Mark D. Siljander
Encyclopedia
Mark Deli Siljander is a former Republican
U.S. Representative and deputy United Nations
ambassador from the state of Michigan
who was convicted of obstruction of justice and acting as an unregistered
foreign agent
related to his work for an Islamic charity with ties to international terrorism. Siljander pleaded guilty to the charges in Federal court on July 7, 2010.
, Illinois
, where he attended the public schools, having graduated in 1969 from Oak Park and River Forest High School
. He received a Bachelor of Science
degree from Western Michigan University
in Kalamazoo, Michigan
, in 1972 and a Master of Arts
from Western Michigan in 1973. Siljander was awarded an honorary doctorate
in humanities
from Coral Ridge Baptist University
, Jacksonville, Florida
, and a Ph.D.
in international business
from George Wythe College
, Cedar City, Utah
(accreditation pending
), where he was listed as a faculty member. He served as a trustee
on Fabius Township
Board in St. Joseph County, Michigan
, from 1972–1976 and also worked as a real estate broker.
in 1980. He was elected by special election to the United States House of Representatives
from Michigan's 4th congressional district
to the 97th Congress
to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of David A. Stockman, and was subsequently reelected to the two succeeding Congresses, serving from April 21, 1981, to January 3, 1987. The Fourth Congressional district at that time was in southwestern Michigan and included Three Rivers
and Kalamazoo
.
Although the 4th (and its successor, the 6th) has traditionally been a bastion of moderate Republicanism, Siljander was an outspoken social conservative
. Time
reported on Siljander's election:
Siljander won 74 percent of the vote against his Democratic opponent, Johnie A. Rodebush, in 1981. In 1984, Siljander sponsored a single-sentence amendment which read, "For the purposes of this Act, the term 'person' shall include unborn children from the moment of conception." Alexander Cockburn
referred to the Siljander Amendment as "the most far-reaching of all the measures dreamed up by the conservative right to undercut Roe v. Wade." It failed 186-219.
Debbie Schlussel
, who interned in Siljander's office, stated that Siljander was known then as "the most pro-Israel Congressman on Capitol Hill". In 1985, Siljander proposed legislation which would deny Most Favored Nation status to countries that discriminate on cultural, ethnic or religious grounds.
Siljander was defeated in the 1986 Republican primary by his successor Fred Upton
. Siljander's defeat was attributed to a controversial mailing he made during the party primary asking fundamentalists to "break the back of Satan
" by praying and fasting for his re-election. He served on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and on its Middle East and Africa subcommittees
.
Siljander was appointed by President Reagan as an alternate representative to the United Nations General Assembly
, serving from September 1987 to September 1988. He was an unsuccessful candidate in 1992 for nomination to the 103rd Congress
from Virginia. He stated then his message was, "not religious values as much as it's common-sense American traditional values." He campaigned on a budget freeze
, a ten percent flat tax
and a line-item veto
. In the Republican primary, Siljander came in second to Henry N. Butler
, a law professor at George Mason University
. Leslie L. Byrne
won the general election.
, a Christian right
legal fund.
In 1997, Siljander joined the lobbying firm Advantage Associates, which then employed 12 former members of Congress. Other members of the firm include firm president Bill Sarpalius
, Bill Alexander
, Ron Coleman, Bill Grant
, Robert P. Hanrahan
, Jerry Huckaby
, Jerry M. Patterson
, Howard Wallace Pollock
, Richard Ray
, Richard T. Schulze
, and Bill Zeliff
.
Siljander ended his ties with Advantage Associates prior to 2000.
Now a resident of Great Falls
, Virginia, Siljander is president of Global Strategies, Inc., a consulting firm in Washington, D.C.
, operates an import-export firm, and works as a radio commentator. He has written a book, A Deadly Misunderstanding: A Congressman's Quest to Bridge the Muslim-Christian Divide, listed as "For Sale: 10/7/2008" by HarperOne.
Siljander has met with leaders throughout the Islamic world. Siljander has also regularly briefed both Congress and the White House on areas of Islamic extremism and counter-terrorism. Siljander currently consults for top US based security contractors on areas of terrorist threats and conflict resolution and has worked closely with UN Secretary General Ban Kai Moon to resolve the continuing humanitarian disaster in Darfur.
Siljander's recent book, A Deadly Misunderstanding is a 2009 Nautilus Silver Award Winner.
In 2009, Siljander, whose daughter is currently deployed in the Middle East, joined Gold Star, Mother Amy Branham and retired Colonel James Hanke US Army Special Forces, former Military Attache to Israel under Ambassador Thomas Pinkerton, as a co-editor of Veterans Today, a "progressive" online publication supporting veterans and military families.
, particularly in the Islamic world
, and in recent years has tried to publicize the common ground between Christianity and Islam, particularly in the portrayal of Jesus in the Qur'an. Early in his career, Siljander heard a speaker read from the Qur'an
at a prayer breakfast, unaware that this was not a reading from the Bible. When the truth was announced to his surprise, Siljander wrote a letter to the speaker, stating: "How can you read the book of the devil
at a prayer breakfast?"
He described himself as "trained as an evangelical Christian
; I was a poster boy for Jerry Falwell
." He is widely traveled, and claims to have visited over 120 countries. In November 2006, Siljander gave a speech at Regent's Park College, Oxford
, entitled "Overcoming the Muslim Western Divide: Seven Bridges to the Common Ground." Siljander has studied Aramaic
, Arabic
and Hebrew language
s.
in the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri
on five counts including money laundering
, conspiracy
and obstruction of justice
.
As part of the same investigation, several supporters of the Islamic American Relief Agency
, a United Nations NGO (Non Governmental Organization) were indicted for raising funds that were allegedly sent to Gulbuddin Hekmatyar
, whom the United States has later designated as a global terrorist. The indictment claims that the money, sent to bank accounts in Peshawar
, Pakistan
in 2003 and 2004, was masked as donations to an orphanage located in buildings that Hekmatyar owned. Hekmatyar, a long time CIA and US ally, is believed to be working in combination with the US backed government of Pakistan:
Those under indictment in related investigations face 42 counts on charges of money laundering
, conspiracy
, and obstruction of justice
and material support of terrorism. The Islamic American Relief Agency is a 25 year old charity that had been receiving support from the US government for many years and been openly supported by Washington insiders until the listed indictments were filed.
Siljander himself faces only five counts, none of which are related to terrorism and are confined to money laundering, obstruction and conspiracy related to accusations of lobbying. Siljander alleges that his lobbying consisted of using USAID funds to subsidize the writing of his book intended to provide strategies to undermine the influence of Islamic extremism.
