By Debbie Schlussel
Over the past week, I spent far less time writing for this website than planned. Instead, I spent hours on the phone with John McCain staffers and key supporters in Michigan to right a mistake.
And, unlike the Barack Obama who clings to anti-Semites and terrorism supporters, John McCain did the right thing: He dumped Ali Jawad–an open Hezbollah supporter and key agent of the terrorist group in the Detroit area. Jawad is also a federal insurance fraud convict.

On Friday, I received this written confirmation that Jawad was cut:

From: Danny Diaz – Communications
Date: Fri, Apr 25, 2008 at 6:14 PM
Subject: RNC Response
To: writedebbie@gmail.com
Ali Jawad is no longer participating in efforts – whether fundraising or otherwise – on behalf of McCain Victory 2008.
-Danny Diaz, RNC Spokesperson
Danny Diaz
Republican National Committee (RNC)

(Emphasis added.)

Ali Jawad (Standing), Treasury Dept. Terrorism Official Michael Rosen (to Jawad’s Right), Michigan FBI Special Agent in Charge Andrew Arena (Smiling, to Rosen’s Right)

“Former” Islamic Terrorist Imad Hamad, Ali Jawad, Michigan/Ohio ICE Special Agent in Charge Brian Moskowitz, Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security for ICE Julie L. Myers, Abed “Aboudi” Bazzi (Brother of Hezbo-Allied Member of Lebanese Parliament Ali Bazzi)
I congratulate John McCain and his campaign because they proved that McCain truly is a maverick and independent of the Republican establishment who brought Mr. Jawad to his campaign. McCain’s Michigan and national staff have shown courage in bucking what is a sad trend on the part of the Michigan Republican Party: going for pro-Hezbollah Shiite cash and support. Michigan GOPers took lots of money from Jawad.
Last week, several high-dollar Michigan Republican donors received an invitation to a May 6th $2,300 per head campaign fundraiser. Both John McCain and Mitt Romney are scheduled to attend. The donors noticed the name, “Ali Jawad,” prominently listed on the Finance Committee and contacted me, knowing I had mentioned and written about him in the past.
Here are the specifics on Ali Jawad:
Ali Jawad and his company, Armada Oil, were convicted of insurance and mail fraud in federal court and ordered to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in restitution and fines. Michael Mustapha Makki, Jawad’s co-defendant–also convicted–in the case, USA v. Makki et al, is a member of the Makki family, many members of which were convicted of cigarette smuggling for Hezbollah.
Several sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity confirm that Jawad sold cigarettes obtained from out of state and avoided paying the exorbitant Michigan cigarette tax he collected, pursuant to the scam. Although key members of law enforcement were aware of this, they were ordered by late, then-Dearborn Mayor Michael Guido not to pursue the matter and to call off their investigation. Mr. Jawad was a major donor to Guido, as was indicted Hezbollah financier and fugitive, Talal Chahine. In 2003, Jawad–originally from the Hezbollah stronghold of Nabatiya–and Chahine, together, accompanied Mayor Guido on a trip to Lebanon, for which they raised thousands of dollars. They visited the Hezbollah-controlled cities of Bint Jbeil and Qana.
Jawad is known as one of the most important agents of Hezbollah in the U.S. He is related (through his brother’s marriage into the Safieddine family) to Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah and the man Iran has designated as Nasrallah’s heir apparent, Hachem Safieddine (currently a member of the 7-member Hezbollah ruling council, the Shurah Al-Karar). The Jawad and Safieddine families have many business dealings together. Both Ali Jawad and the Safieddines own many gas stations throughout the Detroit area. Armada Oil–of which Jawad is CEO–also distributes gas to gas stations throughout the Detroit area.
Jawad isn’t shy about his support for Hezbollah. He defended Ali and Mohamed “Mike” Boumelhem, when they were caught by U.S. Customs agents trying to smuggle weapons to Canada and ultimately to Hezbollah. And he told The Detroit News that the terrorist group, which murdered more Americans than any other besides Al-Qaeda, isn’t a terrorist group:

Killing innocent people — we reject that. Hezbollah does not fit this category. It has protected its people.

