Georgia Moves to End Investments in Terrorist Nations

Family Security Matters ^ | 8 March 2007 | The Editors

[LSUfan]

FSM’s friends at the Center for Security Policy have created a terrific program that enables every American to get involved in ending the war on terror…even without having to leave your home! Read this exciting news about what the lawmakers of Georgia have done using CSP’s program, and remember, your legislators can do it too, especially if you pressure them to act…now.

Atlanta, GA - At 11am on Thursday, March 8, Senator Judson Hill of District 32 will hold a press conference in the Georgia Senate Press Conference Room at the Capitol in Atlanta to introduce Senate Bill 199 to end Georgia’s taxpayers’ investments in foreign companies with active business ties in and with terrorist sponsoring states, as named by the U.S. State Department.

Those nations are Iran, Syria, Sudan and North Korea.

Senator Hill’s legislation will prohibit the state of Georgia’s retirement systems from investing funds in foreign corporations that have active business ties in and with these nations and it will require those same retirement systems to divest themselves of all such investments by no later than December 31, 2007.

The full text of SB 199 can be found at:

http://www.legis.ga.gov/legis/2007_08/fulltext/sb199.htm.

In January, legislation was introduced in California to divest that state’s retirement systems from foreign companies with active business ties in and with the Islamic Republic of Iran, but the Georgia bill is the first broad “divest terror” bill that protects investors from risky business ventures in all the terrorist-sponsoring nations.

--CSP Press Release

So often, American citizens have asked, “What can I do to help my country defeat terrorism against the United States and our families?” In truth, it is easier than you think.

According to The Center for Security Policy’s Divest Terror website (http://www.divestterror.org), here is the simple answer to that question: “By demanding that our public and private pension plans, college endowments, individual retirement account managers, 401(k) plans, and other investment vehicles exploit the leverage represented by investments in publicly traded companies that operate in terrorist-sponsoring states. In a unified front, we should all be saying ‘This is my money and it will not go to support terror.’ "

DivestTerror.org has targeted approximately 400 companies around the world that “are providing revenues, technology and moral cover to governments that support terror.”

Here’s how you can participate in this vitally important activity; believe us, you will make a difference. Go here where you’ll find explicit directions as to how to convince your state legislators (the people with the necessary power over your state’s public pension systems) to divest of stock in companies that do business with terrorist-friendly states. But WAIT. It couldn’t be easier. At this site, you will find a letter that you can download and send to your state legislators, governors and treasurers. Go here to find their contact information.

CSP reports, “The Center for Security Policy’s Divest Terror Initiative is now working to promote similar legislation in several additional states and bills are expected to be introduced from coast to coast in the coming months as more and more Americans and their elected officials realize that their investments are being used indirectly to fund the nations that support Al Qaeda and Hezbollah and other terrorist groups which have been murdering Americans for decades.” You can help…but only if you do as we suggest above.

This war needs to be fought with every tactic at our disposal. We certainly have used the military tactic, we have used diplomacy, education, intelligence, allied strength, and more. But the one tactic that we haven’t yet exploited to the fullest is the financial one. We need to tie a noose around the neck of the revenue streams that pour into these terrorist-friendly states – from America - and pull it until it shuts off circulation entirely. Once we do that, we will cut off their lifelines and they will be forced to choose between that sorry state of affairs, or to re-think their involvement with terrorism.

If you think that the revenue can’t be all that much, think again. According to CSP, “On average, the Top 100 pension systems invest in 101 companies that have business activities in terrorist sponsoring states. These companies, in turn, are involved in projects in terrorist-sponsoring states valued at more than $73 billion.”

America needs your help. Please get involved…now!

[rockinqsranch]

On the surface this appears an appropriate discussion, however when I click around on the various links at the site linked I find that "Bi Partisan" is Lautenberg (D), and Collins (Rino). Some other indicators of caution as well.

Thanks for this post. I'm going to bookmark it for later perusal to determine how Corporations that are working in the ME and other areas of the World in our favor would be effected.

[LSUfan]

Well, Newt Gingrich has endorsed Divest Terror too. I would love to hear about all those companies that are doing good work for us in Iran, Syria and Sudan!

[rockinqsranch]

I did not state "all" those companies. My concern from the moment I read the headline was with the Left's favorite target Halliburton. At this time the Dems are debating a bill for a timetable to pull out of Iraq in defeat. As I suspected I would find as I clicked around on various links associated with the link you provided I found grounds for caution. I for one would not like to become an unwitting supporter of a movement to defund organizations that support our military such as Halliburton.

That is why I want to study this topic more.