Why Did Europe Kill The Terrorist Finance Tracking Program,

European Parliament

Swift Rebuke -- Washington Post Editorial

THE PROGRAM has been credited with helping to capture the mastermind of the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings that killed more than 200 people, including some 50 Europeans. It was instrumental in 2006 in thwarting al-Qaeda plans to detonate liquid bombs on North American-bound flights from London's Heathrow Airport and critical in 2007 in helping to disrupt terrorism plots involving the Islamic Jihad Union, including one in Germany. Over the past eight years, it has generated some 1,500 reports that have been shared with European allies.

Yet almost 400 members of the European Parliament want nothing to do with it and have effectively and indefensibly shut it down.

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My Comment: Amazing .... I finally found an organization that is more concerned about terrorist privacy rights than the New York Times. Wow .... what has the world come to.

Europe Rejects U.S. Request To Track Terrorist Money Transfers

The European Parliament voted against the Swift agreement allowing the United States to search European personal banking data. Photograph: Martin Argles

Europe Rejects U.S. Deal on Bank Data -- New York Times

BRUSSELS — The European Parliament on Thursday broadly rejected an agreement with the United States on sharing information on bank transfers that was aimed at tracking suspected terrorists through their finances.

The vote in Strasbourg, France, underlined differences between the United States and the European Union over how to balance guarantees of personal privacy with concerns about national and international security.

A resolution to reject the deal passed 378-196, with 31 abstentions. The vote means that the agreement, which provisionally went into force at the beginning of February, cannot be used as planned.

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More News On Europe's Rejection Of US Access To Bank Data

European parliament rejects US data swap deal -- Financial Times
MEPs veto US access to bank data -- The Guardian
EU Lawmakers Reject EU-US Data Sharing Plan -- Wall Street Journal
EU assembly rejects U.S. bank data deal -- Reuters

My Comment: The vote was not even close.

Terrorist Financing And Globalization

(Click to enlarge)

Terrorist Financing: ‘They’ve Picked Up on Globalization Faster Than We Have’ -- CQ Politics

The increasingly fractured international map is easily exploited by terrorists, who merge their syndicates with criminal groups to globetrot without ever raising their heads above ground.

This merging and malleable network allows the free flow of currency, arms, people and drugs — anything the terrorists and criminal groups need — and proves the fallacy of national borders in an ever-shrinking world.

“They’ve picked up on globalization faster in some cases than we have,” said Frank Cilluffo, director of George Washington University’s Homeland Security Policy Institute.

A panel of counterterrorism experts, including former federal officials and a noted journalist, outlined the difficulties of targeting terrorist finances during a roundtable discussion Tuesday, in part because the subject has received short shrift in current policy discussions and presidential campaigns, Cilluffo said.

The changing nature of criminal and terrorist networks will require a more sophisticated, comprehensive, and nimble approach to halting terrorist financing than is being pursued today, the panelists agreed. This included a focus on financial intelligence, a comprehensive product-labeling and regulatory system to track the flow of commerce and finances, and an understanding of how terrorists have spread beyond their initial borders.

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My Comment: I guess terrorists do not hang around in their caves and do nothing. Instead ... their organizations are efficient, high tech, and extremely well organized.

This article is a must read for today.

EU Court Rules Against Sanctions On Al Qaeda Supporters And Financiers

European Central Bank In Frankfurt

EU High Court Invalidates Sanctions Against Al Qaeda
--Counter Terrorism Blog

In a devastating blow to existing international financial sanctions against terrorist groups, the EU's highest court has today overturned the sanctions program imposed by the European Union on Osama bin Laden, Al-Qaeda and the Taliban. The ruling by the European Court of Justice annulled the EU's freezing of the funds of Yassin al-Kadi, a Saudi businessman who has been on terrorist financier black-lists since his listing as a "Specially Designated Global Terrorist" by the U.S. Treasury in October 2001.

The ruling only immediately affects Al-Kadi and the charity Al Barakaat, also alleged to have funded Al-Qaeda, and defers the release of their assets 90 days to give the EU the opportunity to come up with a new sanctions regime that provides the due process rights which the Court were not present in the existing EU regulation. But at first reading, it appears essentially to end the ability of the EU to impose economic sanctions against terrorists -- or anyone else -- in the absence of providing the designated person the opportunity to be heard in some kind of contested proceeding, followed by a process of judicial review. What would be required in such a proceeding to make an asset freeze lawful in the EU, and the extent to which assets may be held temporarily prior to such a hearing or process is not spelled out.

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More News On The Unfreezing Of Al Qaeda Assets

EU court overturns asset freeze of Saudi suspect -- International Herald Tribune
EU court unfreezes assets of Saudi suspect -- Business Week
EU court overturns asset freezes -- The Globe and Mail
EU court rules on suspected terror funds -- Financial Times
EU court threatens to annul terror funds freeze -- EUBusiness
Court Says EU Violated Rights of Two Al Qaeda Suspects -- Deutsche Welle
Court says EU violated rights of two al-Qaeda suspects - Summary -- Earth Times

My Comment: This has the possibility of boomeranging back at the European Court and Europe's Governments. It sends out the wrong message .... and more importantly .... it will make it easier for supporters of Al Qaeda (of which there are many in Europe) to raise funds and provide financial and logistical support to Al Qaeda and their allies.

On paper, the accused must have the right to confront those who wish to freeze their assets .... this sounds logical and reasonable. A point that the European Court stresses in their judgement. But the funding of terrorist groups and terrorist activities are not so clear cut.

The funds used for supporting the 9/11 hijackers is a case in point. Their financial support came from numerous legitimate and charitable organizations. To freeze those assets would never have occurred .... before 9/11 .... under the guidelines and provisions that the European Court now stresses that police forces must follow.