Here you go NW_AZ
http://www.saudi-us-relations.org/newsletter2004/saudi-relations-interest-06-04a.html
Juan Zarate, U.S. Treasury Deputy Assistant
Secretary: Thank you very much, Adel, for inviting us here today to make this important announcement.
I am pleased to announce that, once again, the United States and Saudi Arabia have joined forces to identify and choke off additional channels of terrorist financing.
Today, the U.S. and Saudi Arabia are designating five additional branches of the Saudi-based charity, Al Haramain, located in Afghanistan, Albania, Bangladesh, Ethiopia and the Netherlands. We will jointly be submitting
these names to the United Nations 1267 Committee for
listing by the United Nations. In doing so, we are calling on the U.N. to designate these groups as well, which will bring to bear the full weight of the international
community and require the freezing of any accounts or transactions now or in the future. This is another important joint step with the Saudi government -- steps that began in March 2002 to designate known supporters
of terrorism.
The United States is also announcing today the designation of Al Haramain's former leader, Aqeel Abdulaziz Al-Aqil, and will be submitting his name to the United Nations for designation as well.
These entities and this individual have provided financial, material and logistical support to the Al Qaida network, Usama bin Laden or the Taliban, fueling and facilitating their efforts to carry out vile acts against innocent individuals and the civilized world.
The terrorist attacks this past weekend in the Kingdom demonstrate again that we are engaged in a global battle against terrorism -- a battle that affects Saudi Arabia directly on a daily basis. As we have seen over the course of Al Qaida's history, it terrorizes and kills victims around the world of every race, creed and color.
These terrorists and their sympathizers have abused
charities not only as a means of raising funds but also to provide logistical support and cover for terrorist operations. That is the case with the branches and activities of Al Haramain we have designated. It was under the cloak of charity that Aqeel al Aqil used the Al Haramain organization to benefit himself and Al Qaida to
support Al Qaida-related groups like Al Ittihad Al Islamiya and Al Qaida trained fighters. Mr. Aqil has attempted to evade Saudi controls on his finances, and we have worked with the Saudi government to ensure that he can
no longer wield control over Al Haramain and its resources.
The use of charities for terrorist financing is not a new phenomenon, nor do we think it will stop with these actions. That is why we are pleased that the Saudi government has taken even more aggressive structural and
regulatory steps to deal with the abuse of charities within the Kingdom.
With the announcement of the Saudi National Commission for Relief and Charity Work, the Saudi government is signaling
again its long-term commitment to reform in this sector.
We will continue to work with our international partners and the charitable community to protect the sector from terrorists, who mock the very notion of charity and use it to fuel their hate-filled agendas.
The Bush Administration is committed to rooting out terrorism root and branch through all possible means. Our worldwide effort to attack the financial infrastructure of terror has made it more difficult for Al Qaida and other terrorist groups to underwrite terror and has forced them to
resort to less secure methods to move dollars.
With today's action, 374 individuals and entities have been designated under President Bush's Executive Order aimed at freezing the assets of terrorists and their supporters. Nearly $140 million in terrorist-related assets has been frozen as a result of efforts by the United States and its allies.
Though our struggle against terrorism is not over, actions like today's can foil the short-term goals of terrorists while thwarting their long-term ambitions leading to the ultimate dismantling of terrorist networks.
Continued collective efforts by Saudi Arabia and our international allies, like today's, will lead to further successes in the financial war on terror.
We will not tire in these efforts we will continue to cut off channels of financing, we will ostracize those who supporter or facilitate terrorism, we will continue to capture or kill operatives and facilitators and we will
bring to justice those who seek to do us harm. The
civilized world has rallied against terrorism, and we remain resolute in our efforts.
Thank you very much.
OK, what are they waiting for then? On 9-11, instead of using planes, they could have driven these nukes they have into the middle of NYC and DC and set them off - without detection. They could have used them to thwart the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, why didn't they?
If indeed something like this ever happened inside the US, it won't be the "traditional" AQ people, the ones who are blowing stuff up with conventional explosives and attacking foreign oil workers in SA - it will be someone else who has done this (China? who knows).
I have no doubt that there are some nukes of some sort in the US just waiting.
(I always remember the story JFK -- the original, not JFKerry!--told to Hugh Sidey. That the Russians had one at their embassy in DC...it wouldn't surprise me if ME diplomats have pulled this too.)
Here's what puzzles me though.
Why would terrorists use them? The areas will be uninhabitable for decades.
Are they so ignorant that they don't realize it? (I know their scientists know otherwise.) Or do they just figure they can wait decades to collect our land once it's cleaned up?
Anybody have any guesses/ideas?