The indictments against IARA members other than Siljander are based on allegations of underlying crime stemming from a Ziyad Khaleel
, who served as a regional manager for the charity in question as early as 96 and is said to have purchased a satellite phone for Bin Laden. Even though Khaleel was believed to be associated with the charity according to the FBI and to have been a terrorist supporter, it took over four years for the US Government decide to blacklist the IARA and cut off U.S. government funding.
"It's not clear whether Siljander ever engaged in the lobbying push," said John Wood, U.S. attorney in Kansas City. Nevertheless, IARA paid Siljander with money that was part of U.S. government funding awarded to the charity years earlier for relief work it promised to perform in Africa, the indictment says.
Prosecutors initially alleged that Siljander was paid $50,000 by the Islamic American Relief Agency for acting as a lobbyist, money that was assigned by the U.S. Agency for International Development
for other unnamed tasks. On January 28, 2008, Siljander appeared for a brief hearing in Kansas City, Missouri
and pleaded not guilty in Federal court before a U.S. Magistrate Judge.
However, the source of the allegedly misused funds, the USAID, a government agency tasked with promoting American values worldwide, indicates that none of their funds were misused: "According to the most recent USAID Office of Inspector General report, which covers October 2006 to the end of March 2007, "OIG oversight activities during this period did not identify any instances where terrorist organizations received USAID funds." USAID audit procedures should be enough to prevent terrorist financing."
Further, the USAID indicates that there is no mechanism for effectively monitoring "blacklisted" groups: "USAID cannot confirm or deny whether an individual passed or failed screening." This secrecy was part of the focus of comments OMB Watch submitted to USAID, which stated, "PVS will more than likely result in the creation of a secret USAID blacklist of ineligible grant applicants, based on PVS results. Organizations and individuals erroneously listed as having ties with terrorism will have no way of knowing they are deemed as such, or why. Innocent and well deserving grantees will have no formal means of appealing such decisions."
It has recently been admitted by the Bush Administration in conjunction with a variety of organizations that efforts to effectively screen groups from potential involvement in support of terrorism have been plagued with errors at every level. "The decision, announced Tuesday at a meeting of U.S. officials and representatives of nonprofit groups, was made after lawmakers and several large aid organizations said that the global screening requirements were onerous and unwarranted. An official of the U.S. Agency for International Development had earlier promised to defer the program, which initially was to have taken effect Monday."
With such overbroad application of enforcement, according to OMBWatch, any vendor or supplier could face prosecution. Equally, no person could donate funds to any charity organization where the remote chance that any relationship, no matter how tenuous or obscure, may exist or have existed with any organization or individual tied to a "blacklist."
An argument would thus follow that the issue of prosecutorial targeting tied to political concerns, rather than security issues would provide a basis for an affirmative defense, supported by the wide number of controversies tied to Gonzales appointees and the litany of accusations they face as outlined here.
The Afghan warlord tied by this indictment to the IARA, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, is reported to have had a long relationship with the Central Intelligence Agency and to have been the recipient of millions in US funding:
"As the US mobilizes for covert war in Afghanistan (see 1978 and July 3, 1979), a CIA special envoy meets Afghan mujaheddin leaders at Peshawar, Pakistan, near the border to Afghanistan. All of them have been carefully selected by the Pakistani ISI and do not represent a broad spectrum of the resistance movement. One of them is Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, a drug dealer with little support in Afghanistan, but who is loyal to the ISI. The US will begin working with Hekmatyar and over the next 10 years over half of all US aid to the mujaheddin will go to his faction (see 1983)."
Hekmatyar's history, prior to working with the CIA is further related as follows:
U.S. Attorney Bradley Schlozman
, an unconfirmed Bush appointee in the Justice Department dismissal of U.S. attorneys controversy
, had been largely responsible for the management and development of the Siljander case, though the indictment was filed after his resignation/removal. Schlozman's history up to this point was as a Republican Party appointee working in the Civil Rights Voting division pushing for tougher voter ID laws in conjunction with Attorney Thor Hearne, top GOP pointman on this issue. Hearne directs the American Center for Voting Rights
, a GOP organization. Oddly, Hearne's Missouri law firm, Lathrop and Gage, represents the IARA in the related terrorism case.
In an amended news release, Schlozman was made to correct errors in the initial press release which tried to tie Siljander to terrorist organizations.
Schlozman resigned from the DOJ and is currently under a cloud of suspicion regarding irregular elements of his appointment and alleged "voter suppression" activities.
That the source of the funds alleged to have been sent to support terrorism was the US Government itself, is a critical aspect of the charges that are unreported in the media and were not made clear in the DOJ press conferences. The IARA is known to have had wide support in Washington as a "pro-American" Islamic group and was not "blacklisted" as "giving material support to terrorist organizations" until well after the period covered by the indictment.
Additionally, endorsements of Siljander's recent book demonstrate that he still has support from the powerful conservative group, the Heritage Foundation, members of whose leadership are currently managing Siljander's legal defense fund along with former Secretary of State James Baker III, former Attorney General Ed Meese and UN Secretary General Ban Kai Moon. Additionally, many conservative leaders, Christian evangelists and foundations, despite the current indictment, continue to support Siljander and express incredulity at DOJ actions in this case.
A report released in a Justice Department audit performed by Justice Department Inspector General Gerald Fine, on March 18, 2008, indicated that "the FBI and other agencies had, since 2003, proven incapable of managing watch lists or coordinating activities." The charity in question, the IARA, represented by lobbyist, former Congressman Hanrahan, and the primary subject of the series of indictments was one of the groups at the heart of this confusion and ambiguity.
FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) wiretaps were used to support "domestic" charges against Siljander. A number of legal experts believe that the use of FISA intercepts in domestic cases may be outside the scope of the Act. As some charges against Siljander are unrelated to any foreign activity or any relationship to terrorism in any form yet are purportedly supported by FISA wiretaps, this case may provide a challenge to other FISA related cases. Highly classified documents, accidentally released to defendants in an unrelated case, showed that the government targeted individuals in domestic wiretaps, an act clearly outside FISA authorization and generally recognized as unconstitutional.
Defense and veteran related sources claim that Siljander's newly moderated religious views, or his staunch opposition to the Iraq invasion, are seen by some as a betrayal of his staunch support of Israel and the Christian Right. However, there is no substantiation that there is any relationship between these issues and the current legal case. This brings into question the possibility Siljander may have been targeted because of his staunch and very public criticism of intelligence use to support the Iraq invasion.
Siljander alleges he never engaged in lobbying for this group but referred the group to former Congressman Robert Hanrahan, long associated with the American Tobacco Institute. U.S. Attorney John Wood initially suggested this fact, now admittedly an error, was at the heart of charges against Siljander. Records indicate that a different former Congressman, Robert Hanrahan (R-IL) had represented the accused Islamic charity and had been responsible for lobbying Senator Grassley on behalf of the group. Former Congressman Hanrahan, has signed an affidavit indicating this but has not been the subject of any investigation or scrutiny, though funds paid to Hanrahand were from, both an identical source and paid under identical circumstances as funds paid to Siljander.
