Posted on 11/20/2004 3:52:31 PM PST by xzins
The United States has concluded that Syria helped finance the Sunni insurgency in Iraq.
Officials said the regime of President Bashar Assad used the state-owned Commercial Bank of Syria to relay hundreds of millions of dollars to Saddam Hussein loyalists in Iraq. They said the money has been deployed to finance the insurgency against the U.S.-led coalition primarily in Iraq's Sunni Triangle.
The Commercial Bank of Syria held more than $1 billion in Saddam regime accounts on the eve of the U.S.-led war in Iraq in March 2003, officials said. Most of that money stemmed from Iraqi arms and oil smuggling as well as illegal commissions obtained from Iraqi oil sales overseen by the United Nations.
During a hearing by the Senate subcommittee on Nov. 15, Treasury Assistant Secretary Juan Carlos Zarate asserted that Syria has disbursed $600 million to unidentified Iraqis. Zarate, responsible for terrorist financing and financial crimes at Treasury, said a U.S. team was auditing the Commercial Bank of Syria in an attempt to trace the transfer of funds.
"What we found was when we sent our investigators to Damascus, upon review of the documents and review of the transactional data, it became clear that the Syrians had, in fact, paid out the vast bulk of the amount that had existed in that particular account," Zarate said.
Officials said that over the last 18 months Damascus transferred up to $800 million of Saddam's assets to senior aides of the former president, several of whom have been based in Syria. They said much of the money was believed to have been transferred to ex-Iraqi Vice President Izzet Ibrahim Al Douri, identified as the chief financier of the Sunni insurgency.
"We have folks on the front line right now that are sacrificing their lives, that are under fire, and somewhere, somehow, there's money being used to fuel that insurgency," Sen. Norm Coleman, chairman of the permanent investigations subcommittee of the Senate Government Affairs Committee, said. "And I would just hope that a very strong message is delivered to the Syrians, that we get their cooperation, that we track this down and we figure out what's what."
Officials said Syria has asserted that the money was relayed to Iraqi brokers and traders. They said Treasury was seeking to examine these claims, but said Damascus has failed to cooperate.
"I would have to say poor," Zarate said in his description of Syrian cooperation with Washington.
The United States has identified the Commercial Bank of Syria as a primary money-laundering concern. Officials said the bank, which has come under threat of U.S. sanctions, facilitated illicit activity with Iraq, including the financing of the insurgency war in Iraq.
"This issue has been front and center in terms of the dialogue with the Syrian government," Zarate said. "It's been part of the dialogue at the highest levels. So we are very much concerned, as you are, that the amounts paid out were either not paid out to legitimate claimants or were paid out to people who are attempting to do us harm now."
Officials said Damascus has failed to honor its assurances to the United States regarding Iraq. They said Damascus has also refused to relay any of Saddam's assets to help develop Syria's eastern neighbor.
The Bush administration has been under pressure from Congress to impose additional sanctions on Syria for its failure to halt the flow of weapons, money and fighters to the Sunni insurgency in Iraq. Officials said this would comprise a key issue when Congress begins its new session in 2005.
Zarate said Treasury was working with other U.S. government agencies to trace U.S. currency seized in Iraq to determine the flow of funds to the insurgency. He did not elaborate.
"We also have assets within Iraq, and that's why the Department of Defense, our soldiers on the ground, the FBI and others are working so hard to try to find those caches of cash within Iraq," Zarate said. "And then finally you have traditional sources of terrorist funding in the region which are mobilizing for the Iraqi jihad, in essence."
Worldtribune.com
Position: Asst Sec (Terrorist Finance)
Department of the Treasury (32)
Status: Appointed
Date of Announcement: March 10, 2004
Date Nomination Sent to the Senate: March 11, 2004
Date of Confirmation by the Senate: July 21, 2004
Impossible to nuke them into the stone age, but I think the lights would be pretty so LETS DO IT!!!!
Zarate, our Asst Secty for Terrorist finance, has traced money from Syria to unknown persons in Iraq.
It's time to change Syria's form of government.
It's been clear for decades that Syria is the cause of serious problems in the ME. Syrian Baathists need to be removed from power. Perhaps Lebannon should be put in charge of Syria for a decade or two
I give the Syrian regime two more years of existence in its present form...and that's at the outside.
I am with you, or at least MOAB Damascus.
We should strike every branch bank in the country.
That would send a message that money laundering will not be tolerated.
We should take out Al-jazeera for starters(they are enemy information center). Then we should get to these 3rd rate countries and clean house.......no more Mr. Nice guy from ol' Uncle Sam!
It's time to bomb some targets in Syria for a warning.
Yeah, but look deeper!! In the mid-90s there will certainly be connections between this Syrian bank and members of Willie's administration and with folks who purchased pardons from Willie (some using Saddam's money). This is the answer to the old questions: why was Foster murdered, why did Suzie go to prison, why did Monica take place? The answer is now obvious, Willie and his sewer dwellers were taking oil money, Monica was diversion that went farther than any dem ever imagined.
We should drop a 20,000lb bomb on Assad's house
some wild-eyed speculation:
January 2005: Iraq's first free election
February 2005: last mopping up operations against the Moslem terrorist cells in Iraq
March 2005: US drawdown in Iraq, repositioning to bases in the largely empty western areas of Iraq, the staging area for the de-nazification of Syria
April 2005: Israeli attack on Syrian positions (as well as terrorist groups supported by Syria, Iran, and the Saudis) in Lebanon, which forces the Syrians out of Lebanon at last, and destroys the terrorists' ability to raid northern Israel
May 2005: US forces finish off the Syrian armed forces and roll all the way to the Mediterranean
Any defiance can be cleaned out with our superb urban operations teams.
It will be completed. It is simply a matter of time.
Zarqawi's days are numbered...as are osama's (if he still exists.)
I wholeheartedly agree.
The geo-strategic brilliance of the Afghan campaign followed by the Iraq campaign is still not realized (or admitted to) by the MSM. Iran is virtually surrounded and so is Syria.
Barring the wimplomats allowing Iran to go nuclear, this is a waiting game as we await and invasion or as we beam culture change across their borders via radio/internet/human agents.
Libya wasn't even connected and they still saw it. One can only assume that Assad & Khameini are slow learners.
Assad & Khameini are slow learnersOh, they've learned quite well. Khaddafy got out of the terrorism business after sanctions came down and Europe dragged his ass into court (earlier, he paid bonuses for the monstrous Arab mass-murderers involved in the Munich Massacre). Assad & Khameini have been ass deep in terrorist sponsorship, and still are (Syrians have been paying for the Iraqi Sunni terrorism), and they know they have no role to play in the futures of their countries.
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It makes you wonder how they're going to build up to the showdown.
I think we'll isolate the nuke and missile sites of Iran and simply cruise them.
B2 bomber, night time, their headquarters and branches all disappear in a cloud of dust.
Anyone else want to help the insurgency?
I love the crackling sound of Syrian Dinars in a fire.
:>)
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