A story that is getting little attention is the fact that a Democratic congressman took an all expense paid for trip to Sri Lanka. Not a big deal until you find out a terrorist organization gave him the money for the trip:
Chicago congressman Danny Davis and an aide took a trip to Sri Lanka last year that was paid for by the Tamil Tigers, a group that the U.S. government has designated as a terrorist organization for its use of suicide bombers and child soldiers, law-enforcement sources said.
Davis’ seven-day trip came under scrutiny this week following the arrests of 11 supporters of the organization on charges of participating in a broad conspiracy to aid the terrorist group through money laundering, arms procurement and bribery of U.S. officials.
The five-term Democratic congressman said he was unaware that the Tigers paid for the trip and on his required congressional disclosure form he reported that the trip was paid for by a Tamil cultural organization, the Federation of Tamil Sangams of North America, based in Hickory Hills, Ill.
Get that? He was unaware the tigers paid for the trip but in the next breath does say that he knew the tigers were associated with the group that paid him the money:
Davis said he believed that the trip, from March 30 to April 5, 2005, was paid for by the Tamil federation, which in accordance with congressional ethics rules sent him a written statement of the travel expenses, more than $7,000 each for Davis and his aide, Daniel Cantrell. Davis said he knew that the group was “associated” with the Tamil Tigers but did not realize that the trip’s costs were covered with funds controlled by the rebel group.
You think that would send up any warning flags to a poltician?
Not David I guess. Additionally he has been talking with one of the 11 charged with money laundering and bribery as recently as 3 days ago:
As recently as Saturday, Davis talked in Chicago with a supporter of the Tamil Tigers who was among the 11 people accused of conspiring to aid the rebel group through money laundering, procurement of arms, including surface-to-air missiles, and bribery of public officials.
That Tamil Tiger supporter, Murugesu Vinayagamoorthy, was described in a federal criminal complaint as a high-level operative who served as an intermediary between the Tigers’ leaders and foreign backers. The complaint charges that he offered a $1 million bribe to an undercover FBI agent posing as a State Department official in an attempt to remove the Tamil Tigers’ designation as a terrorist organization.
Davis said he first met Vinayagamoorthy, a 57-year-old London physician, at a Tamil cultural event in the Chicago suburbs at which both of them gave speeches “a few years ago.” Vinayagamoorthy also participated in several of the meetings that Davis held while visiting Sri Lanka, the congressman said.
Ah…the noose tightens.
The Tamil supporter contacted the congressman’s office again last week seeking a chance to brief Davis on events in Sri Lanka, where violence between the government and Tamil Tigers has flared anew. Vinayagamoorthy arranged to do so while walking alongside Davis for 10 blocks Saturday during the congressman’s annual Back to School Parade in Chicago, Davis said.
The criminal complaint against Vinayagamoorthy asserts that he had “direct and frequent contact” with leaders of the rebel group and was “often dispatched” to facilitate its projects around the world.
Without mentioning Davis or his aide by name, the complaint describes transactions in which Vinayagamoorthy and others charged in the case allegedly laundered $13,150 in Tamil Tiger funds at the direction of a top guerrilla leader to pay for travel of “two individuals” to Tamil-controlled Sri Lanka. The two were Davis and Cantrell, law-enforcement officials said.
Davis said he always assumed that the organization had a connection with the Tamil Tigers.
“I knew that they were associated with the Tamil Tigers, yes,” he said.
He admits that this group were associated with the Tigers but still went ahead with the trip and still remained in contact with members of the group. If this group was Al-Qaeda do you think this story would get the same non-response?
What kind of group is the Tigers? Just in 2006 they have 35 people in suicide bomb attacks:
January 7: Fifteen Sri Lankan Navy personnel are killed in a suspected suicide attack by the LTTE on a navy gunboat outside the Trincomalee naval harbor in Trincomalee district.
February 11: One of four suspected LTTE Sea Tigers aboard on a speeding trawler blew himself up in mid-sea off Talaimannar in the Mannar district after being intercepted by SLN personnel, killing four sea Tigers on board and injuring a SLN personnel, who succumbed to his injuries later.
March 25: Six LTTE cadres and eight sailors were killed in a suspected suicide attack by the outfit, when a boat heading to northern Sri Lanka and carrying LTTE cadres exploded off the northwest coast near a naval craft in the Kalpititya area of Puttalam district.
April 25: Army Commander Lt. General Sarath Fonseka is critically injured while at least eight persons are killed when a female suicide cadre of the LTTE, disguised as a pregnant woman, blew herself up in front of the military hospital inside the Colombo Army headquarters. 27 persons are injured in the explosion.
June 26: A suicide bomber kills the SLA Deputy Chief of Staff, Major General Parami Kulathunge, the third highest appointment in the SLA, and three others at Pannipitiya, a suburb of capital Colombo. Eight persons are wounded in the explosion.
August 14: At least seven persons, including four soldiers of the SLA, are killed and 17 others sustain injuries in a suicide attack carried out by the LTTE targeting Pakistan High Commissioner Bashir Wali Mohammad in the capital Colombo. The envoy, returning from the Pakistan Independence day function at the mission, escapes unhurt though his vehicle suffered minor damage.
But this Democrat still insists he was doing nothing wrong by talking with and taking trips funded by groups who are associated with these terrorists.
Guess this is par for the course for this guy. Here he is with Fidel a few years back:
Isn’t that special.
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Nothing new for the DemocRATS…