By Debbie Schlussel
I’ve been writing in major newspapers for over two decades. And in that time and the several years that I’ve maintained this site, I’ve never once been sued for defamation. That’s because I check and double- and triple-check everything I wrote that I independently report. I’m an attorney, and I know what defamation is. I don’t engage in it. And my credibility is important. If I don’t have solid proof and reliable sources to back up my information, I don’t run it.
Over the last 24 hours-plus, I’ve been inundated by inquiries from reporters and readers regarding my column on Ali Jawad, the Hezbollah agent and federally convicted insurance defrauder who was dumped by the John McCain campaign almost two weeks ago.
It’s the usual M.O. from the extremist Islamic community, and I was prepared.

Hezbollah Agents Osama Siblani and Ali Jawad
Whine & Obfuscate Ad Absurdum
In 2003, when–in response to a New York Post column I wrote–the FBI revoked a planned national award to “former” Islamic terrorist Imad Hamad, a man who engaged in marriage fraud to stay in the U.S., Hamad and his friend Osama Silbani had a whining press conference. They threatened to sue me–even though they knew they had no grounds, nor plans to actually follow through on what was an empty threat.
Yesterday, Ali Jawad and his close friend, Osama Siblani, Editor and Publisher of the Arab American News held a press conference to claim that everything I’ve written about Jawad is “untrue” and “rumor and innuendo” and that he doesn’t support Hezbollah. But Jawad would not specifically denounce or condemn Hezbollah at his press conference. And having Siblani–who repeatedly, openly praises Hezbollah in mainstream media sources–as the host of the event, doesn’t exactly help Jawad’s case. It just bolsters the very strong and iron-clad case I’ve made.
Here are some of Osama Siblani’s comments on Hezbollah and HAMAS, which he’s repeated on Detroit radio station WJR and on National Public Radio, as well as at multiple Hezbollah rallies at which he’s been a featured speaker:

When asked if Hezbollah is a terrorist group, Siblani replies, “No, They are not terrorists. Absolutely not. No. They are freedom fighters.”
And what about Hamas? “Freedom fighters as well,” Siblani said.

Moreover, Siblani attended a Dearborn meeting described in Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Seyassah as a meeting of American Hezbollah operatives.

