Grants For Terrorists

Update on this story from the Chicago Tribune: WASHINGTON - The agency that distributes billions of dollars in American foreign aid cannot "reasonably ensure" that its money does not wind up in terrorist hands, an internal audit has concluded.

The United States Agency for International Development funded groups with ties to terrorism on at least two occasions, the agency's inspector general found in an audit. That included approving $180,000 for a Bosnian group whose president was on a "watch list" that barred him from entering the United States, and $1 million for an aid "partner" who later pleaded guilty to lying to federal agents about his involvement with a disciple of Osama bin Laden.

Officials cut off the funding in both instances after the terrorist affiliations were discovered....

USAID handed out $10 billion in 2005, making it the largest arm of the nation's $27 billion foreign aid operation. Federal law requires government officials to deny terrorists and their organizations access to that money. One of the best tools for doing that is "vetting," checking grant recipients' identities against information in terrorist databases...

The issue boiled over on Capitol Hill in March, when The Washington Times revealed that USAID had supported the Hamas-linked Islamic University, where Palestinian security forces had recently arrested five Iranians who were allegedly making rockets and explosives. The aid was given in spite of what a State Department spokesman called a "careful vetting process."...

Days after the report, at a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing, Chairman Tom Lantos (D-Calif.) blasted USAID, saying the thought that America "funds organizations and individuals engaged in terrorism or the glorification of terrorism is deeply disturbing" and "must and will end."