Bush Tied to Terror Suspect Sami al-Arian - Image

ORIGINAL CAPTION STORY FOR THE PHOTO ABOVE:

IT WAS ONE OF THE COOLEST MOments of his life. Abdullah Al-Arian was finally old enough to vote for president, and George W. Bush, on a campaign hop through Tampa, Fla., had singled him out in the crowd. Bush called the college student "Big Dude" and posed for pictures with his Arab-American family-an ethnic group politicians have long ignored. AlArian had registered Democratic, but he was so encouraged by Bush's outreach to the Arab community that he voted for him and took a job this summer as a congressional intern. But his optimism faded his first week in Washington, D.C. During a meeting with Muslim leaders on the president's faith-based initiative last month, Al-- Arian was ejected from a White House annex by a security guard, on an erroneous tip that the student had terrorist connections. "I thought with this election we were finally gaining ground" says Al-Arian, 20, a polisci major at Duke. "The next thing I know, I'm being profiled by the Secret Service." ---> More

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Bush's Ties to Al-Arian are the Tip of the Iceberg
23-Feb-03

Rightwinger David Frum writes, "The arrest of Sami al-Arian on terrorism charges marks an epoch not only in the War on Terror, but in the history of the Bush administration... Not only were the al-Arians not avoided by the Bush White House - they were actively courted. Candidate Bush allowed himself to be photographed with the al-Arian family while campaigning in Florida. Candidate Bush denounced the immigration laws that detained - and ultimately deported - [al-Arian's brother-in-law] Mazen al-Najjar... The al-Arian case was not a solitary lapse. The Bush campaign in 2000 very determinedly reached out to Muslim voters. Indeed, Muslim-Americans may have tipped the election to Bush... That outreach campaign opened relationships between the Bush campaign and some very disturbing persons in the Muslim-American community. Many of those disturbing persons were invited to stand beside Bush at post-9/11 events, like his meeting with Muslim community leaders at the Massachusetts Ave. mosque."
http://www.nationalreview.com/frum/diary022103.asp

Did Karl Rove Overrule the Secret Service to Invite Terror Suspect Al-Arian to the White House Briefing?
23-Feb-03
Insight, the Moonie magazine, reports that Sami Amin Al-Arian was invited to a White House briefing on 6-22-01 led by Karl Rove (Cheney cancelled at the last minute due to negative publicity) despite being under investigation for a leadership role in Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Al-Arian's name would have set alarms ringing at the Secret Service, so how did he get an invitation the White House? An anonymous associate of the GOP's top Islamic influence-peddler, Grover Norquist, insists he specifically warned the White House about al-Arian. So who ignored Norquist and overruled the Secret Service? There's only one person with the power to bring a suspected terrorist right into the White House - Karl Rove. We demand a full investigation!
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=31172

Terror Suspect Gave Bush his Margin of Theft in Florida
22-Feb-03
Before he was arrested as a top terror suspect, Newsweek reported that Sami Amin al-Arian "is one of the country's leading advocates for repeal of secret-evidence laws (his brother-in-law was jailed for more than three years on allegations an INS judge dismissed in December). When Bush decried the use of secret evidence during the campaign, the elder Al-Arian campaigned vigorously for the Republican at mosques and Islamic cultural centers. 'We certainly delivered him many more than 537 votes,' he says, referring to Bush's margin of victory in the election." Not only did Bush steal Florida, he stole it with the help of an accused terrorist! Ever the opportunistic hypocrites, Bush and Ashcroft have since shredded the Constitution to INCREASE evidence secrecy with the likes of Patriot Acts I and II! Impeach Bush Now!
http://www.library.cornell.edu/colldev/mideast/ariana.htm

Like 'Kenny Boy' Lay, Bush Tries to Disavow His Ties to Terror Suspect al-Arian
22-Feb-03
Just as George W. Bush denied knowing "Kenny Boy" Lay, now he's denying his connections with Professor Sami Amin al-Arian, who was just charged with being the US leader of a terrorist group. ''Then-Governor Bush just walked around greeting people,'' Buchan said. Al-Arian did not contribute money or volunteer work to the Bush campaign, she said. But Newsweek reports that al-Arian got out the Muslim vote for Bush in Florida, ''He was a Bush supporter,'' said Robert McKee, an attorney who is representing al-Arian in a legal dispute with the university. ''As close as the election in Florida was, Sami may have put him over the top. He got out the vote in the Muslim community in Florida.'' Later, his son was invited to the White House for a meeting related to Bush's "faith-based" initiative.
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/053/nation/Professor_in_ terror_indictments_was_a_Bush_supporter+.shtml

Alleged Terrorist Sami al-Arian Campaigned with Bush and Met with Rove
22-Feb-03
WashPost reports that Sami al-Arian, "a former university professor indicted this week as a terrorist leader attended a 6-22-2001 group meeting in the White House complex with Karl Rove. Al-Arian, a former computer engineering professor at the University of South Florida, had been under investigation by the FBI for at least six years at the time of the June 2001 briefing for [the American Muslim Council]. Numerous news accounts also had said federal agents suspected Al-Arian of links to terrorism. Al-Arian was indicted Thursday on charges that he conspired to aid suicide bombings in Israel and the Palestinian territories and has served for years as a leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist organization." Cheney was supposed to lead the meeting, but he cancelled after "the Jerusalem Post had run a front-page article headlined, 'Cheney to host pro-terrorist Muslim group.'" Al-Arian campaigned for Bush in Florida mosques and was photographed with Bush on 3-12-2000.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A44894-2003Feb21.html

For more on al-Arian:

http://news.google.com/news?q=al-arian&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=utf-8&sa=N&tab=wn

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