Arbor Update

Ann Arbor Area Community News

Kelley's False Stories, Haddad's Sad Fate

23. July 2004 • Ari Paul
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Was Rabih Haddad, the Ann Arbor imam deported on visa violations and allegations of terrorist connections, done in by the phoney reporting of a Jayson Blair wanna-be?

Metro Times reports:

Jack Kelley, former star foreign correspondent for USA Today, not only severely damaged the reputation of the nation’s largest daily by fabricating and plagiarizing stories for a dozen years, the disgraced reporter is also costing USA Today’s owner, Gannett, some cash.

Gannett Satellite Information Network Inc., a subsidiary of Gannett Co. Inc. (which also owns our beloved Detroit News), agreed to pay Global Relief Foundation $17,000 because of a bogus story Kelley wrote about the Islamic charity, according to foundation attorney Roger Simmons.

Among Kelley’s many fictitious clips was a January 2002 story in which he reported that the CIA and U.S. Special Forces searching caves and safe houses in Afghanistan found documents linking Global Relief Foundation (GRF) and another Chicago-based Islamic charity to al Qaeda.

GRF was co-founded by Rabih Haddad, an imam arrested in his Ann Arbor home shortly after 9/11 for a visa violation. Haddad was detained for 19 months before his deportation to Lebanon last year (“Haddad breaks his silence,” MT, March 17).

GRF was raided and shut down on Dec. 14, 2001, the day of Haddad’s arrest.

Kelley’s story alleging GRF links to al Qaeda hit the streets about six weeks later.



  1. Unfortunately, Holy Land Foundation was indicted 2 days ago for knowingly funding hamas…
       —anonymous    Jul. 29 '04 - 11:58AM    #
  2. anonymous coward,
    haddad’s charity was global relief, not holy land…

    facts,
    ari p.
       —Ari P.    Jul. 30 '04 - 04:16PM    #