Patrick Poole has a followup article on the case of Abukar Arman, a supporter of terrorist groups who has finally been tossed off a central Ohio Homeland Security panel.

We initially reported Arman’s statements of support for the al-Qaeda-backed Somali Islamic Courts Union, HAMAS, Hezbollah and designated terrorist Youssef Al-Qaradawi. One example is a blog post he published in January 2006 entitled, “HAMAS Victory is a Victory for Democracy and Peace!”. A few days later we noted that the Franklin County Commission had told constituents that an investigation was underway, only to begin immediately backpedaling on their assurances that Mr. Arman’s extremist views would be investigated (“The Columbus Homeland Security Cover-Up”).

Then earlier this week, the Columbus Dispatch weighed in on the matter only to claim that the promised investigation actually cleared Arman (“Investigation clears Hilliard man”), even though the County Commission now admits the investigation they had promised didn’t actually happen and despite the fact that he was still forced to resign. The article quoted County Administrator Don Brown as saying, “We did a background check and found no criminal or terrorist connections … Mr. Arman is not a person of interest”.

Of course, no one accused Abukar Arman of criminal activity or being involved in terrorism, at least not FrontPage, but only speaking in support of terrorist organizations while sitting on the Homeland Security oversight board. From the information they provided to the Dispatch, it seems that their “investigation” went no further than that, which itself can’t be confirmed until the County Commission complies with our Open Records Act request (discussed further below).

FrontPage readers might recall that the Columbus Dispatch was the same outfit that rose to the defense of Muslim Brotherhood and HAMAS operative Salah Sultan last year following a FrontPage report, publishing a defense of Sultan just days before he appeared on Saudi TV to claim that the US government was behind the 9/11 attacks and to praise an al-Qaeda-linked cleric (see “Hometown Jihad: Blowback”). This is also the same newspaper whose President and CEO, Mike Curtain, has spoken at a CAIR-OH Leadership Conference hosted at the same Islamic school where Siraj Wahhaj, unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, has also recently appeared at fundraising events (see, “Hometown Jihad: The School Gym that Terror Built”).