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Bush Calls for Freeze on Global Financial Assets of Alleged Terrorists
WASHINGTON, Sept 24 (News Agencies) - President George W. Bush, heralding "a major thrust" in his war on terrorism, ordered Osama bin Laden's U.S. assets frozen Monday and warned the same fate awaits assets of overseas banks that fail to follow suit.
"We will starve the terrorists of funding, turn them against each other, root them out of their safe hiding places and bring them to justice," vowed Bush, who blames bin Laden for September 11th strikes on New York and Washington.
Flanked in the White House Rose Garden by U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and U.S. Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill, Bush compared the order, which targets 27 specifically named groups and individuals, to a global financial "Most Wanted" list.
The new order will allow the government to freeze the assets of not only terrorist organizations, but of any group supporting the named groups or individuals, including charities, according to an ABCNEWS report.
"It puts the financial world on notice: If you do business with terrorists, if you support or sponsor them, you will not do business with the United States of America," said the U.S. president.
In a statement released later, Bush said that the order affects 11 "terrorist groups", 12 "individual terrorist leaders", "a corporation that serves as a front for terrorism", and "three non-profit organizations with links to such groups or individuals".
Bush said that "clear evidence, much of which is classified" has been used to designate the individuals and organizations on the list as terrorist groups, according to a
New York Times article on the new order.
Chief among the targets are bin Laden and his al-Qaeda group, which U.S. officials say authored attacks that left some 7,000 people dead, or missing and presumed dead, in the rubble of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
Bush noted that the measure, signed at 12:01 a.m. Monday, sought to enlist overseas institutions because the groups are listed "operate primarily overseas, and they don't have much money in the United States."
In recognizing the terrorists' limited financial assets within the U.S., the order grants broader authority to the Treasury to put pressure on foreign banks.
"We have the president's explicit directive to block the U.S. assets of any domestic or foreign financial institution that refuses to cooperate with us in blocking assets of terrorist organizations," said O'Neill.
"We will exercise this power responsibly, but make no mistake about it, we intend to and we will disrupt terrorist networks," Bush said, adding that in Europe "there are probably going to need to be some laws changed."
Bush reported that a new department had been created in the Treasury, called the Foreign Terrorist Asset Tracking Center, to head efforts targeting terrorists' financial assets.
Bush and Powell also announced that the government would soon be releasing some information on evidence linking bin Laden to the September 11th attacks, saying that while a limited fact sheet would be produced for "public consumption," greater intelligence would be shared with certain allies.
"As we are able to provide information that isn't sensitive and isn't classified, we will do that," Powell said in an ABCNEWS report.
Meanwhile, the Bahrain-based General Council for Islamic Banks And Financial Institutions (IBFI), which represents more than 50 such institutions globally, defended Islamic banks at a press conference on Monday.
"All Islamic banks operate in respectable countries that are under the control of the central banks, and accusations that they finance terrorist activities does not even merit a response," IBFI president Saleh Kamel told a press conference in Manama.
"Accusations against Islamic banks and financial institutions come within the campaign launched against Islam" in the aftermath of the attacks in the United States, Kamel said.
"There are huge Arab investments, including some by Islamic financial institutions in the West, and I don't believe these funds are in danger," he added.
Kamel was reacting to Western press reports that Islamic banks and funds were linked to the financial activities of bin Laden, Washington's prime suspect in the attacks.
USA Today reported on Thursday that the Federal Bureau of Investigation was investigating more than 30 U.S.-based Muslim charities to determine if there was a link to those who carried out the attacks.
Just a few weeks before the attacks, FBI agents raided a Texas-based Muslim-owned internet service provider, with no explanation, although one of the websites supported by the ISP, the Holy Land Foundation, had been previously accused of being a front for fundraising for "terrorist" groups in the Middle East and had its assets frozen a week before the raid.
Holy Land, however, is not on the preliminary list of 27 groups and individuals, which Bush says will continue to grow as more evidence is found:
· Al-Qaida/Islamic Army
· Abu Sayyaf Group
· Armed Islamic Group
· Harakat ul-Mujahidin
· Al-Jihad (Egyptian Islamic Jihad)
· Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU)
· Asbat al-Ansar
· Salafist Group for Call and Combat (GSPC)
· Libyan Islamic Fighting Group
· Al-Itihaad al-Islamiya (AIAI)
· Islamic Army of Aden
· Osama bin Laden
· Muhammad Atif (aka Subhi Abu Sitta, Abu Hafs Al Masri)
· Sayf al-Adl
· Shaykh Saiid (aka Mustafa Muhammad Ahmad)
· Abu Hafs the Mauritanian (aka Mahfouz Ould al-Walid, Khalid Al-Shanqiti)
· Ibn Al-Shaykh al-Libi
· Abu Zubaydah (aka Zayn al-Abidin Muhammad Husayn, Tariq)
· Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi (aka, Abu Abdallah)
· Ayman al-Zawahri
· Thirwat Salah Shihata
· Tariq Anwar Al-Sayyid Ahmad (aka Fathi, Amr al-Fatih)
· Muhammad Salah (aka Nasr Fahmi Nasr Hasanayn)
· Makhtab Al-Khidamat/Al Kifah
· Wafa Humanitarian Organization
· Al Rashid Trust
· Mamoun Darkazanli Import-Export Co.
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