By J.M. Phelps (One News Now)
A former U.N. ambassador has been nominated to head the U.S. Agency for International Development, and her past decisions have garnered the concern of a longtime Republican senator.
As One News Now reported last month, the Islamic Relief Agency (ISRA) – an organization with ties to terrorist organization and terrorists – was surprisingly supported by World Vision under the noses of many onlookers. While the evangelical nonprofit humanitarian aid organization was partnering with ISRA, it was also accepting taxpayer funding and public donations to fuel its mission in Sudan.
“[ISRA] has a long-history of funding, among other people, Osama bin Laden, and groups like Hamas,” says Cliff Smith, director of the Middle East Forum‘s Washington Project. Smith says World Vision began working with ISRA in southern Sudan, the most Christian part of Sudan, although the region remains majority Muslim. World Vision needed a local partner in the area, he adds, and ISRA was their unfortunate choice.
World Vision claimed ignorance, while making excuses for working with the jihadi-linked organization, Smith remarks. Despite being warned about ISRA’s terror designation, he says, “[World Vision] put on a full-court press to continue to work with ISRA – [and] where it gets interesting is where Samantha Power comes into the picture.”
Questions re: Samantha Power and ISRA
During her time as America’s ambassador to the United Nations, Power (pictured above) made an effort to remove ISRA from the sanctions list of the U.S. Treasury. Documented on the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (SDN) list by the Treasury Department, ISRA’s assets have been blocked, and individuals in the U.S. are prohibited from dealing with the organization. Based on complaints of “Islamophobia” at the U.N., Smith states Power pressured Treasury to lift the designation.
“This is very concerning, and Senator Chuck Grassley [R-Iowa] has called her out on it,” Smith tells One News Now. “What Power tried to accomplish was not apparently legal, as it is outside the method proscribed by regulation to lift a designation on an entity like ISRA, [explaining] they are supposed to go to Treasury, presumably with a lawyer, and make a case.”
But Power tried to acquire a review of ISRA’s designation without taking this step. “Essentially,” Smith concludes, “they were trying to work around the law.”
In a letter to Power, the MEF spokesman explains, Grassley appropriately shows Power was working outside the law for a goal that one might consider, at minimum, highly questionable.
“What’s even more important,” Smith argues, “is that this isn’t just some esoteric concern about poor management or even poor judgment from the past, [but] it’s actually about the core of the job is she being asked to do, today.
“It’s precisely these kinds of groups that a [United States Agency for International Development] administrator has to work with, and she has to make decisions of who gets money and why.”
Like Grassley, Smith wonders – taking into account her questionable past decisions – how Power would handle such future issues in war-torn regions like Sudan, particularly when partnering with Islamic organizations is considered.
J.M. Phelps is a counter-terrorism specialist, suicide bombing expert, and freelance journalist, focusing on national security for OneNewsNow. He is also editor and publisher of the website Lantern of Liberty.
Originally published by One News Now on Friday, March 5, 2021.
This column is printed with permission. Opinions expressed in columns published by Lantern of Liberty are the sole responsibility of the article’s author(s), or of the person(s) or organization(s) quoted therein, and do not necessarily represent those of the staff or management of, or advertisers who support Lantern of Liberty.
