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SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM Sunday, October 20, 2002 WASHINGTON — The United States has identified the sources of Al Qaida funding and found they were fewer in number than earlier estimated. Officials said U.S. intelligence has determined that Al Qaida is supported by 12 financiers, most of them Saudis. They said the Bush administration is sharing the findings with Washington's allies in NATO and the European Union. On Sunday, Treasury Undersecretary Jimmy Gurule begins a six-day visit to European countries to coordinate efforts to freeze assets of those deemed as terrorist financiers. The countries include Denmark, which holds the EU presidency, Liechtenstein and Luxembourg, Sweden and Switzerland, Middle East Newsline reported. "It is our first big break in understanding Al Qaida's financial network," an official said. "At first, the network was so big that we didn't think could find major channels of support. Now, we believe we have." The officials said the new information has fueled a renewed effort to freeze the assets of those suspected of helping Al Qaida and satellite groups. They said the information could result in the blocking of finances of industrialists of leading Gulf Arab businessmen in Asia and Europe. So far, the United States and its allies have frozen $112 million, regarded as an insignificant portion of Al Qaida's network. Gurule did not identify the new targets and denied that he was carrying a "Saudi list." He said he will discuss "high-impact, high-value Al Qaida targets" with European allies. U.S. officials have acknowledged that Washington has not obtained sufficient support from EU states against terrorist financiers. They cited the EU's refusal to deem such groups as Hizbullah or the political wing of Hamas as terrorist organizations. Officials said the EU has also been slow in acting against targets deemed as terrorists. "We want to engage in a very specific level of information on these targets where we want the European Union to take action," Gurule said. "It goes beyond general statements and requests to specific people and entities we want authorities to act against." But officials said most of the dozen financiers are Saudi bankers and businessmen who provide direct support to Al Qaida. They did not elaborate. The administration does not plan to confront Saudi Arabia with the new information. But officials said the United States plans to first form a coalition that will ensure that Europe will be off-limits to Saudi financing. On Friday, the Washington Post said Al Qaida has relied on human couriers to fly cash from Saudi Arabia to agents around the world. The newspaper said U.S. intelligence followed the couriers and helped identify the money trail. "In the next few weeks, you will hear cries of pain, mostly from Saudi Arabia," the senior official was quoted by the Post as saying. "If the Saudis don't take action against these people, we will at least make sure they cannot travel outside their home country and cannot do business as usual around the world."
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