That US Attorney John Wood's statement indicating that Siljander may not have been lobbying for the group may contradict the heart of the indictment brought by Wood remains an enigmatic aspect of this case.
As early as 1989, the IARA and Khaleel, president of the Muslim Student Association, had been linked to terrorist groups but that information had never been acted on and funds from the US continued to flow to that group for 9 more years.
Actions against the group, beginning with ending their State Department funding in December 1999 are unclear, especially in light of conflicting opinions and inconsistent information about this group.
[In December 1999, Thomas Pickering, undersecretary of state for political affairs, demanded the cancellation of the contracts because they were "contrary to the national defense and foreign policy interests of the United States," the State Department has said.
While the projects were canceled, roughly $1 million had been disbursed to the group, State Department spokesman Edgar Vasquez said Friday.
He said he could not discuss the exact reasons for Pickering's actions because Pickering's letter canceling the contracts was classified.
The respected Islamic charity organization Mercy Relief states:
"The Islamic American Relief Agency (IARA-USA) is an independent American non-profit humanitarian organization established in 1985 and has been dedicated to providing humanitarian relief to the impoverished globally.
IARA-USA, a member of Interaction, a Washington based coalition of over 170 charities, has a long history of working with the United Nations, such as United Nations Relief and Working Agency, UNRWA, to establish feeding centers to combat the wide spread of famine, especially in Africa. IARA-USA does not have any affiliates and is independently run.
Having said that, for a start, PERDAUS has already established contact with the Islamic American Relief Agency (IARA) to co-operate on a project for orphans from around the world. We shall be working closely together with the IARA in attending to the welfare of those parentless children. Consequently, as stated earlier, it is virtually certain that we would be rubbing our shoulders with other humanitarian relief organisations."
Khaleel, at the heart of the controversy, is alleged to have been an FBI informant and possible CIA operative. Procurement for Bin Laden of telcom devices easily intercepted by U.S. security services may have facilitated interception of Bin Ladens communications and may have supplied the US with valuable intelligence. At the same time Khaleel is alleged to have been helping the IARA support terrorism and Khaleel was under questioning by the FBI, the U.S. Department of State, thru the USAID, continued funneling millions of dollars thru this organization.
The possibility that the IARA or elements of that organization may have been working in close association with US intelligence agencies throughout this period without the knowledge of Missouri based Justice Department officials or local FBI agents there and that key intelligence capabilities may have been cripled through the lack of interagency cooperation is suggested but essential facts supporting this hypothesis remain classified.
"Commingling" of USAID funds in IARA accounts is a critical issue in the series of indictments. Though the USAID claims none of its funds were used to support terrorism, a statement that would render all claims in any of the indictments as void, the timeline of FBI contacts with Khaleel and "revelations" of his terrorist involvement, when superimposed on records of continued funding by the US of his activities shows an unavoidable set of conflicting facts either demonstrating ineptitude by US government agencies or inadvertent exposure of a covert intelligence gathering program. As US funding ended in 1999, it wasn't until 2004 that the US shut down operations yet several indictments are based on dispersal of funds of only USAID origin while funds from other sources may have been resident in the IARA accounts.
Further supporting this line of inquiry is the 1996 release by the CIA of a classified report stating that the IARA supplied weapons to Bosnian fighters and was affiliated with Sudan's government and elements in Saudi Arabia. Evidence that the U.S. government continued to fund this group despite this additional set of revelations could be seen as additional support to the hypothesis that the Siljander/IARA indictments exposed a covert intelligence operation of the United States. Siljander is said to have had ties to the CIA and was once targeted for assassination by the PLO.
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
U.S. Representative and deputy United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
ambassador from the state of Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
who was convicted of obstruction of justice and acting as an unregistered
Foreign Agents Registration Act
The Foreign Agents Registration Act is a United States law passed in 1938 requiring that agents representing the interests of foreign powers be properly identified to the American public. The act was passed in response to German propaganda in the lead-up to World War II...
foreign agent
Foreign agent
A foreign agent is anyone who actively carries out the interests of a foreign country while located in another host country, but generally outside the protections offered to those working in their official capacity for a diplomatic mission. Foreign agents may be citizens of the host country...
related to his work for an Islamic charity with ties to international terrorism. Siljander pleaded guilty to the charges in Federal court on July 7, 2010.
Early life and education
Siljander was born in ChicagoChicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
, where he attended the public schools, having graduated in 1969 from Oak Park and River Forest High School
Oak Park and River Forest High School
Oak Park and River Forest High School, or OPRF, is a public four-year high school located in Oak Park, Illinois, a western suburb of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. It is the only school of Oak Park and River Forest District 200....
. He received a Bachelor of Science
Bachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for completed courses that generally last three to five years .-Australia:In Australia, the BSc is a 3 year degree, offered from 1st year on...
degree from Western Michigan University
Western Michigan University
Western Michigan University is a public university located in Kalamazoo, Michigan, United States. The university was established in 1903 by Dwight B. Waldo, and as of the Fall 2010 semester, its enrollment is 25,045....
in Kalamazoo, Michigan
Kalamazoo, Michigan
The area on which the modern city stands was once home to Native Americans of the Hopewell culture, who migrated into the area sometime before the first millennium. Evidence of their early residency remains in the form of a small mound in downtown's Bronson Park. The Hopewell civilization began to...
, in 1972 and a Master of Arts
Master of Arts (postgraduate)
A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...
from Western Michigan in 1973. Siljander was awarded an honorary doctorate
Honorary degree
An honorary degree or a degree honoris causa is an academic degree for which a university has waived the usual requirements, such as matriculation, residence, study, and the passing of examinations...
in humanities
Humanities
The humanities are academic disciplines that study the human condition, using methods that are primarily analytical, critical, or speculative, as distinguished from the mainly empirical approaches of the natural sciences....
from Coral Ridge Baptist University
Coral Ridge Baptist University
Coral Ridge Baptist University was a Bible college and seminary in Florida. It merged with Freedom University and Seminary in 2001.-History:...
, Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Florida in terms of both population and land area, and the largest city by area in the contiguous United States. It is the county seat of Duval County, with which the city government consolidated in 1968...
, and a Ph.D.
Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...
in international business
International Business
International business is a term used to collectively describe all commercial transactions that take place between two or more regions, countries and nations beyond their political boundary...
from George Wythe College
George Wythe College
George Wythe University is a non-profit classical liberal arts school in Cedar City, Utah which offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in the liberal arts, education and political philosophy. GWU's curriculum is centered on the Great Books of the Western World published in 1952 by Britannica...
, Cedar City, Utah
Cedar City, Utah
As of the census of 2000, there were 20,527 people, 6,486 households, and 4,682 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,021.8 people per square mile . There were 7,109 housing units at an average density of 353.9 per square mile...
