Citizen G'kar: Musings on Earth

October 15, 2004

The Administration finally gets around to freezing Zarqawi's assets?

This news is incomprehensible. Just where has the Administration been? Zarqawi has been in the news everyday with the most heinous terrorist acts. Yet it takes the Administration over a year to get around to freezing his assets?? Who is in charge??
Yahoo! News - U.S. Orders Freeze on Zarqawi Network Assets
The United States on Friday ordered a freeze on assets of the militant group led by Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, which has claimed responsibility for a series of bombings, kidnappings and beheadings in Iraq (news - web sites). The Treasury Department (news - web sites)'s Office of Foreign Assets Control added Zarqawi's Tawhid and Jihad group to its list of suspected terrorists and terrorism financiers. The move, which came a day after Britain ordered banks to seek out and freeze any assets of the group, blocks any accounts, funds and assets of Tawhid and Jihad in the United States.


Complete Article
U.S. Orders Freeze on Zarqawi Network Assets
Fri Oct 15,10:41 AM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Friday ordered a freeze on assets of the militant group led by Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, which has claimed responsibility for a series of bombings, kidnappings and beheadings in Iraq (news - web sites).
The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control added Zarqawi's Tawhid and Jihad group to its list of suspected terrorists and terrorism financiers.
The move, which came a day after Britain ordered banks to seek out and freeze any assets of the group, blocks any accounts, funds and assets of Tawhid and Jihad in the United States.
Zarqawi's network has emerged as the United States' top enemy in Iraq, and has claimed responsibility for a long list of attacks including two suicide bombings in Baghdad on Thursday which killed at least five people including three Americans.
The group also beheaded British hostage Kenneth Bigley last week and Americans Eugene Armstrong and Jack Hensley last month.
The United States suspects Zarqawi and his group of links to Al Qaeda and of conducting some of the deadliest attacks of the Iraqi insurgency.
Officials acknowledge that it was unlikely Tawhid and Jihad would hold bank accounts in its own name. But the designation could be seen as a first step that would allow the freezing of funds of anyone who could be shown to have ties to it.
"By designating this group, if U.S. officials can now prove a link between that organization and other people or offshore accounts held by others, it could facilitate freezing those funds as well," said Dennis Lormel, the former head of the FBI (news -web sites)'s terrorist financing section.
Banks conduct continuous automated searches for transactions by militants on international sanctions lists, and say their systems generate thousands of "hits" a day, often so-called false positives involving innocent parties who happen to have similar names.
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