10062

08/12/2002
EDITORIAL NUMBER=0-10062

KEEPING MONEY FROM TERRORISTS

The financial front in the war against terrorism is important. One of the first actions the United States took after al-Qaida struck on September 11^th was to identify known terrorists and freeze their assets. This is happening both inside and outside the U.S. More than one-hundred-sixty countries have blocking orders in force.

Kenneth Dam, Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, says, "We have obtained significant results in this effort, blocking over one-hundred-twelve-million dollars." Among other things, the U.S. is stopping the flow of funds by freezing the assets of charities that are supporting terrorist groups.

Mr. Dam said "We do know that the mechanism of charitable giving...has been used to provide a cover for the financing of terror and that it has been a significant source of funds." In some cases the charity itself was a mere sham that existed simply to funnel money to terrorists. "However," said Mr. Dam, "the abuse often occurred without the knowledge of donors, or even of some members of the management and staff of the charity itself."

These charities include the Afghan Support Committee, which the U.S. determined in January to be an al-Qaida supporting entity. The committee operated by soliciting donations from local charities in Arab countries, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. Rather than providing support for widows and orphans, as the committee claimed, money was turned over to al-Qaida operatives.

Also in January, said Mr. Dam, the Pakistani and Afghan offices of the Revival of Islamic Heritage Society, a Kuwaiti-based organization, were designated as places where charitable donations were subverted by terrorist financiers. Donors who thought they were helping orphans were defrauded. These funds were diverted to al-Qaida terrorists. And in March, the U.S. and Saudi Arabia jointly designated the Somali and Bosnian offices of the Saudi-based Al-Haramain organization of having links with al-Qaida. Those links have been cut.

The flow of funds to terrorists has been reduced. But, said Deputy Treasury Secretary Kenneth Dam, "We have no reason to believe that al-Qaida does not have the financing it needs to conduct at least a substantial number of additional attacks. In short," said Mr. Dam, "a great deal remains to be done."