"Curious" George Has Friends In Low Places

President George W. Bush, our first Saudi-Mexican President, needs to visit his friends in the desert again. Maybe this time he can ask them to STOP FUNDING TERRORISM!

Saudi Arabia Prime Source of Terror Funds, U.S. Says

Saudi Arabia remains the world’s leading source of funds for al-Qaida and other extremist groups, according to the Bush administration’s top financial counter-terrorism official.

Stuart Levey, a Treasury undersecretary, told the Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday that the Saudi government has not taken sufficient steps to stem the flow of money to terrorist organizations or to bar wealthy citizens from funding extremism through charitable contributions.

“Saudi Arabia today remains the location where more money is going to terrorism, to Sunni terror groups and to the Taliban than any other place in the world,” Level told the committee.
Committee member Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, said the Saudi failure to cut off terrorist funding means that Americans who pay more than $100 a barrel for Saudi oil are in fact bankrolling extremism because wealthy Saudi’s “back-door” their profits into charities that fund extremists, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Levey expressed frustration over U.S. efforts to convince the Saudis and others to take action against terrorist funding.

“We continue to face significant challenges as we move forward with these efforts, including fostering and maintaining the political will among other governments to take effective and consistent action,” he told the panel.

He also said the Saudis had not lived up to promises to set up “the kind of financial intelligence unit needed to trace the money trails of terrorists,” or “a charity oversight commission to track whether donations end up I the hands of extremists,” according to the Times.

At the end of the hearing, Sen. Max Baucus, D.-Mont., announced an independent review of the anti-terrorism program of Treasury’s Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, which was created in 2004 and is headed by Levey.

U.S. anti-terrorism efforts may have gotten a boost from a senior Saudi cleric, who is urging Saudis not to donate to charities that might be channeling money to terrorist groups.
Grand Mufti Sheikh Abd Al-Aziz Al Sheikh warned against giving money to groups financing what he called “harmful groups,” the Jerusalem Post reported.

His warning came days after it was reported that al-Qaida’s second in command, Ayman al-Zawahiri, was sending messages through cell phones asking Saudis to donate money to charities for needy people in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The Saudi Interior Ministry has warned that anyone responding to al-Zawahiri’s petition would be penalized unless they contacted the ministry to “clarify their position.”

The Observer

Another Example Of Sticking Your Nose Where It Doesn't Belong

Now that the "Most High Papacy" has directed Catholics to watch out for their recycling sins, the state of Florida is trying to control toilet paper use in public areas! These idiots never learn!

TALLAHASSEE (CBS4.com) ― A proposed law currently making its way through the Florida legislature might help you with what can be an embarrassing problem. Here's the bottom line, the bill would be a mandate that all eating establishment must have enough toilet paper when you go into the restroom. The only problem is the bill doesn't dictate how much toilet paper is "enough".

State Senator Victor Crist, a Republican from Tampa, felt the problem was so important, a law must be passed to protect the backsides of anyone in Florida. The measure will also try to regulate the cleanliness of restrooms in eating establishments.

Crist, says in the bill, restaurant inspectors, "should also check the restrooms along with the kitchens to make sure that basic cleanliness necessities are in place." The Senate Regulated Industries Committee approved the bill, SB 836, on Monday. It has two more stops to go and as long as it's not wiped out before then, it could then go to the Senate floor. A similar measure is currently awaiting passage by the House.

... I've got a recommendation on where you can stick this legislation, : ), tee hee! If you want to protect our backsides - ARREST ABOUT 1 MILLION ILLEGALS AND DEPORT THEM! That - at least - would make room at the local 7-11 to buy coffee in the morning!

Another Reason We Can't Win The W.O.T. (If We Continue This Way)

FBI boosts training in Islamic 'sensitivity'

Weeks added to required 'enrichment' program:'We all need to learn and understand each other'

The FBI believes its agents still aren't sensitive enough to Muslims and their culture, so the bureau has extended by "a few weeks" its Islamic cultural "enrichment" training program, WND has learned.

During a recent outreach event at a Washington-area mosque, FBI officials also reassured a large turnout of concerned Muslims that the bureau is not profiling Arabs and Muslims for terrorism, and has made investigating alleged "hate crimes" against them and other minorities "the second-highest priority in the criminal division of the FBI."

Among the officials who attended the Feb. 8 "town hall meeting" at the large ADAMS Center mosque were Timothy Healy, deputy assistant director for FBI intelligence, and Dave Bennett, assistant special agent in charge of the FBI's Washington field office.

The officials said terrorism is "not a new phenomenon" limited to Muslims, and they cited abortion-clinic bomber Eric Rudolph as an example of a Christian terrorist.

While they said they are concerned about the threat from "homegrown terror" perpetuated by second-generation Muslim immigrants, the officials assured the Muslim audience they are no more concerned about such homegrown attacks than they are "about bank robberies," and are not targeting the Muslim community for special surveillance.

One official offered that FBI headquarters has extended the bureau's Arabic curriculum, which includes Muslim culture, by "a few weeks" to expose agents to Islam and cultivate a better understanding of the faith.

"We all need to learn and understand each other," he said, adding that the Muslim sensitivity program is part of basic training for agents.

"One of the things that the FBI believes in is diversity," he said. "Diversity is important."
To that end, he says the bureau is "under a hiring push this year" and is heavily recruiting Muslim agents. The FBI wants to hire 900 FBI agents and 2,000 professional support staff, including Arabic translators, by Sept. 30.

