Terror-Free Oil

By Joe Kaufman
Front Page Magazine

"We as American citizens can actually boycott Mid East oil. And the way you do that is you go to a gas station whose company doesn't import the oil."

- Bob Bevelacqua, former Green Beret
    August 23, 2005, Fox News Channel

In December of 2001, an e-mail was widely distributed across the internet calling for a boycott of all gas stations that purchase crude oil from the Middle East*. While the e-mail consisted of much emotionally charged language - understandably so, given the proximity to 9/11 - and while some of the information provided was faulty, the point that was being made was a valid one and should be revisited.

The e-mail began: "Nothing is more frustrating to me than the feeling that every time I fill-up the tank, I am sending my money to people who are trying to kill me, my family, and my friends. It turns out that some oil companies import a lot of middle eastern oil and others do not import any. I thought it might be interesting for Americans to know which oil companies are the best to buy their gas from."

The piece then proceeded to list major gasoline companies that import Middle Eastern oil and those that do not or "do not import much." Included on the list of importers were Shell, Chevron, ExxonMobil and Marathon. As stated in the e-mail, for the period of September 1, 2000 through August 31, 2001, the companies ranged from importing just under 118,000,000 barrels to just under 206,000,000.

Included on the list of non-importers were Citgo, Sunoco, Conoco, Sinclair and Phillips (which merged with Conoco in 2002). BP Amoco made the bottom of the list (as a "not much") with just over 62,000,000 barrels. [In later versions of the e-mail, further companies would be listed.]

According to the United States Energy Information Administration (EIA), in its 'Crude Oil Imports From Persian Gulf** 2001' report, Middle Eastern oil was indeed purchased by all of the companies listed in the e-mail as importers. However, many of the "non-importers" were listed as importers, as well. In fact, the only two that did not make the official government list for 2001 were Sunoco and Sinclair. And Chevron, which was listed on the e-mail as "not much," made the top three!

But that was then. With the advent of the War on Terrorism, surely the gasoline companies, especially American-based ones, would begin to recognize and work to rectify this all too important matter. Surely something would be done to curb the amount of Mid East oil these companies import. That's only common sense, but that never happened.

Nearly five years after the tragedy of September 11 th, little has changed. The companies that were importing Middle Eastern oil still are, and the companies that weren't still are not. This is according to the latest information
available from the EIA. And it should be noted that, of the companies that are, BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil, Marathon and Shell get crude straight from Saudi Arabia - the same Saudi Arabia that produced 15 of the 19 hijackers - the same Saudi Arabia which gives millions to Hamas - the same Saudi Arabia that actively spreads its radical jihadist/Wahhabist ideology throughout the world, including the United States.

Besides Saudi Arabia, a number of other Middle Eastern nations, where oil is imported from, have dubious track records. Information derived from the U.S. State Department's '22 nd annual Report to the Congress on Voting Practices at the United Nations,'
underscores the antipathy towards the United States these nations harbor. The following are facts found within the report:



    • Algeria (where Citgo and Shell get crude oil from), in 2004, out of 79 possible U.N. votes, voted against the United States 63 times.



    • Iraq (BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil, Marathon and Shell) voted against the U.S. 51 times [and that was even after liberation].

    • Kuwait (ExxonMobil and Marathon) voted against the U.S. 63 times.

    • Libya (Shell) voted against the U.S. 65 times.

    • Oman (BP and ConocoPhillips) voted against the U.S. 64 times.

    • Tunisia (Shell) voted against the U.S. 63 times.

On average these countries voted against the United States, in the year 2004, nearly 78 percent of the time. In the case of Saudi Arabia, it was 81 percent against.

The countries that have been discussed here are more in line ideologically with Iran, which shouts "Death to America," than they are with the United States. In fact, five of the countries mentioned, along with Iran, make up the majority of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), which sets the price of crude for the rest of the world, which tells us how much more money we have to spend on gas any given day.

In October of 1973, our dependence on Mid East oil brought us an embargo from the Arab world. The Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC), which, at the time, consisted of the Arab members of OPEC plus Bahrain, Egypt and Syria, called for an oil embargo against the West to coincide with the war they were preparing for Israel. This had a devastating effect on the economy, as America was held hostage to the whim of our "friends." Why wait for a repeat performance, embargo or otherwise?

