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| Arabia |
| Al Qaida funded by only 12 individuals, most Saudis |
| 2002-10-20 |
| Source is World Tribune.com, so don't get too excited... Officials said U.S. intelligence has determined that Al Qaida is supported by 12 financiers, most of them Saudis. We guessed that... And the number's about right. If there were more, there'd be more opportunity for dissension and leaks. As it is, this looks like it might be the finance office of the Learned Elders of Islam... They said the Bush administration is sharing the findings with Washington's allies in NATO and the European Union. On Sunday, Treasury Undersecretary Jimmy Gurule begins a six-day visit to European countries to coordinate efforts to freeze assets of those deemed as terrorist financiers. The countries include Denmark, which holds the EU presidency, Liechtenstein and Luxembourg, Sweden and Switzerland, Middle East Newsline reported. "It is our first big break in understanding Al Qaida's financial network," an official said. "At first, the network was so big that we didn't think could find major channels of support. Now, we believe we have." That's not to say they've found every channel. There will be a larger number of smaller financiers, who think they're bigger fish than they are... The officials said the new information has fueled a renewed effort to freeze the assets of those suspected of helping Al Qaida and satellite groups. They said the information could result in the blocking of finances of industrialists of leading Gulf Arab businessmen in Asia and Europe. So far, the United States and its allies have frozen $112 million, regarded as an insignificant portion of Al Qaida's network. Gurule did not identify the new targets and denied that he was carrying a "Saudi list." He said he will discuss "high-impact, high-value Al Qaida targets" with European allies. Many of those targets will be treasured depositors... U.S. officials have acknowledged that Washington has not obtained sufficient support from EU states against terrorist financiers. They cited the EU's refusal to deem such groups as Hizbullah or the political wing of Hamas as terrorist organizations. Officials said the EU has also been slow in acting against targets deemed as terrorists. "We want to engage in a very specific level of information on these targets where we want the European Union to take action," Gurule said. "It goes beyond general statements and requests to specific people and entities we want authorities to act against." It'll be tough getting them to move, unless they see a threat to themselves. They don't give a fÀrt about the U.S. getting hit now and then... But officials said most of the dozen financiers are Saudi bankers and businessmen who provide direct support to Al Qaida. The administration does not plan to confront Saudi Arabia with the new information. But officials said the United States plans to first form a coalition that will ensure that Europe will be off-limits to Saudi financing. It wouldn't make much sense to confront the Soddies with it, since these are probably also the guys who run Soddy Arabia... On Friday, the Washington Post said Al Qaida has relied on human couriers to fly cash from Saudi Arabia to agents around the world. The newspaper said U.S. intelligence followed the couriers and helped identify the money trail. "In the next few weeks, you will hear cries of pain, mostly from Saudi Arabia," the senior official was quoted by the Post as saying. "If the Saudis don't take action against these people, we will at least make sure they cannot travel outside their home country and cannot do business as usual around the world." That'll take some doing, but if we can do it we can win the war a lot more quickly. |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |
| #3 Whaddaya want to bet that they give half to Al Queda and the other half is split evenly between the Nobel prize committee, The Guardian, The Independent and MoDo? Someone has to be keeping her - it can't be her logic and compositionn skills. |
| Posted by: Jack 2002-10-21 05:36:36 |
| #2 Wahhabis finance al-qaeda-ut-jihad! Anybody dying of shock? |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2002-10-21 00:46:13 |
| #1 It would be nice if some of these couriers would simply disappear, Gideon style, during their trips abroad, along with the untraceable megabucks they are carrying. If the Bush gang lacks the cojones to do this directly, as seems likely, they could always leak the necessary information to Mossad, or to Russian or Indian intelligence. We could credit the take to our financial aid commitments. |
| Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy 2002-10-20 16:12:54 |