Friday, December 22, 2006

AHA! SO THIS IS WHO DONATES TO THE GOP!!

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[Howie passed along this item with the above note.]

Iraqi Fugitive Donated to Bush Campaigns and the GOP

--He Contributed Before and After He was Appointed Iraqi Govt. Minister

Robert Y. Pelton, Iraq Slogger, December 21, 2006

IraqSlogger has learned that the ex-Iraqi government minister who is the subject of a nationwide manhunt in Iraq contributed to George W. Bush's presidential campaigns before and after being appointed by U.S. authorities as Iraq's minister of electricity.

Aiham Alsammarae, an Iraqi-American who considered the Chicago area home for 27 years until 2003, escaped his Baghdad Green Zone jail Sunday in an effort to avoid facing prosecution on corruption charges.

After escaping, Alsammarae, in telephone interviews with U.S. newspaper correspondents, taunted Iraqi authorities, said he was fleeing death threats in Iraq, and claimed he had already left the country.

Campaign contribution records show Alsammarae donated $1,000 to the Bush campaign in 1999 and, after being appointed by U.S. Iraq administrator Paul Bremer as Iraq's electricity minister in August 2003, donated $250 to the Bush campaign in April 2004.

Also while serving as Iraq's minister of electricity, he donated $1,500 to the U.S. Republican National Committee and $250 to the Illinois Republican Party.

Prior to his appointment as an Iraqi government minister, and separate from his Bush presidential campaign and RNC contributions, Alsammarae donated nearly $5,000 to the Illinois Republican party and to Republican U.S. senate candidates.

After being appointed by Bremer in 2003, Alsammarae stayed on as the electricity minister in the government of Iraqi prime minister Iyad Allawi until May 2005.

Alsammarae and the Iraqi minister of public works met President Bush at the White House September 22, 2003.

Alsammarae was arrested on corruption charges this August and in October was convicted and sentenced to two years in prison. That verdict was overturned last week, but he faced further corruption charges when he fled jail.

3 Comments:

At 12:10 PM, Blogger DownWithTyranny said...

Reading that makes you think he sounds exactly like a Republican politician in America, not any particular one... just all of them.

I'm hearing the U.S. military sprung him from his cell too. Nice! More George W. Bush teaching the world about "democracy" Florida, Ohio and Texas style.

 
At 12:38 PM, Blogger Bill Baar said...

Alsammare is a long time friend of Tony Rezko. The same Tony Rezko who helped Barack Obama buy a house and adjoining lot. Alsammare is wanted for questioning regarding corruption by the US Attorney in Chicago.

From today's Chicago Sun Times,

http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/182952,CST-NWS-iraqi22.article

Federal authorities in Chicago have expressed interest in Alsammarae's links to recently indicted businessman Antoin "Tony" Rezko, a former top fund-raiser for Gov. Blagojevich who won an Iraqi power plant contract while Alsammarae was electricity minister. The contract no longer is in effect.

Authorities here want to learn more about the deal because Rezko and Alsammarae know each other, and each has been accused of corruption, a source familiar with the investigation told the Sun-Times. Alsammarae and Rezko attended the Illinois Institute of Technology together in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

I hope Alsammare makes it home to talk. I'm not optimistic.

 
At 6:47 AM, Blogger Bill Baar said...

Alsammare was a speaker at an August 2000 event to protest sanctions agains Saddam... along with Martin Sheen and George Galloway.

A curious Bush supporter indeed..

 

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