The Treasury Department has identified the Islamic Society of Boston and its founder, the now-imprisoned Abdurahman Alamoudi, as major financial contributors to the al-Qaeda network and a conduit for Saudi funds to radical Islamist terrorism. The New York Sun's Meghan Clyne reports that the politically-connected Muslim group has several connections to terrorism, not just al-Qaeda -- revelations that will prove embarrassing for both political parties:

In July, Alamoudi was cited in a Treasury Department press release designating the Movement for Islamic Reform in Arabia, a U.K.-based Saudi oppositionist organization, led by Saad al-Faqih, as providing material support for Al Qaeda. MIRA "received approximately $1 million in funding through Abdulrahman Alamoudi," the statement said.

"According to information available to the U.S.Government," the statement continues, "the September 2003 arrest of Alamoudi was a severe blow to Al Qaeda, as Alamoudi had a close relationship with Al Qaeda and had raised money for Al Qaeda in the United States." The Treasury Department has declined to provide further information, saying the material is classified.

Alamoudi, an Eritrean-born naturalized American citizen, was arrested in 2003 on charges of having participated in a Libyan assassination plot against Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Abdullah, an allegation to which he admitted in the 2004 plea agreement with federal prosecutors. He was also stripped of his American citizenship after admitting to having obtained it fraudulently. ...

Before his arrest, Alamoudi enjoyed extensive connections to Washington lawmakers as the founder and president of the American Muslim Council. During the Clinton administration, according to press accounts, Alamoudi often visited the White House to meet with and advise President Clinton, now-Senator Clinton, and Vice President Gore. In 2001, Alamoudi appeared with President Bush at a prayer vigil for victims of the September 11 terrorist attacks just days after the destruction of the World Trade Center and the attack on the Pentagon.

This may deal a significant blow to American Muslims, many of whom might have no idea that these large organizations exist to funnel their money to radical causes overseas. In the case of ISB, al-Qaeda did not constitute its only beneficiary. One of the listed trustees for the group in IRS filings was Yusuf al-Qaradawi, identified as a trustee for tax years 1998-2000. Qaradawi lost his visa for entry to the US for his open support of Hamas and its activities in the Palestinian territories. ISB claims that Qaradawi's inclusion on its forms was an "administrative oversight", but the inclusion of such a person as one of Alamoudi's partners in the management of ISB sounds more like a pattern of terrorist support.

The ISB has threatened to sue almost everyone who has written anything critical about their operation. Andrew McCarthy, one of the prosecution team for the first World Trade Center attack, says that this is no coincidence. The lawsuits are intended to keep people from learning too much about their finances, including the millions of dollars that the Saudis and others have poured into ISB to establish its mosques in the Boston region -- and to further legitimize the organization within the US. ISB already has a sweetheart deal from Boston for development in Roxbury, an arrangement challenged by a local resident in a lawsuit regarding state support of religion. That lawsuit led to investigations by the Boston Herald and Fox TV, spurring ISB lawsuits for defamation against both media outlets.

Alamoudi has a 23-year sentence to serve, and when he finishes it he should get deported immediately. If the Treasury Department has the evidence it says it does, it should seize all assets of ISB and freeze their accounts in order to ensure that no more money gets into the hands of our enemies both here and abroad. Lastly, it is long past time for these Islamic societies to declare which side of the war they support -- the side of the radical Islamists who want to impose a global theocracy of shari'a, or the side of the nations that have allowed them to worship freely and live among others as equals and not dhimmis.

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