| Submit your comments on this article |
| Home Front: WoT |
| "Jihad Jane" now connected to Syrian National Socialist Party |
| 2007-11-20 |
| NYPost's followup to yesterday's story The story of the US government's bungling in the case of Nada Nadim Prouty - "Jihad Jane" - gets worse and worse. Here are two more danger signs in her background that got overlooked: her cousin the terrorist, and her family's involvement in the Syrian National Socialist Party. That's right: It's not just Prouty's links to the terrorists of Hezbollah that got missed, but her ties to a Nazi party. Since Prouty pleaded guilty last week to naturalization fraud and conspiracy, as well as unauthorized computer access at her FBI and CIA jobs, the two agencies have launched probes of how they bungled background checks before employing her. Then came reports that her sister, now a commissioned Marine officer, pulled a similar sham-marriage scam to gain US citizenship. But the scandal will only grow with this new information. The failure of the background checks on Prouty puzzles sources familiar with her family's background in Lebanon. The Syrian National Socialist Party is actually an organization in Prouty's native Lebanon, where everyone knows it's a pawn of Syria's Baathist dictatorship; its stated goal is the formation of a greater Arab state, including Lebanon, Syria, Israel, Cypress and part of Turkey. Prouty's maiden name is Al-Aouar - and the Al-Aouar family is noted back in Lebanon for its extremist political activity on behalf of the SNSP. That activism is all the more notable, because they are members of Lebanon's Druze minority - distinct from Syria's usual Shia Muslim allies there, and generally at odds with Hezbollah. And intelligence sources from Israel and its old ally, the South Lebanese Army, say that Prouty's cousin, Nidal Al-Aouar, was a terrorist - one who trained in North Korea and the old USSR and went on to set roadside car bombs in Lebanon on behalf of Syria. That the CIA did not uncover these elements of Prouty's background is cause for concern, since it is hardly a secret in Lebanon and Syria. But it's not just security agencies that have bungled this case. Prouty's lawbreaking was eventually exposed because of ongoing investigations of her brother-in-law, indicted Hezbollah financier Talal Chahine (to whom she is accused of disclosing classified information on three Hezbollah-related investigations that involve him). Chahine laundered over $20 million to Hezbollah through his Michigan restaurant chain, according to a federal indictment unsealed in 2006. But his support of Hezbollah was rumored in Detroit's Arab community for years prior to that. Indeed, top law-enforcement authorities had to have known about Chahine's involvement in immigration fraud and bribery on behalf of Prouty and other Lebanese nationals since at least 2003. That was when agents began investigating the INS' top Michigan official, Roy Bailey, for (among other things) taking bribes from Chahine in immigration/deportation matters. With this information and more about Chahine and Prouty available to the government by early 2004, why was Prouty allowed to remain with the CIA until this September? |
| Posted by:ryuge |
| #13 "Jewish Arabs", ed? |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2007-11-20 17:48 |
| #12 "Jewish Arabs", ed? |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2007-11-20 17:48 |
| #11 Is it really true that our government won't hire Jewish and/or non-Muslim speakers of Arabic as translators??? How is it that there is so little outrage or discussion about it? You'd think that the public would be concerned and that the conservative blogosphere and talk radio world would be making a big issue about this. Why is no GOP candidate making any hay over this? You couldn't ask for a better issue for someone to take up and win respect - and votes - from the party base. When was this decision made and does it apply to all parts of the federal government? What would it take to change this situation: an executive order, an act of Congress? I am astonished that this could be so (not that I haven't been astonished by things I've found out before!) Is there a source to find out more about this? Thanks in advance to anyone who knows something about this and has the time to help enlighten me. |
| Posted by: ryuge 2007-11-20 17:37 |
| #10 children What do you expect when the Clinton's administration's great parting gift to the American people was the destruction of the "W" key on computer keyboards. The US has plenty of non-muslim Arabic speakers. Millions of Christians and Jewish Arabs have been cleansed from the Middle East and many have settled in the US. I just don't understand the thinking process that excludes them in favor of hiring the enemy. |
| Posted by: ed 2007-11-20 16:05 |
| #9 But.. but.. I always thought government workers were always professional and thorough. Oh well, another myth busted. |
| Posted by: AuburnTom 2007-11-20 14:40 |
| #8 Her immigration fraud and initial employment with FBI came under Clinton in 1997. Her husband's deployment to Islamabad, where he would have been in charge of approving visas, came in 1999. Keep in mind the Clinton policy of deliberately not enforcing some immigration rules/standards. |
| Posted by: lotp 2007-11-20 10:36 |
| #7 They would have lots more translators of both Arabic and Farsi if they were willing to hire Jews. Only half a million of the Arab world's Jews went to Israel after 1948, not to mention the Persian Jews. Plenty of them ended up in America and Canada. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2007-11-20 10:35 |
| #6 Seems like the spook agencies are spending too much time today with inter-agency and internecine squabbling to be bothered with the business of intelligence. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2007-11-20 10:25 |
| #5 I think we got so damn desperate for Arabic translators / speakers in any G2 unit including the military that we forgot basic logic, common sense and security. They need to batten down the hatches on security background reviews and start over on every arabic speaking employee hired before and since 9/11, especially the ones hired after. |
| Posted by: Jack is Back! 2007-11-20 09:31 |
| #4 Not even retarded ones. Our government is a bunch of chimps with ADD and down syndrome. And I knew it was the commies behind all of this! |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2007-11-20 09:28 |
| #3 Do we have nothing but children working in our government? Retarded ones. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2007-11-20 08:28 |
| #2 Jesus. H. Christ. Do we have nothing but children working in our government? |
| Posted by: Rob Crawford 2007-11-20 07:53 |