Who said Usama isn't in China?

HSBC is one of the largest banks in China....

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December 12, 2004

UK bank accused over cash for terror
Nick Fielding

HSBC, one of Britain’s biggest banks, has been accused of channelling tens of millions of pounds to suicide bombers.

It will be alleged in a court action that an account at a subsidiary of the bank in Saudi Arabia was used to collect and pass funds to organisations which then used the money to help Palestinian suicide bombers and their families. A former Citibank subsidiary will also be accused.

Among the groups that received the funds is Hamas, whose supporters have carried out scores of suicide bombings against Israelis.

Money was raised through public appeals in Saudi Arabia with one stating: “Our Palestinian brothers are facing the Israeli war machine and they are defending the third sacred place in Islam — the blessed al-Aqsa mosque.

“They don’t have weapons. Only a few days passed since the al-Aqsa intifada began and already there are lots of martyrs, wounded and orphans.”

According to documents seen by The Sunday Times, the appeals directed donations to a special account, called Account No 98, in at least eight banks in Saudi Arabia including HSBC’s subsidiary.

These accounts were set up at the instigation of the Saudi authorities who required the banks to pass the money on to a fund administered by Saudis. From there it was distributed to organisations including Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, and also to designated international terrorist organisations.

The allegations will be made in a legal action to be launched in the United States by British, American and Israeli lawyers representing 500 victims of suicide bombings. The first writ, to be lodged this week, will name a Jordanian-owned bank; further writs are to be filed against at least seven other banks and their subsidiaries, including HSBC.

This weekend HSBC, which in an expensive television advertising campaign styles itself as the “world’s local bank” and prides itself on its local knowledge, indicated that it would be contesting the action.

A spokesman confirmed that HSBC had a 40% stake in its Saudi subsidiary, the Saudi-British Bank, but said the bank was managed locally. He declined to comment further until the bank had seen details of the writs. The legal action comes at a time when victims of terror are increasingly using the civil courts to take action against those they deem responsible for carrying out terrorist acts.

Civil lawsuits have already been issued against dozens of individuals and corporations after the September 11 attacks. Gavriel Mairone, one of the Israeli lawyers in the forthcoming legal action against HSBC and other banks, said this weekend: “In the past four years terrorist organisations have launched 339 attacks specifically targeting the Israeli civilian public, resulting in more than 8,000 casualties and with over 1,000 deaths.

“We believe these attacks were facilitated by a network of government-sponsored charities, international banks and ‘charity’ front organisations established in the UK, the USA, Israel, the Palestinian-administered territories and throughout Europe. For the first time victims of terrorism will assert in civil courts that the facilitation of financing terrorism and terrorist organisations is itself a crime against humanity.”

Citibank sold its Saudi subsidiary in the summer. Leah Johnson of Citigroup, its parent company, said: “Any assertion that Citigroup supports terrorism in any way is an outrage.”

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1400468,00.html

Where's Waldo?

Now the author Richard Miniter suggests bin Laden is in Iran. Miniter's latest book is "Shadow War: The Untold Story of How Bush is Winning the War on Terror." It's been a best-seller on "The New York Times" best-sellers list.

And Richard Miniter is joining us now live.

Richard, thanks very much for joining us.

RICHARD MINITER, AUTHOR, "SHADOW WAR": Thanks, Wolf.

BLITZER: What makes you think -- what hard evidence is there in your mind that he may be in Iran right now?

MINITER: Well, the hard evidence is my two sources who are Iranian intelligence agents, who say that they saw bin Laden eyeball to eyeball inside Iran in a place called Najmabad on October 23, 2003.

These sources have proved reliable in the past to American and to British intelligence. The other things they've said have checked out. And so I think it's suggestive. It's at least opening the door. I make the case in chapter one of "Shadow War." But it's a case with a lot of caveats, as a lot of intelligence cases are.

BLITZER: Besides these two sources that you have, are there any others who would tend to believe that he might be in Iran right now that you've come upon or is it just these two sources?

MINITER: Well, for me, it's these two sources.

But let's look at what the Iranian government has said in their state-run broadcasts. They've admitted to more than 500 al Qaeda fighters being resident in their country. They've refused to let the United States, France, Saudi Arabia, or any Arab country interrogate them or even visit them. They've said also said that Saad bin Laden, Osama bin Laden's oldest son, is in their country. These are public statements by Iranian governmental officials.

BLITZER: There's another element that you've spoken about. And I want to show our viewers the videotape once again of what Osama bin Laden was wearing on that videotape that surfaced just before the U.S. presidential election.

Take a look at the robes he's wearing. What does it say to you? What have you heard based on this videotape?

MINITER: There are intelligence analysts who work for our government who specialize in identifying clothing and other particular markers. These videotapes are highly scrutinized.

And one of the things these analysts have told me is, those robes are very similar to, if not identical to, those worn by Shia clerics, that is to say, not the Sunni version of Islam followed by bin Laden, but the majority version of Islam followed in Iran, Shia cleric from the Mashhad region. That's in northeastern Iran.

BLITZER: Has there been any other videotape or photograph of Osama bin Laden that you know of wearing a similar kind of robe?

MINITER: I don't know of any similar ones.

BLITZER: Because, in the past, we've seen other outfits that he's wearing, but nothing like these gold robes. And what you're saying is, this is a robe that's typical of a certain part of northeastern Iran on the border with Afghanistan?

MINITER: And for people in a very particular role, the role of a cleric, a respected scholar of Islam, which bin Laden is in reality not. He's not a Shia, and he's not a scholar, but he's wearing the robes as if he is a scholar of that version of Islam.

BLITZER: And you've gotten this from U.S. intelligence or Iranian intelligence? MINITER: U.S. intelligence, Wolf.

BLITZER: Who have spent the last month studying this videotape?

MINITER: That's right.

BLITZER: Because we've been checking ourselves and we can't come across anyone, at least the sources that we've had so far, that seems to suggest, A, that he might be in Iran or, B, that the robe might be a signature item that could detect where this videotape was taken.

MINITER: Well, perhaps the robe is an attempt to send a signal that there is an emerging alliance between Iran and al Qaeda. Or maybe it's a false signal. Maybe it's a coincidence. Maybe the analysts are wrong. Look, this is a game of grays and shadows.

BLITZER: But your bottom line is, if you had to bet right now, you would think he's in Iran, not along the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

MINITER: Well, if I had a bet right now, I would say he most likely is in Iran, based on what the sources have told me and other indications that I've talked about with you now.

BLITZER: I spoke with Pat Roberts, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, on Sunday. And he should know if the U.S. government knows. And he says he doesn't have a clue where Osama bin Laden is right now.

MINITER: Well, I don't think day to day anybody does. And, remember, this sighting is more than a year old. If I knew exactly where he was, I'd be racing out your studio door to collect $25 million.

BLITZER: And I assume that other people would know as well.

Richard Miniter is the author of "Shadow War: The Untold Story of How Bush is Winning the War on Terror."

Thanks very much.

MINITER: Thanks, Wolf.