(accreditation pending
Educational accreditation
Educational accreditation is a type of quality assurance process under which services and operations of educational institutions or programs are evaluated by an external body to determine if applicable standards are met...
), where he was listed as a faculty member. He served as a trustee
Trustee
Trustee is a legal term which, in its broadest sense, can refer to any person who holds property, authority, or a position of trust or responsibility for the benefit of another...
on Fabius Township
Fabius Township, Michigan
Fabius Township is a civil township of St. Joseph County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 3,285 at the 2000 census.-Geography:...
Board in St. Joseph County, Michigan
St. Joseph County, Michigan
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 62,422 people, 23,381 households, and 16,600 families residing in the county. The population density was 124 people per square mile . There were 26,503 housing units at an average density of 53 per square mile...
, from 1972–1976 and also worked as a real estate broker.
Political career
Siljander served in the Michigan House of Representatives from the 42nd District, 1977–1981, and was a delegate to the Republican National ConventionRepublican National Convention
The Republican National Convention is the presidential nominating convention of the Republican Party of the United States. Convened by the Republican National Committee, the stated purpose of the convocation is to nominate an official candidate in an upcoming U.S...
in 1980. He was elected by special election to the United States House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
from Michigan's 4th congressional district
Michigan's 4th congressional district
Michigan's 4th congressional district is a United States Congressional district that currently includes portions of Northern and Central Michigan, consisting of all of...
to the 97th Congress
97th United States Congress
The Ninety-seventh United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, DC from January 3, 1981 to January 3, 1983, during the final weeks of...
to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of David A. Stockman, and was subsequently reelected to the two succeeding Congresses, serving from April 21, 1981, to January 3, 1987. The Fourth Congressional district at that time was in southwestern Michigan and included Three Rivers
Three Rivers, Michigan
Three Rivers is a city in St. Joseph County in the US state of Michigan. The population was 7,811 at the 2010 census.Three Rivers derives its name from the confluence of the St. Joseph River with its tributaries the Rocky and Portage Rivers. It is the home of St...
and Kalamazoo
Kalamazoo, Michigan
The area on which the modern city stands was once home to Native Americans of the Hopewell culture, who migrated into the area sometime before the first millennium. Evidence of their early residency remains in the form of a small mound in downtown's Bronson Park. The Hopewell civilization began to...
.
Although the 4th (and its successor, the 6th) has traditionally been a bastion of moderate Republicanism, Siljander was an outspoken social conservative
Social conservatism
Social Conservatism is primarily a political, and usually morally influenced, ideology that focuses on the preservation of what are seen as traditional values. Social conservatism is a form of authoritarianism often associated with the position that the federal government should have a greater role...
. Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
reported on Siljander's election:
"I'm part of the silent majority that was heard Nov. 4 [when President Reagan was elected]," says Siljander. "My support comes from morally concerned citizens who are sick of the situation in this country." Siljander pledges to battle the Equal Rights AmendmentEqual Rights AmendmentThe Equal Rights Amendment was a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution. The ERA was originally written by Alice Paul and, in 1923, it was introduced in the Congress for the first time...
, pornographyPornographyPornography or porn is the explicit portrayal of sexual subject matter for the purposes of sexual arousal and erotic satisfaction.Pornography may use any of a variety of media, ranging from books, magazines, postcards, photos, sculpture, drawing, painting, animation, sound recording, film, video,...
, abortionAbortionAbortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
, school busingDesegregation busingDesegregation busing in the United States is the practice of assigning and transporting students to schools in such a manner as to redress prior racial segregation of schools, or to overcome the effects of residential segregation on local school demographics.In 1954, the U.S...
and "big spending." He will champion the neutron bombNeutron bombA neutron bomb or enhanced radiation weapon or weapon of reinforced radiation is a type of thermonuclear weapon designed specifically to release a large portion of its energy as energetic neutron radiation rather than explosive energy...
, the MX missileLGM-118A PeacekeeperThe LGM-118A Peacekeeper, also known as the MX missile , was a land-based ICBM deployed by the United States starting in 1986. A total of 50 missiles were deployed. They have since been deactivated....
and prayer in public schools.
Siljander won 74 percent of the vote against his Democratic opponent, Johnie A. Rodebush, in 1981. In 1984, Siljander sponsored a single-sentence amendment which read, "For the purposes of this Act, the term 'person' shall include unborn children from the moment of conception." Alexander Cockburn
Alexander Cockburn
Alexander Claud Cockburn is an American political journalist. Cockburn was brought up in Ireland but has lived and worked in the United States since 1972. Together with Jeffrey St. Clair, he edits the political newsletter CounterPunch...
referred to the Siljander Amendment as "the most far-reaching of all the measures dreamed up by the conservative right to undercut Roe v. Wade." It failed 186-219.
Debbie Schlussel
Debbie Schlussel
Debbie Schlussel is an American attorney, film critic, political commentator, and a conservative blogger who focuses particularly on Islam and American Muslims. Her writing frequently targets the largely Muslim population of the Detroit suburb of Dearborn, which she refers to as "Dearbornistan"...
, who interned in Siljander's office, stated that Siljander was known then as "the most pro-Israel Congressman on Capitol Hill". In 1985, Siljander proposed legislation which would deny Most Favored Nation status to countries that discriminate on cultural, ethnic or religious grounds.
Siljander was defeated in the 1986 Republican primary by his successor Fred Upton
Fred Upton
Frederick Stephen Upton is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1987. He is a member of the Republican Party and Chairman of the Committee on Energy and Commerce. The district, based in Kalamazoo, stretches along the Michigan-Indiana border in the southwestern part of the state.-Early life,...
. Siljander's defeat was attributed to a controversial mailing he made during the party primary asking fundamentalists to "break the back of Satan
Satan
Satan , "the opposer", is the title of various entities, both human and divine, who challenge the faith of humans in the Hebrew Bible...
" by praying and fasting for his re-election. He served on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and on its Middle East and Africa subcommittees
United States House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health
The U.S. House Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, and Human Rights is a subcommittee within the House Foreign Affairs Committee.-Jurisdiction:...
.
Siljander was appointed by President Reagan as an alternate representative to the United Nations General Assembly
United Nations General Assembly
For two articles dealing with membership in the General Assembly, see:* General Assembly members* General Assembly observersThe United Nations General Assembly is one of the five principal organs of the United Nations and the only one in which all member nations have equal representation...
, serving from September 1987 to September 1988. He was an unsuccessful candidate in 1992 for nomination to the 103rd Congress
103rd United States Congress
- House of Representatives :- Leadership :- Senate :* President: Dan Quayle , until January 20, 1993** Al Gore , from January 20, 1993* President pro tempore: Robert Byrd - Majority leadership :* Majority Leader: George Mitchell...
from Virginia. He stated then his message was, "not religious values as much as it's common-sense American traditional values." He campaigned on a budget freeze
Budget freeze
A budget freeze is a term for when a budget for an aspect of government or business is fixed- or frozen- at a specific level. One can be applied in a business in order to increase profits as well as in a government, often to reduce taxes....