Of course, this money, at least in part, goes to fund our terrorist enemies, as well, both locally and abroad. It is this never-ending cycle - gasoline for money, money for terrorism - that could ultimately lead to our undoing, if nothing is done to stop it. And this problem is multiplied every second of the day, as we sink more and more of our hard earned dollars into our gas tanks. The question we all have to ask ourselves, when we go to the pumps, is are we willing to fund our own demise? And if we're not, then we have to ask ourselves are we willing to work towards a solution to the problem.

Terror-Free Oil Initiative

The American Center for Democracy (ACD) has developed a new program called the Terror-Free Oil Initiative (TFOI). The
purpose of the program is twofold:
   1. to cut off the flow of money that goes to terrorists and
   2. to decrease America 's dependency on foreign oil.
As stated on the ACD website, "This project is dedicated to encouraging Americans to buy only gasoline that originated from countries that do not export or finance terrorism."

While gasoline companies won't shift their loyalties from Mid East oil overnight, Americans have to start somewhere. Americans must, once and for all, take a stand and support companies like Sunoco and Sinclair that don't get their crude from 'the crude.'

So which gas station will you fill up at?


Notes:

* Middle East, as used in this article, includes Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates and Yemen.

** Persian Gulf, as used in this article, includes Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates.

Joe Kaufman is the Chairman of Americans Against Hate and the host of The Politics of Terrorism radio show.

American Center for Democracy Launches Terror-Free Oil Initiative

Project Objective

This project is dedicated to encouraging Americans to buy only gasoline that originated from countries that do not export or finance terrorism.

We educate the public by promoting those companies that acquire their crude oil supply from nations outside the Middle East and by exposing those companies that do not.

http://www.public-integrity.org/projects/tfoi/

EU Not Concerned Money Goes to Palestinian Terrorism

Former European Union MP Ilka Schroeder gives us an insider's view on the EU's support for Palestinian terrorism: Georgetown visiting prof starting center on anti-Semitism in Germany. (Hat tip: Moi Aussi.)

In the ensuing months, after published reports revealed that the P.A. was directing E.U. financial aid toward the financing of terrorism, she pushed the E.U. Parliament to open an investigation into the matter. She said the only way she could get fellow legislators interested in the matter was to emphasize the P.A.'s corruption, since not many were particularly concerned about the diversion of the money for violent acts.

Eventually, she said the Parliament did convene a "working group" on the matter - on which she was not included - but that no investigation was launched because it could not be proven that the E.U.'s money went directly from their pocket to paying for suicide bombs, which Schroeder found ridiculous.

"They were asking for something impossible" to prove, she said.
Since Hamas took over the Palestinian government, the E.U. has suspended its $600 million in aid to the Palestinians, but Schroeder is not optimistic that the freeze will continue indefinitely. She believes that the eventual E.U. goal is to "challenge the U.S. position [of pre-eminent power] in the Middle East" and across the globe, and funding the Palestinians is one way to do that. ...

Schroeder estimates that as many as one-third of Europeans might believe that Israel was behind a conspiracy to commit the Sept. 11 attacks. And she says that displaying sympathy for Israel has led to accusations from fellow legislators that she is being "paid by the Mossad."

For many, their anti-Israel and anti-Semitic views fit into their anti-globalization ideology, which states that the "financial sphere" dictates how the world operates and that Jews are influential in that sphere, Schroeder said.

LGF

http://searchlight-germany.blogspot.com/2006/04/eu-not-concerned-money-goes-to.html

Dollars For Terror

By Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld and Alyssa A. Lappen
FrontPageMagazine.com

Humanitarian aid is universally understood to provide "assistance to victims of natural disasters, war situations or other catastrophic events." However, now this definition is expanding to include aiding a terrorist regime. Under the guise of "humanitarian aid," money is beginning to flow to the HAMAS government.

