Biggest Counterterrorism seizures in U.S. history: Feds Seize N.Y. skyscraper, 4 mosques

Does b. Hussein know? The action against the Shiite Muslim mosques is sure to inflame relations between the U.S. government and American Muslims ....

Breaking news: Feds move to seize N.Y. skyscraper, 4 mosques

Prosecutors say building owners helping to illegally funnel money to Iran  MSNBC hat tip pon

NEW YORK - Federal prosecutors Thursday took steps 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 seeking the forfeiture of more than $500 million in assets of the Alavi Foundation and an alleged front company.

The assets include Islamic centers in New York City, Maryland, California and Houston, more than 100 acres in Virginia, and a 36-story office tower in New York.

Seizing the properties would be a sharp blow against Iran, which has been accused by the U.S. government of bankrolling terrorism and seeking a nuclear bomb.

A telephone call and e-mail to Iran's U.N. mission seeking comment were not immediately answered.

Religious backlash possible
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.

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 soldier.

The mosques and the office tower will remain open while the forfeiture case works its way through court in what could be a long process. What will happen to them if the government ultimately prevails is unclear. But the government typically sells properties it has seized through forfeiture, and the proceeds are sometimes distributed to crime victims.

There were no raids Thursday as part of the forfeiture action. The government is simply required to post notices of the civil complaint on the property.

Prosecutors said the Alavi Foundation, through a front company known as Assa Corp., illegally funneled millions in rental income back to Iran's state-owned Bank Melli. Bank Melli has been accused by a U.S. Treasury official of providing support for Iran's nuclear program, and it is illegal in the United States to do business with the bank.

Comments

[Jokerman]

The AP article goes on to say that "officials have long suspected the foundation was an arm of the Iranian government".

Also: "The foundation has also invested in dozens of mosques around the country and supported Iranian academics at prominent universities." And:

"If federal prosecutors seize the skyscraper, the Alavi Foundation would have almost no way to continue supporting the Islamic centers, which house schools and mosques. That could leave a major void in Shiite communities, and hard feelings toward the FBI."

Hard feelings toward the FBI! Like we should give a hoot about what Iran thinks about our law enforcement agencies doing their jobs!

And now with the support possibly drying up, maybe some of these US islamic centers, schools, and mosques will disappear and there will be a few less sleeper cells to indoctrinate and encourage more Army psychologists and others to wage jihad against us.

The less of these muslims that are here, the better off our country will be.

[Kenny Solomon]

When The Jihadist-In-Chief and A.G. Holder find out about this, heads are gonna roll at The Justice Department and The FBI for those agencies doing their jobs, protecting The USA and Americans.

Kenny Solomon
Senior Expediter
The 72 Virgins Club Travel Agency

[madrussian]

At last, a step in the right direction!? I'll wait and see before I celebrate.

[MDr]

Poor timing for Bloomberg. teh heh

[Timur]

Moslems will riot, CAIR will get the ACLU to file suit and in the end the government will back down, return the seized property, apologize profusely and pay jizya (fines) for daring to insult islam.

[lilredbird]

Riots? Not holding my breath. Hate to say it, but bring them on. After seeing how far the stealth jihad has progressed via response to Ft. Hood, it looks like we need some level of open confrontation soon. It is boilerplate that the longer you leave a conflict simmering with no progress towards resolution the greater the chance that it will blow up. We let that happen in the 1930s and it blew up on 12/07/41 and didn't end until tens of millions had died. Do we want to wait until Iran is fully nuclear before taking this sort of action? This isn't just sanctions, this is saying NO in a forceful and appropriate way. I just hope they will stick by it.

And since MDr mentioned it, what the hell was Bloomberg thinking? "Dialogue"? Croc-feeding schmuck.

lilredbird/rra

[pythagoras]

I am shocked to be saying this but this is excellent work on the part of someone in the US government, who exactly I know not.

I am dying to know who in the US govenrment has been authorizing all these (timely and important) terrorism busts because all this las enforcement sure doesn't sound like anything Barack Hussein Obama the Muslim-in-thug would be standing behind especially in view of his utterly disgracegul handling of Nidal hasan.

Kudos to whoever it is. May they continue this great work as we will be in need of it for a long time to come, whether Obama agrees or not (not I would say). The question remains will the libs and the stealth jihadists put a stop to these efforts of the US government. (Let us hope not).