, a ten percent flat tax
Flat tax
A flat tax is a tax system with a constant marginal tax rate. Typically the term flat tax is applied in the context of an individual or corporate income that will be taxed at one marginal rate...
and a line-item veto
Line-item veto
In United States government, the line-item veto, or partial veto, is the power of an executive authority to nullify or cancel specific provisions of a bill, usually a budget appropriations bill, without vetoing the entire legislative package...
. In the Republican primary, Siljander came in second to Henry N. Butler
Henry N. Butler
Henry N. Butler is an American professor of law, economics, and public policy. He currently serves as the executive director of the Searle Center at the George Mason University's School of Law. He formerly served as the Director of the Judicial Education Program at the American Enterprise...
, a law professor at George Mason University
George Mason University
George Mason University is a public university based in unincorporated Fairfax County, Virginia, United States, south of and adjacent to the city of Fairfax. Additional campuses are located nearby in Arlington County, Prince William County, and Loudoun County...
. Leslie L. Byrne
Leslie L. Byrne
Leslie Byrne is a former member of the United States House of Representatives from Virginia, and was the first woman elected to the U.S. Congress from the Commonwealth of Virginia...
won the general election.
Private career
In 1994 Siljander joined the board of directors of Alliance Defense FundAlliance Defense Fund
The Alliance Defense Fund is a conservative Christian nonprofit organization with the stated goal of "defending the right to hear and speak the Truth through strategy, training, funding, and litigation." ADF was founded in 1994 by the late Bill Bright , the late Larry Burkett , James Dobson The...
, a Christian right
Christian right
Christian right is a term used predominantly in the United States to describe "right-wing" Christian political groups that are characterized by their strong support of socially conservative policies...
legal fund.
In 1997, Siljander joined the lobbying firm Advantage Associates, which then employed 12 former members of Congress. Other members of the firm include firm president Bill Sarpalius
Bill Sarpalius
William "Bill" Sarpalius is a former Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives, having represented from 1989 to 1995 District 13, which covers the Texas Panhandle eastward to Wichita Falls, Texas....
, Bill Alexander
Bill Alexander
William Vollie “Bill” Alexander, Jr. is a retired politician who represented the U.S. state of Arkansas in the United States House of Representatives from 1969 to 1993, rising to the post of Chief Deputy Majority Whip.-Biography:...
, Ron Coleman, Bill Grant
James W. Grant
James William "Bill" Grant is an American banker and former politician from Madison, Florida.A graduate of Florida State University, he attended the University of Florida for graduate studies. He represented in the U. S. Congress from 1987 to 1991...
, Robert P. Hanrahan
Robert P. Hanrahan
Robert Paul Hanrahan is a former U.S. Representative from Illinois.Born in Chicago Heights, Illinois, Hanrahan was educated in the public schools. He attended Thornton Community College in Harvey, Illinois from 1952 to 1954. He earned a B.S. at Bowling Green State University in 1956, and a M.Ed....
, Jerry Huckaby
Jerry Huckaby
Thomas Jerald Huckaby, usually known as Jerry Huckaby , is a retired businessman who served as a Democratic U.S. representative from the northeastern portion of the U.S. state of Louisiana between 1977 and 1993...
, Jerry M. Patterson
Jerry M. Patterson
Jerry Mumford Patterson is a California lawyer in California and the District of Columbia, educator and politician, who was a United States Representative from California....
, Howard Wallace Pollock
Howard Wallace Pollock
Howard Wallace Pollock was an American politician and Republican Representative from Alaska.Pollock was born in Chicago and went to school in Perkinston, Mississippi. He studied law at the University of Santa Clara in California and at the University of Houston, Texas, and then did some...
, Richard Ray
Richard Ray
Richard Belmont Ray was an American politician from Georgia.Ray was born in Fort Valley, Georgia, and graduated from Crawford County High School in Roberta, Georgia, in 1944. He then served in the United States Navy during World War II, from 1944 to 1946...
, Richard T. Schulze
Richard T. Schulze
Richard Taylor "Dick" Schulze was a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1975 to 1993. His district encompassed portions of Montgomery, Delaware, and Chester Counties in the western Philadelphia suburbs.-Early life:Schulze attended the University of Houston, Villanova...
, and Bill Zeliff
Bill Zeliff
William H. Zeliff, Jr. is a Republican politician from New Hampshire who was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1991 to 1997....
.
Siljander ended his ties with Advantage Associates prior to 2000.
Now a resident of Great Falls
Great Falls, Virginia
Great Falls is a census-designated place in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. The population was 15,427 at the 2010 census.Although primarily a bedroom community for Washington, D.C., one major attraction is Great Falls Park which overlooks the Great Falls of the Potomac River, for which...
, Virginia, Siljander is president of Global Strategies, Inc., a consulting firm in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, operates an import-export firm, and works as a radio commentator. He has written a book, A Deadly Misunderstanding: A Congressman's Quest to Bridge the Muslim-Christian Divide, listed as "For Sale: 10/7/2008" by HarperOne.
Siljander has met with leaders throughout the Islamic world. Siljander has also regularly briefed both Congress and the White House on areas of Islamic extremism and counter-terrorism. Siljander currently consults for top US based security contractors on areas of terrorist threats and conflict resolution and has worked closely with UN Secretary General Ban Kai Moon to resolve the continuing humanitarian disaster in Darfur.
Siljander's recent book, A Deadly Misunderstanding is a 2009 Nautilus Silver Award Winner.
In 2009, Siljander, whose daughter is currently deployed in the Middle East, joined Gold Star, Mother Amy Branham and retired Colonel James Hanke US Army Special Forces, former Military Attache to Israel under Ambassador Thomas Pinkerton, as a co-editor of Veterans Today, a "progressive" online publication supporting veterans and military families.
Religion
In 1986, Siljander signed a statement of outlining his religious beliefs. Siljander takes an interest in conflict resolutionConflict resolution
Conflict resolution is conceptualized as the methods and processes involved in facilitating the peaceful ending of some social conflict. Often, committed group members attempt to resolve group conflicts by actively communicating information about their conflicting motives or ideologies to the rest...
, particularly in the Islamic world
Muslim world
The term Muslim world has several meanings. In a religious sense, it refers to those who adhere to the teachings of Islam, referred to as Muslims. In a cultural sense, it refers to Islamic civilization, inclusive of non-Muslims living in that civilization...