Translation: The hundreds of Americans and Jews Hezbollah murdered are not “innocent people.” Hezbollah protects Shi’ite Muslims, and they’re the only ones worth protecting.
In May 2003, Jawad again traveled to Lebanon–this time, with his close friend, FBI award revokee and “former” Islamic terrorist Imad Hamad, a man who engaged in marriage fraud. Also with them was Muthanna Al-Hanooti, a Ba’ath Party member recently indicted for being a Saddam Hussein spy. Hanooti was a key official of LIFE for Relief and Development, an Al-Qaeda and HAMAS charity raided by the FBI and the U.S. Army.
During that trip, they met with Nabih Berri, head of the Hezbollah-backed Shi’ite Amal militia, who also heads the Lebanese Parliament. Berry was Hezbollah’s negotiator for the Hezbollah hijacking of TWA Flight 847 in 1985, during which Navy diver Robert Dean Stethem was trampled to death. Federal agents have long told me that they believe Hamad’s annual trips to Lebanon with these malefactors–often including visits to Bashar Assad of Syria–are terror-related trips with money-laundering as a likely purpose.
The alleged purpose of the May 2003 trip was to introduce Berri and other Hezbollah members of the Lebanese parliament to Bachar Sbeiti Kachkouche, then a 3-year-old Lebanese Canadian “child prodigy,” who lived in Windsor, Canada, just over the border from Detroit. Hamad and company were purportedly raising money for Kachkouche, allegedly so he could attend Roeper, an expensive Detroit-area private school, college, and ultimately medical school. When you think about it, this is a brilliant scheme. No-one is looking at donations allegedly for the schooling of a gifted and talented toddler, nor at the ultimate destination of the money. And the toddler then gets to traverse the international borders daily. Do you think they’d search this cute, smiling boy or the vehicle in which he was riding on a daily basis? Detroit FBI agents told me they notified Canadian authorities about this scheme.
Roeper School would not confirm whether Bachar Sbeiti is currently or has ever been a student, or whether he is or was ever a scholarship recipient from the school, which would negate the need for private fundraising. Alleged “scholarship” money for Sbeiti was being raised by LIFE for Relief and Development, which was raided by FBI agents in the Detroit-area and the U.S. Army in Iraq. LIFE is believed to fund Al-Qaeda and was openly funding HAMAS’ Jordanian operation for several years. Muthanna Al-Hanooti, a top LIFE official was recently indicted as a Saddam spy, and the charity’s founder was identified as an agent of the Muslim Brotherhood in America. Alleged “scholarship” money for Sbeiti was also being raised by Hamad’s ADC (American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee). “Donors” were instructed to make checks payable directly to LIFE and ADC. An examination of the federal tax filings for both organizations indicates no outlays for Sbeiti’s education or any indication of the ultimate use of monies raised in Sbeiti’s name.
But, despite all this, Ali Jawad remains “untouchable,” say concerned citizens.
That might have something to do with the tight relationship both Jawad and his friend, the “former” Islamic terrorist Hamad, have with key feds. The photo above shows Ali Jawad at a recent banquet held by Hamad and a Nabih Ayad, a lawyer for Islamic terrorists. Jawad is shown sitting at the head table next to Michael Rosen, a lawyer and policy advisor with the U.S. Office of Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes of the U.S. Treasury Department. To Rosen’s right, the man who is laughing is Michigan FBI Special Agent in Charge Andrew Arena. Previous to his Michigan assignment, Arena was in charge of Counterterrorism for the New York FBI and told the Christian Science Monitor that, in that capacity, his job was to set the public–and agents–straight, after a poll showed 50% of Americans had a negative view of Islam.
Also sitting at the table and shown in the next picture with Jawad and Hamad, are Assistant Secretary for Homeland Security for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Julie L. Myers and Michigan/Ohio ICE Special Agent in Charge Brian Moskowitz. On the far right of the photo, next to Myers, is Abed “Aboudi” Bazzi, a close friend of Jawad. Bazzi is the brother of Ali Bazzi, a Hezbollah-allied Member of the Lebanese Parliament, who is from the Shi’ite Amal militia.
Oh, the company they keep.
Fortunately, John McCain is not also keeping company with Ali Jawad. Unlike these feds, he did the right thing. But several Michigan Republicans haven’t.