To date, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Qatar have given the HAMAS led Palestinian Authority $192 million; the Saudis gave $92 million, and Qatar and Iran $50 each. Russia gave another $10 million, bringing total aid to the new PA administration to just over $200 million. The U.S. says it has authorized of $245 million for "Basic humanitarian assistance -- including health, food and education."

In addition, the U.S. "will also provide $42 million to strengthen civil society and independent institutions." UNRWA will distribute most of this aid. Since when do "education" and "strengthen[ing] civil society and independent institutions" qualify as "Humanitarian aid"?

HAMAS clearly has a different view of education and civil society: Culture minister 'Atallah Abu Sabah announced, on April 8, the HAMAS government would "work to reinforce the culture of resistance [i.e., violence and terrorism directed against Israel] and to instill it in the hearts of our boys and girls so that they may continue down the same path to the liberation of the Palestinian lands." Surely, this is not the kind of education that the Administration, or the American public should aid.

Moreover, according to Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center at the Center for Special Studies (C.S.S) the daily international Al-Sharq Al-Awsat newspaper, reported on April 7, "the movement intended to continue operating its social, educational and charity institutions (the da'wah )." The da'wah, the most effective tool in inculcating and indoctrinating its worldview among the Palestinian people – is first and foremost, hate propaganda and incitement.

Despite the very clear HAMAS statements about its agenda, aid money continues to flow. It seems the international donor community learned from HAMAS how to speak out of both sides of its mouth. While saying they refrain from funding the "terrorist" regime, they funnel money through alternative routes to HAMAS, but call it "humanitarian aid." But as Gertrude Stein said: "Rose is a rose is a rose is a rose."

Indeed, the terrorist organization Hamas, would not have won the election if, in the first place, the world community had refused to allow it to run. However, HAMAS was able to run because it addopted the name "List of Change and Reform," just for the election. That was enough for the international community to allow HAMAS to run and to delude itself. Clearly they continue to do so.

The EU declared earlier this month that although $600 million of funds earmarked for the PA would be cut now that HAMAS has assumed control, some of that money "would now be channeled via humanitarian aid organisations." French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy, said on April 19, 2006, "It is absolutely out of the question ... to cut off humanitarian aid to the Palestinian Territories," And the French President Jacques Chirac declared that he supports "pursuing the aid on humanitarian grounds."

Yet, the money, according to the Palestinian Minister for Detainees Affairs Wasfi Qabha, will be used not to feed the Palestinian people, but first to pay the salaries of the Palestinian terrorists in Israeli prisons. Many were sentenced to life for murdering Israeli civilians and organizing suicide attacks on Israel.

On April 19, 2006, Qabha announced plans for his office to transfer PA funds, first, directly to Palestinian prisoners. Moreover, he said that the salaries for all prisoners will be raised to the level of the highest-paid among them.

Further, Detainee Minister Qabha criticized PA treasury officials who, during the transition following the January PA election, transferred salaries to the Authority's civilian workers before paying the prisoners. In addition, he declared that the new PA government is investigating means of raising international demands to liberate Palestinian prisoners.

Yet the ranks of those governments willing to delude themselves and fund the HAMAS-led PA continues to grow. The latest to step forward is Britain. As British foreign secretary Jack Straw put it in on April 19, "we would like to have normal relations with them." He further stated that the U.K. is "looking for ways to ensure that all of Britain's £56 million (over $100 million) contribution continued to reach Palestinians."

Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld is author of Funding Evil; How Terrorism is Financed - and How to Stop It, Director of American Center for Democracy and a member of the Committee on the Present Danger. Alyssa A. Lappen is a Senior Fellow at the American Center for Democracy.

http://frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=22143

Anti-money laundering web seminar 9 May

Under Part 7 of the draft Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Bill 2005 reporting entities must develop, maintain and comply with anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing programs.

In this 60 minute live web seminar David Jacobson will discuss guidelines for developing an action plan to compy with the new laws.

Our web seminar will be on Tuesday 9 May 2006 at 11am Australian Eastern Time (NSW, Vic, ACT,Tasmania, Queensland), 10.30am SA, 9am WA.

