A former Republican congressman from Michigan was indicted Wednesday on federal charges of money laundering and obstruction of justice. The charges involve his work as a lobbyist for an Islamic charity accused of illegally funneling about $130,000 to an Afghan warlord labeled a terrorist by the United States government.What a surprise that someone making that kind of statement would have ties to a warlord with direct links to a fundamentalist terrorist group. They say great minds think alike, but in this case, I don't think you can call them great in any non-pejorative sense.
The former congressman, Mark D. Siljander, who was defeated for re-election in 1986 after three terms in the House, was accused by a federal grand jury in Kansas City of accepting $50,000 in stolen government aid money as his lobbying fee from the now-defunct charity group, the Islamic American Relief Agency.
The charity — based in Columbia, Mo., and closed in 2004 — and several of its former leaders were already under indictment on charges of illegally transferring money to Iraq and stealing government money.
(...)
Mr. Siljander, 57, was best known in the House for his fierce opposition to abortion and gay rights. He tried to block a $581,000 Justice Department grant to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence in 1985 because he considered the group to be run by “pro-abortion, pro-lesbian, anti-Reagan radical feminists.”
With that said, I'm left wondering how many times Fixed Noise will refer to him as a Democrat.
