 |
||||||||
 |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
Hamas, 21 others added to sanctions list©New York Times
© St. Petersburg Times, WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration on Friday imposed stringent financial sanctions on the anti-Israeli organizations Hamas, Hezbollah and 20 other suspected terrorist groups, significantly broadening the campaign to seize terrorist assets beyond groups with links to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network. The move is a sign that the administration feels confident enough about the stability of the coalition battling al-Qaida to begin expanding its financial campaign to include groups that have considerable support in the Arab world. After the Sept. 11 attacks, pro-Israeli lobbyists and some members of Congress pressed President Bush to use all the powers at his disposal to combat terrorists generally, not just those who are thought responsible for the assaults on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Many who made that case applauded Friday's action. While the United States has long frozen any assets held by the Palestinian group Hamas and the Iran-backed Hezbollah in this country, the Bush administration for weeks resisted adding them to a list of people and organizations subject to more far-reaching controls. Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and other Arab nations have urged the administration to focus narrowly on bin Laden, and State Department officials initially argued that toughening financial penalties on Hamas, Hezbollah and other international terrorist groups could undermine efforts to build a coalition to support the war in Afghanistan, administration officials said. Under a presidential executive order issued in September, the Treasury Department can impound the U.S. assets of anyone at home or abroad who is suspected of providing aid or financial services to al-Qaida and its direct supporters. If a foreign bank declines to cooperate with Treasury's order, the administration could seize that bank's assets in the United States. An initial list of terrorists subject to the controls included bin Laden and al-Qaida, as well as groups in the Philippines, Algeria, Pakistan, Egypt and Uzbekistan thought to have direct financial ties to bin Laden. With Friday's addition, eight other Arab organizations, three Colombian groups, the Real Irish Republican Army and the Basque group ETA are hit with the same controls. Officials acknowledged that they intentionally included the Irish, Basque and Colombian groups on the list to show that the next stage in the war was not focused mainly on Israel and the Palestinians. Though the inclusion of other groups gives Treasury officials the power to investigate and seize assets of associates and financial backers of Hamas, Hezbollah and the other groups, administration officials said they would take no immediate action to do so. Treasury is expected to make public a new list of individuals and groups subject to asset seizure next week. Even so, the bureaucratic step of adding Hamas and Hezbollah to the list was applauded by supporters of Israel, in part because many of them feared that the administration was seeking to draw false moral or political distinctions between terrorist groups. Hamas operates numerous schools and hospitals that cater to poor Palestinians. It solicits money openly in mosques across the Arab world, and receives large donations from mainstream companies and executives.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • Tampa Bay Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111 
|
From the Times wire desk
From the AP |