, and in recent years has tried to publicize the common ground between Christianity and Islam, particularly in the portrayal of Jesus in the Qur'an. Early in his career, Siljander heard a speaker read from the Qur'an
Qur'an
The Quran , also transliterated Qur'an, Koran, Alcoran, Qur’ān, Coran, Kuran, and al-Qur’ān, is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God . It is regarded widely as the finest piece of literature in the Arabic language...
at a prayer breakfast, unaware that this was not a reading from the Bible. When the truth was announced to his surprise, Siljander wrote a letter to the speaker, stating: "How can you read the book of the devil
Devil
The Devil is believed in many religions and cultures to be a powerful, supernatural entity that is the personification of evil and the enemy of God and humankind. The nature of the role varies greatly...
at a prayer breakfast?"
He described himself as "trained as an evangelical Christian
Evangelicalism
Evangelicalism is a Protestant Christian movement which began in Great Britain in the 1730s and gained popularity in the United States during the series of Great Awakenings of the 18th and 19th century.Its key commitments are:...
; I was a poster boy for Jerry Falwell
Jerry Falwell
Jerry Lamon Falwell, Sr. was an evangelical fundamentalist Southern Baptist pastor, televangelist, and a conservative commentator from the United States. He was the founding pastor of the Thomas Road Baptist Church, a megachurch in Lynchburg, Virginia...
." He is widely traveled, and claims to have visited over 120 countries. In November 2006, Siljander gave a speech at Regent's Park College, Oxford
Regent's Park College, Oxford
Regent's Park College is a Permanent Private Hall in the University of Oxford, situated in central Oxford, just off St Giles.The College admits both undergraduate and graduate students to take Oxford degrees in a variety of Arts, Humanities and Social Science subjects...
, entitled "Overcoming the Muslim Western Divide: Seven Bridges to the Common Ground." Siljander has studied Aramaic
Aramaic language
Aramaic is a group of languages belonging to the Afroasiatic language phylum. The name of the language is based on the name of Aram, an ancient region in central Syria. Within this family, Aramaic belongs to the Semitic family, and more specifically, is a part of the Northwest Semitic subfamily,...
, Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
and Hebrew language
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
s.
2008 indictment
On January 16, 2008, Siljander was indictedIndictment
An indictment , in the common-law legal system, is a formal accusation that a person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that maintain the concept of felonies, the serious criminal offence is a felony; jurisdictions that lack the concept of felonies often use that of an indictable offence—an...
in the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri
United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri
The United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri is the federal judicial district encompassing 66 counties in the western half of the State of Missouri...
on five counts including money laundering
Money laundering
Money laundering is the process of disguising illegal sources of money so that it looks like it came from legal sources. The methods by which money may be laundered are varied and can range in sophistication. Many regulatory and governmental authorities quote estimates each year for the amount...
, conspiracy
Conspiracy (crime)
In the criminal law, a conspiracy is an agreement between two or more persons to break the law at some time in the future, and, in some cases, with at least one overt act in furtherance of that agreement...
and obstruction of justice
Obstruction of justice
The crime of obstruction of justice, in United States jurisdictions, refers to the crime of interfering with the work of police, investigators, regulatory agencies, prosecutors, or other officials...
.
As part of the same investigation, several supporters of the Islamic American Relief Agency
Islamic American Relief Agency
The Islamic American Relief Agency is an "American non-profit organization established in 1985 and dedicated to the empowerment of disadvantaged people everywhere through relief and participatory development programs emphasizing human dignity, self-reliance, and social justice." It has been under...
, a United Nations NGO (Non Governmental Organization) were indicted for raising funds that were allegedly sent to Gulbuddin Hekmatyar
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar is an Afghan Mujahideen leader who is the founder and leader of the Hezb-e Islami political party and paramilitary group. Hekmatyar was a rebel military commander during the 1980s Soviet war in Afghanistan and was one of the key figures in the civil war that followed the...
, whom the United States has later designated as a global terrorist. The indictment claims that the money, sent to bank accounts in Peshawar
Peshawar
Peshawar is the capital of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and the administrative center and central economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan....
, Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
in 2003 and 2004, was masked as donations to an orphanage located in buildings that Hekmatyar owned. Hekmatyar, a long time CIA and US ally, is believed to be working in combination with the US backed government of Pakistan:
Those under indictment in related investigations face 42 counts on charges of money laundering
Money laundering
Money laundering is the process of disguising illegal sources of money so that it looks like it came from legal sources. The methods by which money may be laundered are varied and can range in sophistication. Many regulatory and governmental authorities quote estimates each year for the amount...
, conspiracy
Conspiracy (crime)
In the criminal law, a conspiracy is an agreement between two or more persons to break the law at some time in the future, and, in some cases, with at least one overt act in furtherance of that agreement...
, and obstruction of justice
Obstruction of justice
The crime of obstruction of justice, in United States jurisdictions, refers to the crime of interfering with the work of police, investigators, regulatory agencies, prosecutors, or other officials...
and material support of terrorism. The Islamic American Relief Agency is a 25 year old charity that had been receiving support from the US government for many years and been openly supported by Washington insiders until the listed indictments were filed.
Siljander himself faces only five counts, none of which are related to terrorism and are confined to money laundering, obstruction and conspiracy related to accusations of lobbying. Siljander alleges that his lobbying consisted of using USAID funds to subsidize the writing of his book intended to provide strategies to undermine the influence of Islamic extremism.
The indictments against IARA members other than Siljander are based on allegations of underlying crime stemming from a Ziyad Khaleel
Ziyad Khaleel
Ziyad Khaleel, also known as Khalil Ziyad, Ziyad Sadaqa, and Ziyad Abdulrahman, was a Palestinian-American al-Qaeda member, based in the United States, primarily in Colorado, Florida, Michigan and Missouri...
, who served as a regional manager for the charity in question as early as 96 and is said to have purchased a satellite phone for Bin Laden. Even though Khaleel was believed to be associated with the charity according to the FBI and to have been a terrorist supporter, it took over four years for the US Government decide to blacklist the IARA and cut off U.S. government funding.
"It's not clear whether Siljander ever engaged in the lobbying push," said John Wood, U.S. attorney in Kansas City. Nevertheless, IARA paid Siljander with money that was part of U.S. government funding awarded to the charity years earlier for relief work it promised to perform in Africa, the indictment says.
Prosecutors initially alleged that Siljander was paid $50,000 by the Islamic American Relief Agency for acting as a lobbyist, money that was assigned by the U.S. Agency for International Development
United States Agency for International Development
The United States Agency for International Development is the United States federal government agency primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid. President John F. Kennedy created USAID in 1961 by executive order to implement development assistance programs in the areas...
for other unnamed tasks. On January 28, 2008, Siljander appeared for a brief hearing in Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
and pleaded not guilty in Federal court before a U.S. Magistrate Judge.