World Bank Using U.S. Funds To Boost Iranian Industry, Gas Sectors

WASHINGTON — The World Bank is using millions of dollars in American taxpayer funds to help Iran build up its industrial and natural gas sectors, FOX News has learned.

This comes at a time when the United States and the United Nations are actively working to discourage the international community from conducting commercial transactions with Iran and its energy sector, in particular.

The World Bank's Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) provides financial guarantees to secure foreign investments in developing countries, and the U.S. government is one of the agency's largest contributors. U.S. contributions since 2000 have totaled nearly $24 million.

Documents and public filings obtained by FOX News show the MIGA has issued $122.2 million in guarantee coverage for three companies from Thailand and Japan, that have in turn invested a total of $42.8 million in a state-owned Iranian petrochemical company.

The MIGA guarantees insure the three investors — Cementhai Chemicals Company and National Petrochemical Public Company Ltd., both of Thailand, and Itocho Corporation, of Japan — against the risk of "war and civil disturbance," and any potential breach of contract by the government of Iran.

In addition, Itocho is providing the Iranian company, Mehr Petrochemical, with a $96 million shareholder loan, which also is underwritten by MIGA.

Iran's National Petrochemical Co. chairman Kazem Vaziri Hamaneh serves on the board of Mehr Petrochemical, according to Middle East financial industry-watch site, www.Zawya.com. The National Petrochemical is a subsidiary of the Iranian Petroleum Ministry.

First-Time Aid to Iran :

The project marks the first time MIGA has provided such coverage for foreign investment in Iran. The infusion of cash by foreign investors, according to MIGA documents, will enable the Islamic republic to mine the South Pars gas field, a giant offshore gas reserve in the Persian Gulf, and to construct and operate a nearby high-density polyethylene plant, where the gas will be processed for industrial uses.

These projects, a MIGA summary states, will help Iran "diversify the country's exports away from oil" and "contribute to government revenues."

The South Pars project is not MIGA's only thrust into Iran, however. The agency's paperwork for a separate project shows a $5 million equity and loan guarantee provided to a Turkish company whose plants in Iran produce and export polypropylene containers. The documents say Iran's economy is "over-reliant on oil," and boast the Turkish venture will "help diversify Iran's economy ... while introducing state-of-the-art, lean manufacturing techniques that can be replicated for use in other industrial facilities."

At Odds With U.S. Policy?

American and allied officials at the U.N. have been working for years to discourage foreign investment in just such kinds of projects in Iran, fearing they will directly or indirectly aid the Islamic republic's nuclear and ballistic missile programs, as well as the regime's support for terrorist groups across the Middle East.

Last October, the Bush administration designated the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and its elite Quds Force as terror organizations — the IRGC for weapons proliferation, and the Quds Force for support of terrorism. At the time, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice standing by his side, told reporters "it is increasingly likely that if you are doing business with Iran, you are doing business with the IRGC."
Paulson also called on "reputable institutions" not to serve as "bankers to this dangerous regime" and concluded "many banks around the world have decided as a matter of prudence and integrity that Iran's business is simply not worth the risk."

Assistant Secretary of State Sean McCormack disclosed last June that the State Department had been contacting multinational firms and state-owned companies around the world, counseling them against financial transactions with the Iranian regime and its subsidiaries.

"We've talked to Shell Oil," McCormack told reporters June 12. "We've talked to the Chinese national oil company. There have been several others as well ... giving them informational briefings and talking to them about whether or not, really, this is the right time to be making those sorts of big bets on the Iranian energy sector when you have a country that is already under [U.N. Security Council] Chapter 7 resolution," referring to a U.N charter section that deals with international threats.

McCormack continued: "And it raises the question of, well, is this the kind of investment climate that you want to enter into? These are big bets of billions of dollars that people are calculating they're going to get returns over a significant number of years. And if you have that level of uncertainty, I think the business end will make their own calculations about whether or not that's the place where they want to invest their money."

The World Bank has apparently decided otherwise, according to U.S. Reps. Steve Rothman, D-N.J., and Mark Kirk, R-Ill. — a former Bank staffer. They say the global lending institution has "transferred at least $50 million in U.S. and allied taxpayer funding to Iran" over the last six months.

In a letter to Rice and Paulson dated Jan. 30 and obtained by FOX News, Rothman and Kirk argued the World Bank is "undermining the Iran policies of the U.N. Security Council, the United Kingdom, France, Germany and the United States by giving technical assistance, loans and investment guarantees directly to the government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad."
The letter urges the Bush administration to "align the World Bank board to the policy" of the U.N. Security Council, by suspending all World Bank loans to Iran and all guarantees on foreign investment in the country.

Contacted by FOX News, a World Bank spokesman noted that MIGA's $127 million in guarantees was approved by the agency back in 2005, and that such guarantees do not involve disbursement of funds unless a claim is made by a foreign investor.

"The World Bank Group complies with UN sanctions on Iran," the Bank's website states, adding: "Arrangements have been put in place to ensure disbursements under project agreements are utilizing banking channels that are not subject to sanctions lists."

A World Bank spokesman later said, "There are no plans to approve any new loans to Iran. These loans ... were designed to help Iran's poorest people and meet basic humanitarian needs."
McCormack told Fox News the State Department only just received the Rothman-Kirk letter, and will be replying to it shortly.