The seminar will discuss integrating the new rules in your existing compliance program and how the new requirements affect your Privacy Policy, your relationship with third party providers, and how you recruit staff.

http://www.djacobson.com/australian_regulatory_rev/2006/04/antimoney_laund.html

Fulbright's Terror Supporter

By Olivier Guitta and Ilan Weinglass
FrontPageMagazine.com

A Moroccan Islamist and apparent terrorism supporter has been getting treatment in Washington D.C. that most graduate students can only dream of. Mustafa Khalfi, editor-in-chief of the Moroccan newspaper At-Tajdid (Renewal), is the recipient of a prestigious Fulbright/American Political Science Association (APSA) Congressional Fellowship. This honor has afforded him the honor of working for Congressman Jim McDermott (D-WA), taking a course at Johns Hopkins University, and receiving a visiting scholarship at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

At-Tajdid's connection to terrorism:

At-Tajdid's website has a permanent link to the Union of Good, an umbrella organization of Hamas-funding charities. Five of these organizations have been listed by the U.S. Treasury Department as Specially Designated Global Terrorist entities (SDGTs):

• The Al-Aqsa Foundation, Belgium and Holland Branches
Interpal
• Comité de Benfaisance et de Secours aux Palestiniens (CBSP)
• Sanabil al-Aqsa
• The Palestinian Relief Society, Switzerland

In addition, two more groups, The World Association of Muslim Youth (WAMY), and the International Islamic Relief Organization (IIRO), have been accused in a lawsuit filed by families of the 9/11 victims[1] of being "connected to Osama bin Laden and two of his top operatives."

The Union of Good was established in October 2000 and is presided over by Sheikh Yusuf Qaradawi and run by Essam Yussuf, a prominent figure in Interpal, a British Hamas front organization. Even the Palestinian Authority considers the Union of Good as a body supporting Hamas.

Clicking on the link to the Union of Good on the At-Tajdid website gives the reader a choice of English or Arabic. The English site takes the reader to the donations page of Interpal, a British-based charity that is designated by the U.S. as an SDGT. According to U.S. law, this is an indication that Khalfi himself should be designated a SGDT. A check of archived At-Tajdid websites shows this link to be a permanent feature since at least February 2003.

In August 2003, when the U.S. Treasury Department designated Interpal and several other Union of Good charities as SDGTs, it determined that "they provide support to Hamas and form part of its funding network in Europe." In other words, Mustapha Khalfi is the editor of a newspaper that knowingly solicited funds for a SDGT.

Executive order 13224 is very clear about the criteria that the Secretary of the Treasury may use to designate an entity as a SDGT. Anyone determined to "act for or on behalf" of a listed entity or to "provide financial ... support for, or financial services to or in support of ... entities designated in or under the Order" or "[t]o be otherwise associated with certain individuals or entities designated in or under the Order" may be designated a SDGT. In other words, soliciting funds or even being associated with an SDGT is enough to get someone designated an SDGT.

Given the facts, it strains credulity to assert that Khalfi did not knowingly support funding Interpal or that he was not associated with the Union of Good. There is at least a prima facie case to designate Khalfi as a SDGT. The only possible recourse for a defender of Khalfi is try to exonerate him on a technicality. Khalfi certainly violated the spirit of executive order 13224 if not the letter, and the U.S. Treasury department is currently reviewing a dossier of our findings.

Also, At Tajdid is the official paper of an association called Al Islah Wa Attawhid, also known by its French acronym MUR (Mouvement de l'Unicité et de la Réforme) which is closely linked to the same SDGTs. The MUR is a constituent organization of the Union of Good, which we described above. In addition, Dr. Abd Ziyad Al-Mughrabi al-Idrisi, who sits on the consultative council of the MUR and the secretariat of the PJD (Parti de la Justice et du Dévelopement), the main Moroccan Islamist party, is also a trustee of the Union of Good.

At-Tajdid and the MUR Islamist propaganda

At-Tajdid was among the first papers in the world to explain last year's horrific tsunami by pointing out that the affected Asian countries were corrupt and that the tsunami was a punishment from God. Later in the piece, At-Tajdid implied that the same punishment might be in the works for Morocco because of the lack of respect Moroccan society shows Islam. When pressed about this line of analysis, Khalfi answered, "Regarding the tsunami, only God knows the truth."