However, the source of the allegedly misused funds, the USAID, a government agency tasked with promoting American values worldwide, indicates that none of their funds were misused: "According to the most recent USAID Office of Inspector General report, which covers October 2006 to the end of March 2007, "OIG oversight activities during this period did not identify any instances where terrorist organizations received USAID funds." USAID audit procedures should be enough to prevent terrorist financing."
Further, the USAID indicates that there is no mechanism for effectively monitoring "blacklisted" groups: "USAID cannot confirm or deny whether an individual passed or failed screening." This secrecy was part of the focus of comments OMB Watch submitted to USAID, which stated, "PVS will more than likely result in the creation of a secret USAID blacklist of ineligible grant applicants, based on PVS results. Organizations and individuals erroneously listed as having ties with terrorism will have no way of knowing they are deemed as such, or why. Innocent and well deserving grantees will have no formal means of appealing such decisions."
It has recently been admitted by the Bush Administration in conjunction with a variety of organizations that efforts to effectively screen groups from potential involvement in support of terrorism have been plagued with errors at every level. "The decision, announced Tuesday at a meeting of U.S. officials and representatives of nonprofit groups, was made after lawmakers and several large aid organizations said that the global screening requirements were onerous and unwarranted. An official of the U.S. Agency for International Development had earlier promised to defer the program, which initially was to have taken effect Monday."
Controversy
Charges of money laundering are at the root of the Siljander indictment, with "conspiracy and obstruction" built around those accusations. However, the basis of the Bush Department of Justice "money laundering" charges theoretically make any funds received from a blacklisted charity, a list devoid of "due process", whether banning is public or secret, whether funds are distributed before or after "blacklisting," guilty of a criminal act in support of "terrorism."With such overbroad application of enforcement, according to OMBWatch, any vendor or supplier could face prosecution. Equally, no person could donate funds to any charity organization where the remote chance that any relationship, no matter how tenuous or obscure, may exist or have existed with any organization or individual tied to a "blacklist."
An argument would thus follow that the issue of prosecutorial targeting tied to political concerns, rather than security issues would provide a basis for an affirmative defense, supported by the wide number of controversies tied to Gonzales appointees and the litany of accusations they face as outlined here.
The Afghan warlord tied by this indictment to the IARA, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, is reported to have had a long relationship with the Central Intelligence Agency and to have been the recipient of millions in US funding:
"As the US mobilizes for covert war in Afghanistan (see 1978 and July 3, 1979), a CIA special envoy meets Afghan mujaheddin leaders at Peshawar, Pakistan, near the border to Afghanistan. All of them have been carefully selected by the Pakistani ISI and do not represent a broad spectrum of the resistance movement. One of them is Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, a drug dealer with little support in Afghanistan, but who is loyal to the ISI. The US will begin working with Hekmatyar and over the next 10 years over half of all US aid to the mujaheddin will go to his faction (see 1983)."
Few articles in the mainstream press mention the far more substantial historical association: that between Hekmatyar and the CIA. During the 1980s he received fully 90% the CIA-supplied funds doled out via Pakistan's Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI) to the Mujahadeen Islamic warriors (see Ahmed Rashid, Taliban [Yale University Press, 2000], p. 91). These funds amounted to some half-billion dollars per year throughout the 1980s, matched by equal sums from that other enthusiastic Mujahadeen patron, acting in close cooperation with the US: Saudi Arabia.
Hekmatyar is Mr. Blowback, among the most vicious of former US clients now at odds with their one-time paymasters. So his career deserves some study. Born in Baghlan around 1950, Hekmatyar attended a military academy, then Kabul University where by some accounts he was for several years a member of the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA), a party aligned with the Soviet Union."
Hekmatyar's history, prior to working with the CIA is further related as follows:
Abdel Rahman later slipped into Pakistan, where he forged operational links with Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, the head of a radical rebel Afghan army backed by the CIA. Hekmatyar's career in politics began in 1972, when as an engineering student at Kabul University, he founded the Young Muslims, which advocated turning Afghanistan into a single-party Islamic republic based on the Sharia, or Islamic law. In June 1974, Hekmatyar fled to Pakistan after a government crackdown on Islamic fundamentalists.
Hekmatyar immediately began to call for the armed overthrow of Afghanistan -- an idea that won the approval of Pakistani leader Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who supplied Hekmatyar with arms, training, and money. Hekmatyar orchestrated an insurrection in Afghanistan in 1975, but it was crushed. Many of his followers subsequently joined him in Peshawar.
By 1979, six fundamentalist Muslim Afghan rebel groups were operating in Peshawar. Hekmatyar's was by far the largest and most important, thanks to the support of his newest Pakistani patron, President Mohammed Zia. At the time, the Soviet-backed, Marxist government in Afghanistan was attempting to weaken the hold of the traditional religious elite, who for
centuries had ruled the countryside. The Afghan Marxists even went so far as to remove the Islamic green from the Afghan flag. Hekmatyar resisted, waging a fierce terrorist war. In December 1979, the Soviets, fearing the violence would spill across their borders, invaded Afghanistan. Afghan president Hafizullah Amin was killed in the royal palace by Soviet
troops, and replaced by Babrak Karmal, an exile who had been living in Moscow.
U.S. Attorney Bradley Schlozman
Bradley Schlozman
Bradley J. Schlozman is an American attorney who served as acting head of the Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice under Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. Schlozman was also later appointed by Gonzales as the interim U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri,...
, an unconfirmed Bush appointee in the Justice Department dismissal of U.S. attorneys controversy
Dismissal of U.S. attorneys controversy
The dismissal of U.S. Attorneys controversy was initiated by the unprecedented midterm dismissal of seven United States Attorneys on December 7, 2006 by the George W. Bush administration's Department of Justice. Congressional investigations focused on whether the Department of Justice and the White...
, had been largely responsible for the management and development of the Siljander case, though the indictment was filed after his resignation/removal. Schlozman's history up to this point was as a Republican Party appointee working in the Civil Rights Voting division pushing for tougher voter ID laws in conjunction with Attorney Thor Hearne, top GOP pointman on this issue. Hearne directs the American Center for Voting Rights
American Center for Voting Rights
The American Center for Voting Rights or ACVR was a non-profit organization founded by Mark F. "Thor" Hearne that operated from March 2005 to May 2007 and pushed for laws to reduce voter intimidation and voter fraud, and supported requiring photo ID for voters. Its lobbying arm was called the...
, a GOP organization. Oddly, Hearne's Missouri law firm, Lathrop and Gage, represents the IARA in the related terrorism case.
In an amended news release, Schlozman was made to correct errors in the initial press release which tried to tie Siljander to terrorist organizations.
Schlozman resigned from the DOJ and is currently under a cloud of suspicion regarding irregular elements of his appointment and alleged "voter suppression" activities.