That Siblani hosted and conducted the press conference for Ali Jawad, who is now, suddenly, trying to distance himself from Hezbollah–the group he previously praised–should tell you something.
At yesterday’s press conference, neither Jawad nor Siblani would respond to any of the specific charges I’ve made about Jawad. That’s because everything I’ve written about Jawad is absolutely solid, and he knows it. He can’t refute it, so that’s why he issued a general, false “It’s not true” claim.
I didn’t make up the 2002 Detroit News article, in which Jawad praised Hezbollah and said it wasn’t a terrorist group. Funny now how he’s trying to pretend he didn’t say those things. Interesting that he didn’t protest this quote attributed to him, when the story ran back in 2002. That’s because he said it–that he supports Hezbollah–and he meant it.
And I didn’t make up his federal conviction for insurance fraud and the fact that he and his company, Armada Oil Company had to pay over $250,000 in fines and restitution for it. That’s not “rumor and innuendo,” nor is it “untrue,” as Jawad claimed at yesterday’s dysfunctional, yet predictable whine-fest.
Also not a rumor is the fact that his co-convict in USA v. Makki et al, Michael Mustapha Makki, is from the Hezbollah Makki family, many of whose members were convicted of smuggling cigarettes for Hezbollah–the same cigarettes he is accused of selling in his gas stations. Makki went to prison for his part in Jawad’s insurance fraud scheme. Why him and not Jawad? Draw your own conclusions.
Nor did I make up his two 2003 trips to Lebanon to meet up with his Hezbollah official buddies. I didn’t make up the fact that in 2003, Jawad accompanied indicted Hezbollah financier and fugitive Talal Chahine to Lebanon and that they visited Hezbollah strongholds. He told that to the local papers. Was he lying then? I don’t think so. But he is lying now by denying his previous descriptions of the trip.
Nor did I make up the fact that in another trip that year, Jawad traveled to Hezbollah strongholds to meet with key Hezbollah officials, accompanied by indicted Saddam Hussein spy Muthanna Al-Hanooti. That was published in a newsletter by Jawad’s buddy, the FBI award revokee and “former” Islamic terrorist Imad Hamad, who orchestrated the trip with him. Did Hamad lie to his own newsletter? I don’t think so.
And I didn’t photoshop the photo of Jawad with his good buddy, Abed “Abboudi” Bazzi, brother of his other good friend, Hezbollah-backed Lebanese Member of Parliament Ali Bazzi. That’s one of the people he’s repeatedly met with in Lebanon. This is one of the Lebanese “government officials” he keeps talking about. Indeed.
Also not made up: Jawad’s brother’s marriage into the Safieddine family, closely related to both the current and heir apparent leaders of Hezbollah. Is he now denying this? No.
So why, after declining to comment, and accepting his fate from the McCain campaign, are Ali Jawad and his band of the usual suspect extremist Muslims who openly support Hezbollah and HAMAS suddenly whining?
Jawad knew for almost two weeks that he was dumped from–or in one of his latest, ever-changing versions of events, quit–serving on the Michigan Finance Committee for John McCain in connection with a Michigan fundraiser. Yet, he waited silently (and declined comment to the Detroit Free Press) for almost two weeks, planning this last-minute phony indignation ambush on John McCain, claiming that what I wrote–all of which he knows to be absolutely true–isn’t.
If Jawad was so insulted by the McCain campaign, where was he for the last two weeks? And why did he “quit” on his own, as he claims? If I were unfairly or falsely accused of something, I certainly wouldn’t admit it and “quit” (he was summarily cut from the campaign).
Because he knew then I caught him with his pants down (and with his yellow/green Hezbollah underwear showing) and this is just a tactic to hurt John McCain in Michigan. Sour lemons.
Despite his blowhard-fest yesterday,Jawad knows he is guilty as charged of everything I’ve written about him, just as he was guilty as charged–and pleaded to it–in a federal indictment for insurance fraud. Anybody else would have been ashamed of that. But not Jawad. He’s trying to be the Tony Rezko of the McCain campaign. But it won’t work. Jawad was cut loose. And John McCain isn’t dumb enough to invite him back aboard to sink the ship . . . I hope.
One media report quotes CAIR-Michigan executive director Dawud Walid–another guy who won’t condemn Hezbollah or HAMAS and says they aren’t terrorist groups–as urging Jawad to sue me. (You know when an organization, CAIR, which the government has identified as an unindicted co-conspirator, attacks you, you’re on the right side. CAIR’s not in a position to distinguish between terrorists and non-terrorists.)
And Jawad was asked about, but declined to say, yesterday, whether he would file suit. I’m not worried because everything I wrote is true, and, again, he knows it, too. But he also knows, in the event he does file suit against me, I will countersue him for such a frivolous action, and I’ll subpoena and discover the heck out of him. I’ve only written about the tip of his iceberg. He doesn’t want to provide me with fodder for more and even more evidence on top of what I already have. Does he?
Most Muslims are not supporting John McCain, anyway. It’s common knowledge they are vastly behind Barack Obama. This posturing by Siblani and Jawad and the usual extremist shakedown suspects that McCain will “lose” the Muslim vote over dumping a federally convicted insurance defrauder is not only phony, it’s illuminating. It shows their community–or at least the ones who purport to speak for them–not only have no shame, but they openly support Hezbollah (as I’ve been saying all along) and demand that a Presidential candidate see their way on Hezbollah and look the other way on major federal convictions and insurance fraud.
Guys, thanks for informing us about your community. Nothing I didn’t already know. But now the rest of Michigan and the McCain campaign knows.
And just so you know, there are plenty of Arabs and Muslims who’ve contacted me–who are very happy I enlightened the McCain campaign and got them to dump Jawad.
I received several letters such as this one, from a patriotic Lebanese Arab-American, who read about Jawad being dumped on the Lebanese site, Naharnet. This is the kind of Arab-American we need far more of, as much as we need far fewer Ali Jawads and Osama Siblanis:

I didn’t know about your blog until today after I read a Lebanese news website (Naharnet.com) where you were mentioned.
I am an American (Lebanese-American), who immigrated (legally) to the USA in 1987.
I was pleasantly surprised to read your blog and noticed that your news about Lebanon are accurate; as well as names and their difficult spelling and pronunciation.
I hope the present US government and future ones keep supporting the pro-western government of Lebanon. That’s the only way to stop the wave of Iranian extremism ad their allies.
Keep up the good work.

Thanks. I will. And whining by Ali Jawad and his friends won’t stop me. They will only bring me more new readers, like you. Unlike Hezbollah-occupied Lebanon, this is a free country. . . for now.
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Reader Bob writes:

They play the martyr card with the best–they whine with their accent, “I love this country. I am an American citizen. This is outrageous how we are treated….” blah blah barf!!!

That’s it in a nutshell.