A Palestinian journalist, who often writes for At-Tajdid, declared that Hurricane Katrina was a "gift from Heaven." He added, "If the neocons were to see your enthusiasm and determination, they would realize that they will never win against our Ummah."

After Hamas victory in the Palestinians elections on January 25, At Tajdid wrote: "The victory of Hamas is the result of God's will" and "is the beginning of the Palestinian people's salvation."

The noted researcher and Islamogist Said Elakhal explained to the daily Aujourd'hui Le Maroc that Hamas and the PJD have the exact same ideology. This should not come as a surprise since they both are branches of the Muslim Brotherhood.

The MUR website is hosting a who's who of extremists. It displays permanent links to:

• Yusuf Qaradawi's website. Qaradawi has been called the "spiritual leader" of the Muslim Brotherhood,[2] and has issued fatwas supporting suicide bombings, wife-beating, and calls for the Muslim conquest of Europe.

• www.Islamonline.net – which publishes Qaradawi's fatwas.

• www.daawa.net: Apparently a site of the Muslim Brotherhood, with a picture of brotherhood founder Hassan al-Banna displayed on every page.

• www.islamweb.net, which contains a presentation praising Hamas founder Ahmed Yassin.

Recently, the MUR website published a statement calling for a world day of protest" of the Danish Mohammed cartoons. Significantly, the statement had a list of signatories, or "supporters" including:

• Five individuals openly identified as Muslim Brotherhood leaders
• Khaled Mashal of Hamas
• Mohammed al-Hamadawi, president of the MUR
• Saadine Othmani, general secretary of the PJD, who will visit Washington next month to meet US Congressmen.

Indeed, both the MUR and At-Tajdid websites recently displayed prominent links to the website of "Yassin Day," an internet site dedicated to the loving memory of the work of Hamas founder Ahmed Yassin.

At Tajdid and the "Zionists"

The MUR website is replete with statements referring to "the Zionist entity," "glorious Hamas," and complaints about laws prohibiting Holocaust denial.

As the mouthpiece of a Hamas-supporting Islamist group, At-Tajdid takes a hard line against Jews. For instance, on December 15, 2004 Khalfi wrote an editorial entitled "The Israeli blackmail on France is still going on strong" on the French decision to ban Al Manar, i.e. Hezbollah TV, just recently designated a SDGT by U.S. Treasury thanks to the hard work of the Foundation of the Defense of Democracies.

Here is a chosen excerpt:

This decision is a sign of the increasing influence of the Zionist lobby in French domestic policy, as well as an increased French submission to Israeli pressure. This occurred while at the same time France adopts a more balanced foreign policy towards the Arab and Muslim world.(...)

France has been taken hostage by the Zionist lobby. The same can be said of the American democracy, hostage of the Christian far right working for Zionist interests. As De Gaulle did when he started the war of liberation of France, the free French must wonder whether it is not time to undertake a similar battle to liberate France from the Zionist blackmail, this new form of Nazism.

(...) This lobby exerts all kinds of pressure and blackmail on France's political, cultural and media decision-making centers. Let me remind you for instance the defamation campaign conducted against the French intellectual Roger Garaudy, who had revealed the reality of the founding myths of Zionism.

We note that Garaudy is a French convert to Islam who is one of the most notorious Holocaust deniers in the world.

At Tajdid also usually speaks of the "Zionist entity" or puts the word "Israel" in scare quotes, indicating that it does not accept Israel's legitimacy as a nation. After the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, At-Tajdid's editorial read:

"Congratulations to the Palestinian resistance for this great victory which announces an even greater victory that of the recovery of Al Quds and all stolen Palestinian territories." In light of this one should not be surprised that At-Tajdid and Khalfi were opposed to any kind of peace process in the between the Israelis and the Palestinians--and even the normalization of relations between Morocco and Israel. In 1999, during a period of relative quiet between Israelis and Palestinians, the Egyptian daily Al-Ahram ran an article quoting Khalfi: "Mustafa Khalfi, a writer who opposes Arab-Israeli normalization, criticizes this group's (Moroccan Jews) economic power because it "aims to influence decision-making [in Morocco]. As another example, during the recent Danish cartoon controversy, At Tajdid blamed "a Zionist provocation aimed at reviving the conflict between the West and the Muslim nation."

