Ex-legislator indicted in case tied to terror funds

WASHINGTON — A lobbyist and former Republican congressman from Michigan was paid $50,000 to lobby for a charity that funneled money to al-Qaida, Osama bin Laden and an Afghan warlord, according to an indictment made public Wednesday.

Mark Deli Siljander, 56, who served in Congress from 1981 to 1987 and was later appointed by President Reagan to the United Nations, was charged in an indictment filed in Missouri with money laundering, conspiracy and lying to the FBI.

The crimes allegedly happened after his tenure in Congress and at the U.N.

Siljander lobbied for the Islamic American Relief Agency, which paid him $50,000 out of a U.S. grant intended for African relief efforts, according to the indictment.

The Senate Finance Committee listed the agency in early 2004 as an organization suspected of supporting international terrorism.

The organization closed later that year when the Treasury Department listed it as a terrorist organization and froze its assets.

A grand jury indicted the group and its officers last March on charges of violating U.S. sanctions against Iraq.

Siljander is chairman of Global Strategies, a lobbying and public-relations group in Great Falls, Va. He denies the charges, his attorney, James Hobbs, said Wednesday.

Revised military bill clears House

The House on Wednesday approved a $696 billion military-policy measure after revising a single provision in the 1,300-page bill that had prompted a surprise veto by President Bush.

Bush had strongly supported the original bill, which included raises for the military and was approved by wide margins in the House and the Senate.

But he vetoed it last month after the Iraqi government raised objections to a provision allowing U.S. victims of state-sponsored terrorism under Saddam Hussein to sue and collect judgments by seizing foreign assets in the U.S.

The revised bill, approved by the House 369-46, grants the president wide authority to waive any part of the section on lawsuits by terror victims as it relates to Iraq.

In the Washington delegation, only Democrat Jim McDermott voted against the legislation.

The Senate is expected to pass the altered bill next week.

Mine-safety measure vulnerable to veto

Democratic backers of a bill designed to force mining-regulatory agencies to take a tougher stance with coal operators eked out a victory in the House on Wednesday but fell far short of a veto-proof majority.

President Bush has vowed to veto the measure, which would require the Mine Safety and Health Administration to impose stricter fines for health and safety violations, add safeguards to "retreat-mining" practices and improve emergency response to disasters.

The final vote was 214-199.

The Washington delegation voted along party lines; Democrats backed the measure and Republicans opposed it.

A similar measure is pending in the Senate.

Seattle Times news services