That the source of the funds alleged to have been sent to support terrorism was the US Government itself, is a critical aspect of the charges that are unreported in the media and were not made clear in the DOJ press conferences. The IARA is known to have had wide support in Washington as a "pro-American" Islamic group and was not "blacklisted" as "giving material support to terrorist organizations" until well after the period covered by the indictment.
Additionally, endorsements of Siljander's recent book demonstrate that he still has support from the powerful conservative group, the Heritage Foundation, members of whose leadership are currently managing Siljander's legal defense fund along with former Secretary of State James Baker III, former Attorney General Ed Meese and UN Secretary General Ban Kai Moon. Additionally, many conservative leaders, Christian evangelists and foundations, despite the current indictment, continue to support Siljander and express incredulity at DOJ actions in this case.
A report released in a Justice Department audit performed by Justice Department Inspector General Gerald Fine, on March 18, 2008, indicated that "the FBI and other agencies had, since 2003, proven incapable of managing watch lists or coordinating activities." The charity in question, the IARA, represented by lobbyist, former Congressman Hanrahan, and the primary subject of the series of indictments was one of the groups at the heart of this confusion and ambiguity.
FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) wiretaps were used to support "domestic" charges against Siljander. A number of legal experts believe that the use of FISA intercepts in domestic cases may be outside the scope of the Act. As some charges against Siljander are unrelated to any foreign activity or any relationship to terrorism in any form yet are purportedly supported by FISA wiretaps, this case may provide a challenge to other FISA related cases. Highly classified documents, accidentally released to defendants in an unrelated case, showed that the government targeted individuals in domestic wiretaps, an act clearly outside FISA authorization and generally recognized as unconstitutional.
Defense and veteran related sources claim that Siljander's newly moderated religious views, or his staunch opposition to the Iraq invasion, are seen by some as a betrayal of his staunch support of Israel and the Christian Right. However, there is no substantiation that there is any relationship between these issues and the current legal case. This brings into question the possibility Siljander may have been targeted because of his staunch and very public criticism of intelligence use to support the Iraq invasion.
Siljander alleges he never engaged in lobbying for this group but referred the group to former Congressman Robert Hanrahan, long associated with the American Tobacco Institute. U.S. Attorney John Wood initially suggested this fact, now admittedly an error, was at the heart of charges against Siljander. Records indicate that a different former Congressman, Robert Hanrahan (R-IL) had represented the accused Islamic charity and had been responsible for lobbying Senator Grassley on behalf of the group. Former Congressman Hanrahan, has signed an affidavit indicating this but has not been the subject of any investigation or scrutiny, though funds paid to Hanrahand were from, both an identical source and paid under identical circumstances as funds paid to Siljander.
That US Attorney John Wood's statement indicating that Siljander may not have been lobbying for the group may contradict the heart of the indictment brought by Wood remains an enigmatic aspect of this case.
As early as 1989, the IARA and Khaleel, president of the Muslim Student Association, had been linked to terrorist groups but that information had never been acted on and funds from the US continued to flow to that group for 9 more years.
Actions against the group, beginning with ending their State Department funding in December 1999 are unclear, especially in light of conflicting opinions and inconsistent information about this group.
[In December 1999, Thomas Pickering, undersecretary of state for political affairs, demanded the cancellation of the contracts because they were "contrary to the national defense and foreign policy interests of the United States," the State Department has said.
While the projects were canceled, roughly $1 million had been disbursed to the group, State Department spokesman Edgar Vasquez said Friday.
He said he could not discuss the exact reasons for Pickering's actions because Pickering's letter canceling the contracts was classified.
The respected Islamic charity organization Mercy Relief states:
"The Islamic American Relief Agency (IARA-USA) is an independent American non-profit humanitarian organization established in 1985 and has been dedicated to providing humanitarian relief to the impoverished globally.
IARA-USA, a member of Interaction, a Washington based coalition of over 170 charities, has a long history of working with the United Nations, such as United Nations Relief and Working Agency, UNRWA, to establish feeding centers to combat the wide spread of famine, especially in Africa. IARA-USA does not have any affiliates and is independently run.
Having said that, for a start, PERDAUS has already established contact with the Islamic American Relief Agency (IARA) to co-operate on a project for orphans from around the world. We shall be working closely together with the IARA in attending to the welfare of those parentless children. Consequently, as stated earlier, it is virtually certain that we would be rubbing our shoulders with other humanitarian relief organisations."
Khaleel, at the heart of the controversy, is alleged to have been an FBI informant and possible CIA operative. Procurement for Bin Laden of telcom devices easily intercepted by U.S. security services may have facilitated interception of Bin Ladens communications and may have supplied the US with valuable intelligence. At the same time Khaleel is alleged to have been helping the IARA support terrorism and Khaleel was under questioning by the FBI, the U.S. Department of State, thru the USAID, continued funneling millions of dollars thru this organization.
The possibility that the IARA or elements of that organization may have been working in close association with US intelligence agencies throughout this period without the knowledge of Missouri based Justice Department officials or local FBI agents there and that key intelligence capabilities may have been cripled through the lack of interagency cooperation is suggested but essential facts supporting this hypothesis remain classified.
"Commingling" of USAID funds in IARA accounts is a critical issue in the series of indictments. Though the USAID claims none of its funds were used to support terrorism, a statement that would render all claims in any of the indictments as void, the timeline of FBI contacts with Khaleel and "revelations" of his terrorist involvement, when superimposed on records of continued funding by the US of his activities shows an unavoidable set of conflicting facts either demonstrating ineptitude by US government agencies or inadvertent exposure of a covert intelligence gathering program. As US funding ended in 1999, it wasn't until 2004 that the US shut down operations yet several indictments are based on dispersal of funds of only USAID origin while funds from other sources may have been resident in the IARA accounts.
Further supporting this line of inquiry is the 1996 release by the CIA of a classified report stating that the IARA supplied weapons to Bosnian fighters and was affiliated with Sudan's government and elements in Saudi Arabia. Evidence that the U.S. government continued to fund this group despite this additional set of revelations could be seen as additional support to the hypothesis that the Siljander/IARA indictments exposed a covert intelligence operation of the United States. Siljander is said to have had ties to the CIA and was once targeted for assassination by the PLO.
Guilty plea
On July 7, 2010, Siljander pled guilty to obstruction of justice and acting as an unregistered foreign agent.External links
- Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
- Announcement of October 2005 Lectures at the University of EdinburghUniversity of EdinburghThe University of Edinburgh, founded in 1583, is a public research university located in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The university is deeply embedded in the fabric of the city, with many of the buildings in the historic Old Town belonging to the university...
Edinburgh Centre for Muslim-Christian Studies - Global Strategies, Inc. References List
- Ex-lawmaker charged in terror conspiracy
- Interview with Mark Siljander on "A Deadly Misunderstanding" by ReadTheSpirit.com