The Crime of Being a Muslim Charity by Laila Al-Marayati and Basil Abdelkarim Sunday March 12, 2006 Washington Post The writers, both physicians, are board members of KinderUSA, a Muslim American nonprofit humanitarian organization. "Under former attorney general John Ashcroft, American Muslim charities were closed as part of the charade to make the American people believe the government was disrupting terrorist financing. Today, under Alberto Gonzales, the message is that Muslim Americans will be punished if they want to help Palestinians. Either way the assault on our charities is not about the safety and security of the American people but about politics."