NY Man Charged With Trying To Fund Terror-Republican Party Ties

[appleannie1]

Terrorism charges brought Friday against the administrator of a loan investment program claimed that he secretly tried to send $152,000 to the Middle East to buy equipment such as night vision goggles for a terrorist training camp in Afghanistan.

Abdul Tawala Ibn Ali Alishtari, 53, of Ardsley, N.Y., pleaded not guilty in U.S. District Court in Manhattan to an indictment accusing him of terrorism financing, material support of terrorism and other charges. The charges carried a potential penalty of 95 years in prison.

Alishtari, also known as Michael Mixon, was detained pending a court appearance next week after Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan S. Kolodner said Alishtari was a danger to the community and a risk to flee. He was arrested on Thursday in Manhattan, prosecutors said.

(snip)

CBS News has confirmed that Alishtari is a donor to the Republican Party, as he claims on his curriculum vitae. Alishtari gave $15,500 to the National Republican Campaign Committee between 2002 and 2004, according to Federal Election Commission records. That amount includes $13,000 in 2003, a year when he claims to have been named NRCC New York State Businessman of the Year.

Alishtari also claims to be a lifetime member of the National Republican Senate Committee's Inner Circle, which the NRCC describes as "an impressive cross-section of American society – community leaders, business executives, entrepreneurs, retirees, and sports and entertainment celebrities – all of whom hold a deep interest in our nation's prosperity and security."
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/02/16/terror/main2488520.shtml


Alishtari was no simple businessman; he used his money, in part, to buy a seat at some interesting political tables, all Republican and all after the 9-11 attacks. He made $15,250 in political contributions to GOP entities between April 2002 and the end of 2004 (see the details here). A resume that he posted at MSN Groups boasts of membership in GOP groups open only to high-rollers. It would be interesting to determine which Congressmen and Bush Administration officials met with Alishtari and what they discussed, and whether his companies were awarded major federal government contracts in the past 5 years.

http://counterterrorismblog.org/2007/02/politically_connected_ny_busin.php

[TomInTib]

1. "But you can call me Mike"

You just cannot make this stuff up...

[Erika]

2. He's a big RNC donor

No, you can't make this up.

[appleannie1]

3. There is money

to be made in all aspects of this war it seems.

[salin]

10. and this guy was apparently going after some of it:

from Josh Marshall's Talking Points Memo: http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/012527.php

Now a reader of the Cunning Realist blog has dug up the archived version of the website of Mr. Alishtari's company, GlobalProtector, which shows that at the same time Alishtari was giving money to the GOP he was bidding on multiple government contracts -- including ones with the Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security.

[Old and In the Way]

4. I'm beginning to think the RNC is a front group.

For Saudi-Big Oil business interests. Seriously, I wonder how many more of these hi-rollers are financing the RNC? I think this would explain why Bush is so invested in Iraq, doing the business of his #1 benefactors, the Sauds.

[appleannie1]

5. It really makes one wonder

just who the brains behind the fiasco we now have in Iraq really are. And why we have been fed terror, terror, terror for all these years.

[ngant17]

6. sounds more like a loyal firefighter caught

trying to start some fires, at the behest of his bosses in the "fire dept.", i.e. his Repug friends need an excuse to continue to justify 'perpetual war' in the Middle East and SW Asia.

[truthisfreedom]

7. Yeah, gives credence to those self-righteous claims that "al kinda" is praying that Democrats win in

2008.

sickening, but predictable. all thug, all the time.

[Senator]

8. His Blog (?) Reads Like a Nigerian Lottery Scam

Or a Scalia opinion.

http://community.zdnet.co.uk/blog/0,1000000567,1r-1d-2000337258b-5,00.htm

He does claim to have met with Cheney (pg. 3).

On the other hand, the phone # he gives is for a Bob Marley theme restaurant.

But it smacks of mental defect (or fodder for such a trial defense).

==

[Chiyo-chichi]

11. "...Reads Like a Nigerian lottery scam... or a Scalia opinion."

:spray:

Good one!!

