The only question I have is, “What took them so long?”,
Federal prosecutors took steps Thursday to seize four U.S. mosques and a Fifth Avenue skyscraper owned by a nonprofit Muslim organization long suspected of being secretly controlled by the Iranian government.
In what could prove to be one of the biggest counterterrorism seizures in U.S. history, prosecutors filed a civil complaint in federal court against the Alavi Foundation, seeking the forfeiture of more than $500 million in assets.
The assets include bank accounts; Islamic centers consisting of schools and mosques in New York City, Maryland, California and Houston; more than 100 acres in Virginia; and a 36-story glass office tower in New York.
Confiscating the properties would be a sharp blow against Iran, which has been accused by the U.S. government of bankrolling terrorism and trying to build a nuclear bomb.
A telephone call and e-mail to Iran’s U.N. Mission seeking comment were not immediately answered. Nor was a call to the Alavi Foundation.
It is extremely rare for U.S. law enforcement authorities to seize a house of worship, a step fraught with questions about the First Amendment right to freedom of religion.
I know that this is news to many, but the First Amendment freedom of religion doesn’t protect funneling money to hostile foreign powers that are currently developing nuclear weapons. Oh, and just so that we won’t forget what’s really important about this story, AP lays it out for us with….wait for it,
The action against the Shiite Muslim mosques is sure to inflame relations between the U.S. government and American Muslims, many of whom are fearful of a backlash after last week’s Fort Hood shooting rampage, blamed on a Muslim American major.
Sniffle.
Oh, and did anyone else catch the “last week’s Fort Hood shooting rampage, blamed on a Muslim American major”? Yeah, because Hasan could have just been walking to his car minding his own business when, by some silly freak accident, some invisible wacko shoots up a bunch of people, and happens to drop his gun directly into the major’s hands, thereby causing him to be blamed for the shooting rampage.
I guess eyewitnesses and stuff don’t count for anything anymore.
Tags: Iran, terrorist supporters
