- WASHINGTON - The United States
has identified the sources of Al Qaida funding and found they were fewer
in number than earlier estimated.
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- Officials said U.S. intelligence has determined that
Al Qaida is supported by 12 financiers, most of them Saudis. They said
the Bush administration is sharing the findings with Washington's allies
in NATO and the European Union.
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- 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.
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- "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."
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- "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."
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- But officials said most of the dozen financiers are Saudi
bankers and businessmen who provide direct support to Al Qaida. They did
not elaborate.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- "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."
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