’ll probably get sentenced to 2,000 hours of community service and forfeiture of his broadcast license(if there is such a thing).Sort of like that other traitorous bastard.
Found guilty of treason? heck, he was just executing his First Ammendment Rights. Just put him in some Birkenstocks, give him a puppet and a sign and let him march with all the other supporters and apologists of the “Religion of Peace”, Republican or not. Why is what he doing and done any different that anything else any other Liberal or apologist or supporter of Islam doing or done, hmmm? Why is it different than what CAIR is doing or has done?
Why are you guys being so Islamophobic?
What happened to ‘Innocent until proven guilty’? Shouldn’t we wait until he’s been convicted before hating him? He has no history of helping terrorists or working against U.S interests.
I heard a comedian on Sirius Radio the other day remarking on the term “cruel and unusual punishment” that should apply here; If you shot all traitors, it wouldn’t be considered “unusual.”
Methinks my witty banter and comedy was a bit lost on Umair.
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