Basketball star with Al-Qaida/Hamas links

A mosque established and funded by basketball star Hakeem Olajuwon gave more than $80,000 to charities the government later determined to be fronts for the terror groups al-Qaida and Hamas, according to financial records obtained by The Associated Press.

slam.canoe.ca...

Quite the story. I remember a while back that there were Russian hockey players tied to the Russian mob.

brill

[edit on 9-2-2005 by brill]

He's a legend and a hero down here in Houston and has given obscene amounts of money to many other charities as well. He's the greatest center that ever played. Bring on Chamberlain! Bring on Russell! Bring on O'Neal! In any of their primes he was the best. He never got the press he deserved because of his accent and his preference not to be in the public eye. I for one will stick up for this guy anyday. This story may be true, but it is certain to be skewed.

Peace

[edit on 9-2-2005 by Dr Love]

In his defense,

Olajuwon told the AP he had not known of any links to terrorism when the donations were made prior to the government's crackdown on the groups, and would not have given the money if he had known.

I suspect this has happened a lot. When I donate to cherities, I do so not looking very much into depth to find out if they have an alterior motive. I usually find out how much of my dollar goes to the cause I want to donate to. I just assume they're spending the money on their primary goal as advertised, and not on something covert.