US Acts Against Groups Aiding Hezbollah

July 24, 2007 - The Associated Press - Jeannine Aversa

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration took action Tuesday against an Iran-based foundation, including its U.S. branch, for allegedly providing support to Hezbollah, a terrorist group the United States has blamed for bloodshed in Lebanon. The Treasury Department's action covers the Martyrs Foundation and Goodwill Charitable Organization of Dearborn, Mich., which the government identified as a fundraising office for the foundation. The government also moved against al-Qard al-Hassan, a Beirut firm that the U.S. government believes was used by Hezbollah "as a cover to manage its financial activity." Two Lebanese people - Qasem Aliq and Ahmad al-Shami - also were covered by Tuesday's order. The U.S. identified Aliq as a Hezbollah official who was once the director of the Martyrs Foundation's branch in Lebanon. The U.S. says he is currently a director of Jihad al Bina, a Lebanon-based construction company allegely formed and operated by Hezbollah. Al-Shami had worked for the foundation in Lebanon, the department said. The action means that any bank accounts or other financial assets found in the United States that belong to those identified on Tuesday must be frozen. Americans also are forbidden by doing business with them.

U.S. acts against groups aiding Hezbollah : By JEANNINE AVERSA
AP Economics Writer(Published: July 24, 2007)

WASHINGTON (AP) The Bush administration took action Tuesday against an Iran-based foundation, including its U.S. branch, for allegedly providing support to Hezbollah, a terrorist group the United States has blamed for bloodshed in the Middle East. The Treasury Department's action covers the Martyrs Foundation and Goodwill Charitable Organization of Dearborn, Mich., which the government identified as a fundraising office for the foundation. "We will not allow organizations that support terrorism to raise money in the United States," said Stuart Levey, the Treasury Department's under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence. The government also moved against al-Qard al-Hassan, a Beirut firm that the U.S. government believes was used by Hezbollah "as a cover to manage its financial activity." Two Lebanese people - Qasem Aliq and Ahmad al-Shami - also were covered by Tuesday's order. The U.S. identified Aliq as a Hezbollah official who was once the director of the Martyrs Foundation's branch in Lebanon. The U.S. says he is currently a director of Jihad al Bina, a Lebanon-based construction company allegedly formed and operated by Hezbollah. Al-Shami had worked for the foundation in Lebanon and has been in "frequent contact" with the Goodwill Charitable Organization, the department said. Goodwill Charitable Organization sent him money to distribute to the Martyrs Foundation, the department said. The action means that any bank accounts or other financial assets found in the United States that belong to those identified on Tuesday must be frozen. Americans also are forbidden by doing business with them. There was no current telephone listing for Goodwill Charitable Organization. The department called Goodwill Charitable Organization, or GCO, "a Hezbollah front organization that reports directly to the leadership of the Martyrs Foundation in Lebanon. "Hezbollah recruited GCO leaders and had maintained close contact with GCO representatives in the United States," the department alleged. Goodwill Charitable Organization has allegedly provided "financial support to Hezbollah directly and through the Martyrs Foundation in Lebanon," Treasury stated. "Hezbollah's leaders in Lebanon have instructed Hezbollah members in the United States to send their contributions to GCO and to contact the GCO for the purpose of contributing to the Martyrs Foundation," the department said. "Since its founding," Treasury said, GCO has sent a significant amount of money to the Martyrs Foundation in Lebanon." The department alleged that the Martyrs Foundation channels financial support from Iran to Hezbollah, Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, or PIJ, as well as other terrorist groups. The U.S. says that senior foundation officials were directly involved in Hezbollah operations against Israel last summer.


U.S., Iran, Iraq to Form Group to Address Iraq's Security Problems
July 24, 2007 CNN News CNN.com

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- The U.S., Iran and Iraq will set up a subcommittee to address issues related to Iraq's security, including the activities of extremist militias, U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker announced Tuesday. "The level, the composition, the timing, we'll all have to sort through that in the coming days," Crocker said. "We did make clear that we would like to see such a mechanism get established as soon as possible." Crocker spoke at a briefing for reporters after meeting with his Iranian counterpart, Hassan Kazemi Qomi, in Baghdad -- the second meeting between the U.S. and Iran in as many months. Crocker said at both meetings the Iranian delegation indicated support for the U.S. goal of a stable and secure Iraq, but he said Iranian actions didn't match their statements. "I was as clear as I could be with the Iranians that this effort, this discussion, has to be measured in results, not in principles or promises, and that thus far the results on the ground are not encouraging," he said. "Over the roughly two months since our last meeting, we've actually seen militia-related activity that can be attributed to Iranian support go up, and not down," Crocker said. U.S. officials have accused Iran's Revolutionary Guard Quds Force elements of interfering in the Iraq by supplying Shiite Muslim militias with weaponry and training, and fueling the sectarian warfare that U.S. and Iraqi troops are trying to tamp down. Repeating what U.S. military officials have said, Crocker said there are people in U.S. custody who have spoken of Iranian involvement in Iraq and that captured munitions show evidence of Iran-related involvement. "There's no question in our mind that the support is going on," said Crocker, who maintained that it would be in Iran's interest to bring its actions in line with its rhetoric. Crocker said the Iranian response in Tuesday's meeting was "to say 'we have absolutely nothing to do with this.' At the same time they did indicate they are prepared, in a security subcommittee, to discuss the problem of extremist militias." Qomi said Tehran was helping Iraq deal with its security problems but Iraqis were "victimized by terror and the presence of foreign forces" in their country, The Associated Press reported. He said his delegation also demanded the release of five Iranians detained in Iraq by U.S. forces, AP reported. Crocker said the group discussed the role of al Qaeda in Iraq's chaotic security situation, "and we noted that al Qaeda is an enemy, really, to all three of us -- to the United States, to Iraq, and to Iran." An Iraqi delegation at the meeting included Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki for a time and Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, who praised the plan to form a security subcommittee. "This meeting has been challenging but productive and we feel it has produced some real results. We have reached an agreement, for the first time, to work together on the security subcommittee for the benefit of the people of Iraq," Zebari said in a written statement. The United States and Iran have had no formal diplomatic relations since 1980, after Iran's Islamic revolution and the takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. The first meeting between Crocker and Qomi, on May 28, ended 27 years of official silence between the two countries. The meetings come as the Bush administration is under increasing pressure to show signs of progress in Iraq ahead of a mid-September report by Crocker and Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq. The bipartisan Iraq Study Group report late last year made a number of recommendations for dealing with the Iraqi war, including the diplomatic engagement of Iran by the United States. Underscoring Iraq's desperate security problems, a suicide car bomber set off explosives in a busy commercial area of Hilla on Tuesday morning, killing at least 22 people and wounding 60 others, police said. The attack took place near a children's hospital around 9 a.m. (1 a.m. ET). Hilla is a Shiite city located about 60 miles (100 km) south of Baghdad. In southeastern Baghdad, one person was killed and three were wounded, including two police officers, when a roadside bomb exploded near their patrol in the Zayouna district, an Iraqi Interior Ministry official said. Also on Tuesday, the ministry announced that the bodies of 24 people had been recovered across the capital a day earlier. They are believed to be the victims of sectarian violence between Sunni and Shiite Muslims. In July, 468 bodies have been found so far. The U.S. military said that coalition forces detained 20 people it described as "suspected terrorists" during raids north of Baghdad on Tuesday targeting al Qaeda in Iraq.