McCain Avoids Making Obama's Mistake

Unlike Obama, who defended Pastor Wright and his ties to him, McCain has dropped Ali Jawad, a supporter of Hizbollah, from his Michigan campaign finance committee. Debbie Schlussel writes:

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.

Schlussel goes into detail on Jawad's background and connections, writing in part:

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.

Jawad's influence and success despite his terrorist ties are apparently due to his connections, who depth and breadth are disturbing, considering

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.

From Schlussel's research it appears that McCain did not know who Jawad is and it is not clear how Jawad--who has not donated any money to the McCain campaign--became part of the campaign in the first place.

Personally, I am a bit more cynical than Schlussel--dumping Jawad after Barack's troubles with Wright was a no brainer, and not necessarily an indication integrity. Also, there are still statements about Israel that McCain has made about Israel in the past that need to be dealt with.

Still, McCain did do the right thing.

Read the whole thing.

[Hat tip: Boker Tov, Boulder]

Technorati Tag: John McCain and Ali Jawad.