Crackdown on Terrorist Financial Network

The United States is pressing the war against terror on every front.  Fromthe mountains of Afghanistan to the bank accounts of terrorist organizations.  Thefirst strike in the war against terror targeted the terrorists' financialsupport.  We put the world's financial institutions on notice:  ifyou do business with terrorists, if you support them or sponsor them, you willnot do business with the United States of America.

Today, we are taking another step in our fight against evil.  Weare setting down two major elements of the terrorists international financialnetwork, both at home and abroad.  Ours is not a war just of soldiersand aircraft.  It's a war fought with diplomacy, by the investigationsof law enforcement, by gathering intelligence and by cutting off the terrorists'money.

I want to thank Secretary Paul O'Neill for being here today and for being theleader of this fine organization.  I want to thank the Director, JimSloan, as well.  You're doing some imaginative work here at theFinancial Crimes Enforcement Network, and I want to thank all the fine Americanswho are on the front line of our war, the people who work here.

I want to thank Secretary Colin Powell for being here, as well.  He'sdoing a magnificent job of stitching together one of the greatest coalitionsever -- a coalition of nations that stands for freedom.  And I want tothank our Attorney General for coming -- the man whose job it is to make surethat any time we find anybody inside our country who will threaten an American,threaten our institutions, they will be brought to justice.  Andthat's exactly what our nation is doing.

Acting on solid and credible evidence, the Treasury Department of the UnitedStates today blocked the U.S. assets of 62 individuals and organizationsconnected with two terror-supporting financial networks -- the Al Taqua and theAl Barakaat.  Their offices have been shut down in four U.S. states.  Andour G8 partners and other friends, including the United Arab Emirates, havejoined us in blocking assets and coordinating enforcement action.

Al Taqua is an association of offshore banks and financial management firmsthat have helped al Qaeda shift money around the world.  Al Barakaatis a group of money wiring and communication companies owned by a friend andsupporter of Osama bin Laden.  Al Taqua and Al Barakaat raise fundsfor al Qaeda; they manage, invest and distribute those funds.  Theyprovide terrorist supporters with Internet service, secure telephonecommunications and other ways of sending messages and sharing information.  Theyeven arrange for the shipment of weapons.

They present themselves as legitimate businesses.  But they skimmoney from every transaction, for the benefit of terrorist organizations.  Theyenable the proceeds of crime in one country to be transferred to pay forterrorist acts in another.

The entry point for these networks may be a small storefront operation -- butfollow the network to its center and you discover wealthy banks andsophisticated technology, all at the service of mass murderers.  Byshutting these networks down, we disrupt the murderers' work.  Today'saction interrupts al Qaeda's communications; it blocks an important source offunds.  It provides us with valuable information and sends a clearmessage to global financial institutions:  you are with us or you arewith the terrorists.  And if you're with the terrorists, you will facethe consequences.

We fight an enemy who hides in caves in Afghanistan, and in the shadowswithin in our own society.  It's an enemy who can only survive indarkness.  Today, we've taken another important action to expose theenemy to the light and to disrupt its ability to threaten America and innocentlife.

I'm proud of the actions of our agencies.  We're making adifference. We're slowly but surely tightening the noose, and we will bevictorious.