The March 14, 2006 edition reproduces verbatim an entry published on "The Al-Aqsa Organization" website claiming that Israeli President Moshe Katsav declared war against the Al-Aqsa mosque.

At Tajdid and terrorism

On May 16, 2005, the second anniversary of the 2003 terror attacks on Western and Jewish targets in Casablanca, the whole of the Moroccan press--except At-Tajdid--commemorated the day. Instead, At-Tajdid went as far as to claim that the attacks were "a conspiracy against the Islamist movement." At-Tajdid has even expressed doubts about the existence of the Salafiya Jihadia, one of the main terrorist organizations behind the 2003 bombings in Morocco, referring to the group cryptically as "what some call the Salafiya Jihadia."

Mohamed Brini, the editor of the daily Al Ahdath Al Maghribia and an expert on At-Tajdid, says that At-Tajdid has never fully condemned a terrorist act, and instead often attempts to downplay terrorist incidents while making excuses for the perpetrators.

In fact, after the May 2003 terrorist attacks, there was a large consensus to ban the PJD, including Morocco's king Mohammed VI, but the US through its Ambassador pressured him successfully to give up this idea.

At Tajdid and the USA

Mustafa Khalfi isn't wild about the United States, either. After President Bush's reelection, in an editorial dated November 5, 2004, Khalfi wrote that the Arab and Muslim world was in for another four years of instability, insecurity, and increasing dominance of the "Zionist Right." He added: "The Arab and Islamic world must prepare for a very difficult stage which demands the strengthening of a common action and the reconciliation between the regimes and their peoples."

After the assassination of Lebanon's Rafiq Al Hariri, Khalfi saw another conspiracy in America's "arrogant colonial project." He wrote:

"Despite the difficulty of identifying those who were behind the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, reactions have demonstrated that the assassination is part of a project that began with the mapping out of Iraqi election results, with the resumption of normalization with the Zionist Entity, the partial European support for the U.S. position vis-à-vis Iran and the threats of NATO military intervention in the Sudan. The assassination has come amidst mounting international pressure against the Syrian presence in Lebanon, thus tightening the noose of arrogant colonial aims in the Middle East."

And for this and other views, Khalfi gets the ear of a Democratic Congressman and one of America's most prestigious scholarships.

[1] http://news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/terrorism/burnettba112202acmp.pdf

[2] http://www.guardian.co.uk/religion/Story/0,2763,1257458,00.html

http://frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=22126

UN panel urges S.E. Asia to choke terrorist funds

MACTAN Island, Philippines (Reuters) - Southeast Asian states, facing threats from terrorist groups, must crack down on international funding of such groups, said the head of the U.N. Security Council counter-terrorism panel on Thursday.

Ellen Margarethe Loj also urged governments in the region to respect human rights in the fight against terrorism as experts from 60 countries gathered in the central Philippines to formulate fresh approaches to tackling terrorist threats.

"One of the key challenges in this area will be responding to the ways in which terrorist organizations find new, unregulated ways of channeling funds," said Loj.

The Danish diplomat said al-Qaeda-linked militant networks in the region, such as Jemaah Islamiah and Abu Sayyaf Group, have been taking advantage of the informal remittance system.

She said funds for terrorist groups were being channeled through religious, charitable and relief organizations.

The U.N. Security Council has been worried over the slow progress in criminalizing the financing of terrorism in southeast Asia, with more than half of countries in the region yet to enact such laws.

Nearly half of the 10-member Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) have yet to ratify the international convention concerning the financing of terrorism.

Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, in a speech read by her executive secretary, Eduardo Ermita, said the counter-terrorism experts forum would lay a "realistic middle ground to counter terrorism."

Jose Ramos-Horta, East Timor's foreign minister, said one of the dilemmas in the fight against terrorism was striking a balance between measures to defeat the threats and the protection of civil liberties and human rights.

