WASHINGTON, 25 September 2003 — The US Treasury Department on Tuesday moved to freeze the assets of six people it accused of being linked to Osama Bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda network, including a Jordanian the Bush administration has said also had ties to Iraq.
The move freezes any US assets the six may have. In a separate move on Tuesday they also added the names to a United Nations list of accused terror financiers. The United States also hopes to block the individuals’ assets globally, as well.
“This action underscores the international commitment to fight terrorist financing,” said Treasury in a statement. In a “fact sheet” distributed by Treasury with the announcement of the new listing, the Treasury said Abu Musa’ab Al-Zarqawi has ties to Al-Qaeda and other militant groups, including Asbat Al-Ansar and Hezbollah. It also said Zarqawi provided “financial and material support” for the Oct. 28, 2002, assassination of US diplomat Laurence Foley in Amman, Jordan. Treasury also accused Zarqawi of being the leader of Al-Tawhid, an organization with “close personal and organizational links” to Al-Qaeda.
The other five added to the terror asset-freeze list on Tuesday included Mohamed Abu Dhess, Shadi Abdalla, Aschraf Al-Dagma, Ismail Shalabi and Djamel Moustfa, which United Nations Security Council, Sec Treasury said were all part of Al-Tawhid.
In February the Secretary of State Colin Powell accused Iraq of harboring Zarqawi and allowing him to build a terrorist training camp in northeastern Iraq. “Iraqi officials deny accusations of ties with Al-Qaeda. These denials are simply not credible,” he said at the time.
The Bush administration has come under criticism from some quarters, accused of overplaying ties between Iraq and Al-Qaeda to build support for this spring’s US-led invasion, and leading the public to think Iraq was connected to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. But last week, President George W. Bush said, “We’ve had no evidence that Saddam Hussein was involved in Sept. 11.” However, he also said there was “no question” that Hussein had ties to Al-Qaeda.
