The 'Mother' of all ironies: Accused terror suspect donated thousands to Republicans!

My, my, you've got to love the irony of this - Abdul Tawala Ibn Ali Alishtari is accused of trying to help terrorists in Afghanistan, and pleaded not guilty on Friday in a United States District Court in Manhattan to charges including terrorism financing, material support of terrorism, and money laundering.

The kicker? He's also donated at least $15,000 to the House Republicans' Campaign Committee (HRCC) over the past three years!

The NRCC did not immediately return a phone message seeking comment Tuesday about whether it would return the donations.

In the federal indictment, the government said Alishtari, 53, of Ardsley, N.Y., also known as Mixon accepted an unspecified amount of money to transfer $152,000 to Pakistan and Afghanistan to support an Afghanistan terrorist training camp. He also stands accused of causing the transfer of about $25,000 from a bank account in New York to an account in Montreal, money the government says was to be used to provide material support to terrorists.

Not only was he a donor, but according to a resume Alishtari has posted online, he was named a National Republican Senatorial Committee "Inner Circle Member for Life" and was even appointed to the NRCC's "White House Business Advisory Committee," and, according to the Associated Press was the NRCC's NY state businessman of the year in both 2002, and 2003.

So to be clear, they accuse Democrats of "sponsoring terrorism" when we disagree with the myriad of failed Bush policies, meanwhile they're accepting campaign donations, and affiliating themselves with accused terror suspects. Nice!

[Cross posted at Daily Kos!]