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| Africa Horn |
| U.S. says funds flow in from Saudi Arabia to Somalia |
| 2006-07-01 |
| So much for the secrecy of tracking these moneys WASHINGTON, June 29 (Reuters) - Funds are flowing into Somalia from Saudi Arabia and Yemen to support the Islamic Courts movement that seized the capital Mogadishu this month, said a senior U.S. official on Thursday. The State Department's point person on Africa, Jendayi Frazer, told a hearing on Capitol Hill that the United States and others were reaching out to the Arab League about the flow of funds into Somalia from Arab countries. "I don't want to say the Saudi government is supporting any particular (Islamic) court but I do know that there is money coming in from Saudi Arabia," Frazer told the House of Representatives International Relations Committee. "There is money coming in from Yemen and arms from Eritrea and other places (into Somalia)," she said, adding that some of the funds came from Somali businessmen based in Saudi Arabia. Asked what the United States was doing to put pressure on Saudi Arabia to curb the flow of funds, she said "we definitely want to reach out to the governments of Saudi Arabia, Yemen and others in the Middle East." Frazer said conflicting messages were coming from the Islamic courts, which has extended its power outside of the capital, with its "moderate face" Sheikh Sharif Ahmed writing a conciliatory letter to Washington. However hard-line cleric Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, who is on a U.S. list of al Qaeda associates and was named head of the Council of the Islamic Courts last weekend, had showed "aggression" towards the United States, she said. The rise of Aweys has alarmed the United States, which fears the Islamists want to establish Taliban-style rule in Somalia, despite repeated denials by Ahmed. The United States has been criticized for its support of a group of self-styled anti-terrorism warlords who were driven from Mogadishu by the Islamists on June 5. Frazer defended U.S. policy and said the main goal was to ensure Somalia did not become a haven for terrorists, in addition to boosting the credibility of the transitional government which is too weak to enter the capital. She said the United States would also encourage dialogue between the transitional government and the Islamic Courts. "The strategic objective here is to prevent an attack on Baidoa," said Frazer, referring to the southern provincial town where the interim government is based. Pressed on whether the United States would deal directly with the Islamists, she said it was important that Washington not help create an alternative to the transitional government. "Opening a dialogue there is not necessarily in our interests," said Frazer. Earlier this week, the State Department made clear that it would have no dealings with Aweys but would reserve judgment on dealing with the group as a whole. |
| Posted by:Sherry |
| #13 Check with the NYT and let them debunk this story. Terrorist money transfers indeed! |
| Posted by: Inspector Clueso 2006-07-01 22:37 |
| #12 Question: Does the State Department intentionally recruit people without a spine or do they lose it after they've worked there a while? Never read so many weasel words before...sheesh |
| Posted by: Captain America 2006-07-01 20:42 |
| #11 That's the ticket, we jus need some dialogue with the terrs @ Islamic court. |
| Posted by: Captain America 2006-07-01 20:38 |
| #10 Even better - hack their accounts annd empty them |
| Posted by: Frank G 2006-07-01 20:09 |
| #9 We could easily blockade the banks through which the money flows, as we are doing to the P.A. and such, as a preliminary step. (Did we ever get around to doing that to the Taliban when they ruled Afghanistan?) Freezing financial accounts strikes me as a legitimate step, too. Murdering another country's citizens, especially in-country, even more especially in the numbers likely required by the evidence, isn't a good starting point. Let's save that for when we'e ready to openly declare war on Saudi Arabia, after the Iran threat is neutralized. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2006-07-01 19:46 |
| #8 So we say to the Saudis that if their money goes somewhere, so do Saudis to make sure it is spent properly, and not on radicals If .com were here, he'd tell you that Saudi men with any status at all don't work. |
| Posted by: lotp 2006-07-01 18:55 |
| #7 And if they don't spend the money wisely we'll Nuke 'em. |
| Posted by: 6 2006-07-01 18:53 |
| #6 Here's an alternative. There is no way that we can ever convince the Saudis that sending money somewhere to back Moslems is bad, so let's make them a deal. They have lots of men that are unemployed. Not radicals, just guys who need work. So we say to the Saudis that if their money goes somewhere, so do Saudis to make sure it is spent properly, and not on radicals. There are tons of legitimate uses for their money that we would have no objection to. In fact, the only people who would object are those that would misuse, even by Saudi standards, their money. If nothing else, it would create accountability of the flow of funds, with the US as auditor. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2006-07-01 16:59 |
| #5 I can think of someplace where we could test some of these older nukes. Like the Magic Kingdom for starters. What do the Saudi's have to do, take out an ad in the NYT? Seriously, what does it take for sane people to realize that these cave people are our enemies. That's assuming there are any sane people in our Government. That haven't been bought by the Saudi's... Time for a house cleaning. |
| Posted by: Manolo 2006-07-01 16:08 |
| #4 2b---I feel your pain. This is war, not law enforcement. People do not understand this. We do not have enough law enforcement resources do deal with terrorists. The terrorists will always be on the offense and we will be on defense with the law enforcement mindset. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2006-07-01 15:54 |
| #3 I think we could end this war much faster if we just wacked the money men instead of watching them root and grow forever and a day. This is my pet peeve. I understand the benefit of watching to see whose who - but there is a benefit to eventually doing something in a timely manner beside just watching somemore. But you could never convince law enforcement about that. |
| Posted by: 2b 2006-07-01 15:22 |
| #2 Follow the money. Identify the financiers. Take them and their money out of circulation. No fanfare, no hearings. End of story. Saudi Arabia is our enemy. They and Iran back terrorism with money. There is only one way to stop terrorism, and the Israelis are trying to do it, hesitantly. We will not win this war unless we have the will to do the dirty work needed to get the job done. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2006-07-01 15:18 |
| #1 The United States has been criticized for its support of a group of self-styled anti-terrorism warlords who were driven from Mogadishu by the Islamists on June 5. Criticized by who? The press and our enemies, but, of course, I repeat myself. Nobody we should listen to has criticized anything by name....anonymous statements like this are bias masquerading as journalism. We should've done more, now we have another Taliban state to deal with. Kill em |
| Posted by: Frank G 2006-07-01 14:24 |