"We must not become monsters ourselves in order to defeat the monster, states must not sanction state terror to allegedly fight terror," he told the forum.

"The superior morality of the rule of law, democratic and transparent government and respect for diversity are the most powerful weapons against extremism and intolerance."

http://www.political-news.org/breaking/25324/un-
panel-urges-se-asia-to-choke-terrorist-funds.html

Senate report on Exposure Draft of the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Bill 2005

On 9 February 2006, the Senate referred the Exposure Draft of the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Bill 2005 to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Legislation Committee for inquiry and report by 13 April 2006 (separate from the Attorney General/AUSTRAC process).

The Senate committee report has now been released.

Chapter 3 deals with concerns raised in submissions and the Department's response.

Chapter 4 sets out privacy issues.

The report concludes:

4.72 Despite expressing optimism in the previous chapter that the majority of outstanding issues will be resolved before finalisation of the regime, the committee does remain concerned about the apparent lack of formal consultation with privacy, civil rights and consumer representative groups in the development of the regime to this point. The committee is of the view that this may have resulted in some fundamental privacy, consumer and civil rights issues being overlooked. Nevertheless, the committee is also hopeful that these issues will be addressed through the parallel discussion groups established by the Department.

4.73 The committee notes the OPC's suggestion that an independent PIA would be useful in relation to the Exposure Bill. The committee agrees with this view and believes that a PIA would be beneficial in achieving a more balanced approach to the AML/CTF regime. This is particularly important given the complexity of the Exposure Bill, the vast number of reporting entities and transactions covered by the Exposure Bill's operation, the amount and type of information to be collected, and the ability of various agencies to access that information. The committee therefore strongly suggests that such an assessment be conducted.

4.74 The committee also notes that the Federal Government intends to address the issue of the small business exemption to the NPPs in relation to reporting entities. However, the committee believes that the concerns raised in submissions and evidence highlight a larger problem in relation to the privacy obligations of reporting entities. The committee's view is that any PIA should include a review as to whether the privacy protections set out in the NPPs are sufficient for the purposes of the information being collected and handled by reporting entities.

http://www.djacobson.com/australian_regulatory_rev/2006/04/senate_report_o.html

When in Rome ...

By Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld
The New York Sun

Tariq Ramadan, who is barred from the U.S., is invited to speak at a conference on May 4-5, 2006, sponsored by the American Embassy in Rome, on "Immigration and Integration: Islam in Europe and Islam in the U.S." The conference is organized by the Centro Studi Americani in Rome, which according to the Web site of its affiliate, John Cabot University, is "one of the major American institutions in Europe." The American Ambassador, Ronald P. Spogli, is scheduled to open the conference.

Ramadan, a Swiss citizen and grandson of the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, Hasan al-Banna, had his visa revoked by the Department of Homeland Security on July 28,2004.The visa was revoked under the Immigration and Nationality Act, amid press speculation that the revocation stemmed from the section barring entry to persons with a "position of prominence within any country to endorse or espouse terrorist activity," or who have "potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States."

While no specifics were detailed for this revocation, apparently his activities, lectures and writings in support of the Islamist agenda were the cause for this decision. According to a Spanish judge, Balatasar Garzon, Ramadan had "routine contacts" with Ahmed Brahim, an Algerian believed to be the financial chief of Al Qaeda and the financier of the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania.

In 1995, during a series of terrorist attacks in Paris perpetrated by the Algerian Armed Islamist Movement, or AIM, the French interior minister, Jean Louis Debre, forbade Ramadan to enter France because of his connections to that terrorist group.

Moreover, according to the French daily newspaper Le Monde, Ramadan is also believed to have organized a 1991 meeting between Al Qaeda's second-in-charge, Ayman al Zawahiri, and Omar Abdel Rahman, who was convicted in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, which killed six people and injured more than 1,000.

Interviewed by the Italian magazine Panorama, on September 23, 2004, about "The art of 'explaining' the killing of Jews," Ramadan's answer to the question of "whether it is right to kill children and Israeli civilians because they are considered soldiers," was that it is "contextually explicable."

