The U.S. government on Tuesday ordered banks to freeze any assets of a Kuwaiti man U.S. authorities believe is a senior al Qaeda operative. The Treasury Department added Mohsen al-Fadli to its list of suspected terrorist funders and asked the United Nations to add him to its list of terrorists. A Treasury statement said Fadli was an al Qaeda leader in the Gulf and had fought with militants in Afghanistan and Chechnya.
The U.S. government also said Fadli had supported Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who has claimed responsibility for violent attacks in Iraq, including beheading hostages. Kuwaiti security forces are pursuing Fadli in connection with a recent outbreak of al Qaeda-linked violence in the U.S.-allied oil-rich Gulf state. Kuwait hosts as many as 30,000 U.S. troops and is a transit route for forces and civilians traveling to Iraq. Kuwaiti authorities detained Fadli for questioning last month but later released him.
As part of efforts to combat militant groups after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, the Treasury Department has named several individuals and groups as terrorist financiers, frozen their assets and barred others from having financial transactions with them. Some experts and officials say designations such as these may only have a marginal impact and by themselves are only likely to weed out the most obvious terrorist financing transactions. But they say the public naming is helpful as part of a larger strategy that must also include behind-the-scenes intelligence gathering, a crackdown on unlicensed money transfer services and close monitoring of suspected terrorist financiers, deep-pocket donors, bulk cash couriers and other suspicious financial flows. |