The list of Michigan Republicans who’ve taken money from Ali Jawad includes Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox, Gubernatorial candidate Dick DeVos, Congresswoman Candice Miller, and Congressman Joe Knollenberg a/k/a “Hezbollah Joe” (who sent $86 million in US money back to Jawad’s Hezbo buddies in South Lebanon, to return the favor), U.S. Senator Spencer Abraham (who sponsored the $86 Mill Hezbo giveaway with Knollenberg), Michigan House Republican Campaign Committee, Michigan Supreme Court Justice Cliff Taylor, and former State Rep. and failed Supreme Court nominee Marc Shulman.
On the Democratic side, Jawad gave to reliable pan-Islamist Congressmen John Conyers, David Bonior, John Dingell, and Cynthia McKinney. But as you can see, he’s given primarily to Michigan Republicans. And it’s a trend Michigan Republican Chair Saul Anuzis shows no willingness to stop. After I pointed out that he tried to recruit pro-Hezbollah Shi’ite Nasser Beydoun to run in 2002 as a Republican for Michigan’s U.S. Senate seat, I asked Anuzis whether he would decline in the future to “outreach” to Shi’ite Muslims who support Hezbollah. He would only answer that he would appeal to whomever will vote Republican. And campaign finance reports show he’s not turning away this poisonous money, either.
Other than that, Jawad is a major donor to the Dearborn-based, Islamist-dominated Arab American Political Action Committee (AAPAC), run by Osama Siblani–who was identified in Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Seyassah as an agent of Hezbollah–and Abed Hammoud. Both have compared Israel to Nazis and openly praised “the Hezbollah martyrs” as “freedom fighters.” Imad Hamad is also active with the group, as is Nael AbuNab, who was convicted of several felonies for selling cars with fraudulent speedometers. AAPAC’s Secretary, Lola Elzein, was removed after I sent a demand letter to Siblani, noting Elzein’s multiple, written, obscene, Holocaust-denial death, rape, and torture threats to me, my parents, and grandparents.
So, how did Jawad formerly come to be one of six members of John McCain’s Michigan campaign finance committee in the first place? Neither the McCain campaign nor the RNC is saying. Federal campaign finance reports show he hasn’t donated a penny to the McCain. Privately, though, some people listed on the invitation are saying Jawad “came over from the Romney campaign.” This is interesting, since Jawad also hasn’t donated a penny to Mitt Romney, either. Perhaps he was picked because he’s a Muslim name.
Or perhaps he was tapped because he was a major donor to Michigan Attorney General Cox. Cox was McCain’s Michigan campaign chairman, but resigned last summer, when it looked like McCain’s campaign wasn’t going to succeed. Now that McCain is the presumptive nominee, though, fair-weather friend Cox is back on board and has his name on the invitation. As a Jawad donee, Cox–who is running for Michigan Governor–played both sides of the war on terrorism.
After he appeared and spoke at a pro-Israel rally, during the 2006 war with Hezbollah, Cox then campaigned at the dinner of the extremist, openly pro-Hezbollah/HAMAS Council of Islamic Organizations of Michigan dinner. And he visited the offices of Jawad’s friend Imad Hamad–the openly pro-Hezbollah/HAMAS Michigan ADC–asking what he could do for them. That’s not to mention that he lied about and refused to pursue millions of dollars in Medicaid fraud by pregnant foreign alien Muslims perpetrated by the Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services (ACCESS).
Cox waited for the last of the Medicaid defrauders to leave the country before he filed a few toothless, token warrants for their arrest, sending out press releases and going on national TV to brag about it. When Cox was contacted by Michigan Republican legislators, upon ACCESS chief Ismael Ahmed‘s nomination to head the Michigan Department of Human Sevices (overseeing billions in Medicaid), Cox declined to give them any information and was suddenly mum, unlike his effusive “O’Reilly Factor” appearance regarding the topic.
And finally, there is Jim Nicholson, a millionaire Michigan businessman and Michigan Finance Chairman of the McCain campaign. Jawad donated heavily to liberal Republican Nicholson’s failed 1996 U.S. Senate bid, and Nicholson’s name appears atop the McCain invitation.
Regardless of how Ali Jawad came to the John McCain campaign, John McCain and his people did the right thing and immediately dumped this malefactor, once they learned who he is. When will the feds and the Michigan Republican Party do the same?
And when will Barack Obama follow suit by dumping his many anti-Semitic, anti-Israel foreign policy advisors and supporters?
We know who the real counterterrorism candidate is. And that’s why I plan to vote for John McCain. He won’t be bought by campaign money. And, in this case, he’s saying no to the forces of political correctness and Islamofascism.
NOT PAID FOR BY ANY CANDIDATE OR CANDIDATE COMMITTEE.