[tanyev]

9. Surprise, surprise, surprise!

[leftofthedial]

12. all repukes are terrorists

and repukes have a long history of arming terrorists


why did they single out this one?


oh. because he has one of those Ay-rab sounding names.

[appleannie1]

13. There is big money to be had

In addition, the “Wherefores” sets up a Charity Endowment Council, or "CEC", as an ad hoc unicorporated benevolent association, representing specified numbered Charity for beneficiaries who are party to affidavits by recognition and signing for Charity beneficiaries. That CEC is seeking an endowment for its participating beneficial charities. All charities are divided into either a family Charity or a community Charity of unrelated beneficiaries. No Charity can violate U. S. of A. Federal laws and any violation of U. S. Code is adverse to endowment funding. U. S. of A. federal rules require 4% placement on balance sums annually with a Charity and the rest can be used as Charity likes for beneficiaries, indeed including for profit uses if handled right.

http://community.zdnet.co.uk/blog/0,1000000567,1r-1d-2000337258b-3,00.htm

[Independent_Liberal]

14. Please! Please! Let this come out in the mainstream press!

Two words: Goodbye GOP!

:)

[appleannie1]

15. CBS is where I first saw it.

[appleannie1]

16. It was also in the NY Post

However they totally omitted that he had broke bread with some very high people in the GOP. However, it is all over the news in other countries.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/02172007/news/regionalnews/terror__man_charged_regionalnews_kati_cornell.htm

[MasonJar]

17. Wonder if the powers in the WH will put him in a small cell with no

light like they did other citizens.

[MarcA]

18. More GOP Terrorists

The New York building bomber, the California anthrax mailer, the Iowa womens clinic attacker and now this guy. ALL right wing ideologues. If any of these would have had Democratic or liberal organization connections the MSM via the Reich wing noise machine would have never stopped talking about it and Repugs in Congress and the White House would have been calling for more patriot acts and actions.

[newyawker99]

20. Hi MarcA!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Beetwasher]

19. "NRCC New York State Businessman of the Year."

Yup. Could you imagine the media circus if this were a Dem?

[Vogon_Glory]

21. If Mixon/Alishtari Had Been A Democrat...

If Mixon/Alishtari had been a Democrat, the right-wing propaganda organs would have promptly pounced on it, the Republican-Rimming corporate media would have joined in, and the rest of us would be hearing about "traitorous" Democrats for at least another decade. Of course, since Mixon/Alishtari is a Republican, the arrest will get about five seconds' notice in the press, then get swept promptly under the rug by Faux News and ABC, and then become an official non-news story.

Isn't it interesting for all that the right wing tasks progressives with "treason," some of the most damaging blows to the US comes from self-professed "conservatives"? Think about it--the Walker family, Robert Hansen, and now Mixon/Alishtari.


Look for the likes of Coulter, Malkin, and Savage to lie about Mixon/Alishtari or claim that he was actually a Democrat.

:mad: :puke:

[hippiechick]

22. Oh, yummy ! Does KO have this story ??

:popcorn: Let's connect GOP businessmen with funny Middle Eastern names to Terra and to, oh ... The White House. Or at least the high level GOP candidates & party operators.

:evilgrin:

[berni_mccoy]

23. Are you a terrorist that needs to hide in the U.S.? Donate to the G.O.P. (ultimate cronyism)

I swear, Osama Bin Laden himself could be hiding in the U.S. simply by donating $5,000 to the G.O.P.

The cronyism is so extreme in that party, they'd overlook him with even a photo id match.

[bananarepublican]

26. No! Under Bush, $5,000 gets you the pResidential bedroom!! + diplomatic immunity!!! n/t

[PhilipShore]

24. The frightening point to all this is-- these clowns are just brainless puppets.

[peacetalksforall]

25. Someone like this guy can work independently, but there usually is

a 'fixer' - a middle man who holds the shoulder of the President with his left hand while holding out a welcoming right arm to a guy like this - signaling that it is OK to come closer and shake the President's hand and talk a little. A Norquist type. An Abramoff type. A Reed type.

[wicket]

27. kick

:kick: