Opinion

JIHAD JANE’S POISON FAMILY

THE story of the US government’s bungling in the case of Nada Nadim Prouty – “Jihad Jane” – gets worse and worse. Here are two more danger signs in her background that got overlooked: her cousin the terrorist, and her family’s involvement in the Syrian National Socialist Party.

That’s right: It’s not just Prouty’s links to the terrorists of Hezbollah that got missed, but her ties to a Nazi party.

Since Prouty pleaded guilty last week to naturalization fraud and conspiracy, as well as unauthorized computer access at her FBI and CIA jobs, the two agencies have launched probes of how they bungled background checks before employing her. Then came reports that her sister, now a commissioned Marine officer, pulled a similar sham-marriage scam to gain US citizenship. But the scandal will only grow with this new information.

The failure of the background checks on Prouty puzzles sources familiar with her family’s background in Lebanon.

The Syrian National Socialist Party is actually an organization in Prouty’s native Lebanon, where everyone knows it’s a pawn of Syria’s Baathist dictatorship; its stated goal is the formation of a greater Arab state, including Lebanon, Syria, Israel, Cypress and part of Turkey.

Prouty’s maiden name is Al-Aouar – and the Al-Aouar family is noted back in Lebanon for its extremist political activity on behalf of the SNSP. That activism is all the more notable, because they are members of Lebanon’s Druze minority – distinct from Syria’s usual Shia Muslim allies there, and generally at odds with Hezbollah.

And intelligence sources from Israel and its old ally, the South Lebanese Army, say that Prouty’s cousin, Nidal Al-Aouar, was a terrorist – one who trained in North Korea and the old USSR and went on to set roadside car bombs in Lebanon on behalf of Syria.

That the CIA did not uncover these elements of Prouty’s background is cause for concern, since it is hardly a secret in Lebanon and Syria.

But it’s not just security agencies that have bungled this case. Prouty’s lawbreaking was eventually exposed because of ongoing investigations of her brother-in-law, indicted Hezbollah financier Talal Chahine (to whom she is accused of disclosing classified information on three Hezbollah-related investigations that involve him).

Chahine laundered over $20 million to Hezbollah through his Michigan restaurant chain, according to a federal indictment unsealed in 2006. But his support of Hezbollah was rumored in Detroit’s Arab community for years prior to that.

Indeed, top law-enforcement authorities had to have known about Chahine’s involvement in immigration fraud and bribery on behalf of Prouty and other Lebanese nationals since at least 2003. That was when agents began investigating the INS’ top Michigan official, Roy Bailey, for (among other things) taking bribes from Chahine in immigration/deportation matters.

With this information and more about Chahine and Prouty available to the government by early 2004, why was Prouty allowed to remain with the CIA until this September?

Debbie Schlussel is a Detroit-based attorney, columnist and talk-show host.