Indeed, Ramadan has given enough public speeches in mosques all over Europe, inciting his Muslim listeners against the West, that the founder of Doctors Without Borders, Bernard Kouchner, describes him as a "most dangerous man."

The Muslim Brotherhood and Ramadan usually refrain from publicly advocating violence. However, as stated on the Muslim Brotherhood charter and its Web site, it seeks to install an Islamic totalitarian empire, a worldwide caliphate, through stages designed to Islamize targeted nations by whatever means available. This should not be a message promoted by the U.S. embassy in Rome.

If Ramadan's invitation was not deliberate, it is a case of gross negligence on the embassy's part. When the Department of Homeland Security ruled that he was denied entry to the U.S., presumably for endorsing and espousing terrorist activity, it was a signal that he posed a danger to U.S. interests.

Nothing that Tariq Ramadan has done since his visa was revoked in 2004 has given any reason to doubt the judgment of the Department of Homeland Security. Inviting Ramadan to a U.S.-sponsored event sends the message that his views are worth hearing out and are a valid part of the debate, even if we disagree with them.

The cultural affairs officer of the embassy, Mark Smith, gave the following response to our inquiry: "Mr. Ramadan was invited by the Centro.... The embassy is not providing any funding or other support for Mr. Ramadan's participation in the conference." This is an inadequate and worrisome response. The fact that the Centro Studi Americani and not the embassy invited Ramadan is irrelevant. By supporting and sponsoring the conference and using the Great Seal of the United States on the conference invitation, the embassy is conferring the prestige and approval of America upon a hearing of Ramadan's despicable views - which the Department of Homeland Security deemed sufficiently dangerous to bar him from the country.

If America is to win the war on terrorism, we must not provide legitimacy to Islamist extremists deemed too dangerous to enter the U.S. If the American Embassy does not withdraw its sponsorship of this conference, it is likely the harbinger of a tilt in U.S. policy toward dialogue with those who wish to destroy us, or at least an indication that the State Department has a very different view of what poses a threat to this country.

Dr. Ehrenfeld is the director of American Center for Democracy and a board member of the Committee on the Present Danger.

http://www.nysun.com/article/31210

Americans suing banks for financing Palestinian terrorism

Washington, April 16 (DPA) Around 50 Americans who were injured or lost family members in Palestinian terrorist bombings are seeking millions of dollars in damages through cases filed in Brooklyn's federal court against three international banks.

The Arab Bank, NatWest and Credit Lyonnais are charged with channelling money to Hamas, the militant Palestinian organisation blamed for a number of terrorist attacks aimed at Israel, The New York Times reported Saturday.

The victims of the bombings were Americans visiting Israel who were caught up in the attacks.

The suits represent a relatively unusual approach in the field of justice, as international banks have not been sued in this way before. A judge is allowing the Arab Bank suit to go forward, but has not yet ruled on the other two banks.

The Jordan-based Arab Bank is charged with moving millions of dollars from a private charity in Saudi Arabia - the Saudi Committee in Support of the Intifada al Quds - to Hamas front organisations. Hundreds of documents filed by the claimants purport to show that the Arab Bank worked closely with the Saudi group to open accounts and pay insurance benefits to families of Hamas suicide bombers, the Times reported.

The Arab Bank has insisted it only made routine electronic transfers to its Palestinian branches.

The report appeared as the international community steps up pressure on the new Hamas-controlled Palestinian government to renounce terrorism, recognise Israel's right to exist and work toward peace.

The US and EU are suspending the flow of money to the Palestinian Authority (PA) for government expenses such as roads, sewers and police. Arab countries, except for Iran, have also rebuffed Hamas' search for financial support.

In recent days, the US Treasury Department ruled that US citizens may have no financial dealings with the PA because Hamas - declared a terrorist group by the US in 1997 - has a 'property interest' in the PA's transactions.

Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal, in Tehran Saturday declared that the new Palestinian ruling party would never recognise Israel.

Hamas, which has spearheaded the 'intifada' (uprising) against Israel since 2000, won January elections, ousting the Fatah party of the late Yasser Arafat.

http://www.dailyindia.com/show/17719.php/Americans_suing_banks_for_financing_Palestinian_terrorism