Patterico's Pontifications

1/17/2008

“Desperation and money do bad things.”

Filed under: Terrorism — Justin Levine @ 4:54 pm



[posted by Justin Levine]

Well said.  [h/t: LGF]

Though something tells me there is another dynamic at work here – the widespread culture out of Washington that naively wants to believe that radical groups such as CAIR have moderate elements that can somehow “bridge” the gap as peacemaker between the West and Islam, and therefore, we should reach out to them.  There is no “firewall” between genuinely moderate elements within Islam and the radical anti-Western forces. The social and financial interconnections between these camps are far too complex for that kind of reasoning. The only question is how many degrees of separation are there within any given Islamic “charity” group. As Hamas and Hizbullah demostrate, you can’t really separate out the charity work from the terrorist actions with these groups – even though there is no question that Hamas and Hizbullah engage in “charity” work in order to help build their popular support. 

The Bush Administration, State Department and FBI are all guilty of this folly. The difference here is that Silijander’s own entanglement with lobbyist money pushed his naivete into a more dangerous and duplicitous level.    

6 Responses to ““Desperation and money do bad things.””

  1. His background could scarcely be more at odds with the charges.

    Siljander is a Born-Again Evangelical Christian. We had fast days in his office. There were prayer circles. So deeply religious and so deeply against the Islamic threat, Siljander was known, at the time, as the most pro-Israel Congressman on Capitol Hill, with many Jewish and pro-Israel Evangelical contributors from all over the world.

    The indictment:

    http://www.columbiatribune.com/2008/Jan/0117-IARA_indictment.pdf

    steve (70ee70) — 1/17/2008 @ 6:24 pm

  2. Precisely Steve. Hence the comment from his former aide: “Desperation and money do bad things.”

    Justin Levine (2ddfbf) — 1/17/2008 @ 6:36 pm

  3. Wow. If you hire a nutcase like that, you can’t really be making the right decision all the time

    stef (23c2b4) — 1/17/2008 @ 6:47 pm

  4. Benedict Arnold betrayed the American cause for money.

    Perfect Sense (b6ec8c) — 1/17/2008 @ 8:43 pm

  5. I’d bet the entire world of Islam laughs its arse off at the US almost daily.

    If a non Muslim in their country crosses the line, they simply kill you! Sans the crys and tears of somebody you don’t know, but sell vast quantities of oil to, and don’t give a hoot in hell about.

    We on the other hand, make sure they are comfortable, prepare special meals for them, and yadayada yada! Oh as well provide free of charge some pretty good representation as well.

    Maybe we add an element to our legal system, “will try you and treat you as though you were at home”! Cept the food will be better, no actually, you can make your own food as our prisons will by styled after your own.

    TC (1cf350) — 1/17/2008 @ 11:29 pm

  6. I’ve quoted you and linked to you here.http://consul-at-arms.blogspot.com/2008/01/re-desperation-and-money-do-bad-things.html

    Consul-At-Arms (24ca24) — 1/20/2008 @ 2:08 pm


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