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Bush ties tourniquet on blood money

An Afghan Northern Alliance soldier cleans his weapon on the front line against Taliban forces, near Kabul yesterday. The Taliban is preparing for a possible US assault. PHOTO: AFP

Calling it a "strike on the financial foundation" of terrorists, President George W. Bush signed an executive order yesterday freezing the assets of 27 individuals and organizations.

"They include terrorist organizations, individuals, terrorist leaders, a corporation that serves as a front for terrorism and several nonprofit organizations," the president said in an appearance in the Rose Garden of the White House.

Bush was flanked by Secretary of State Colin Powell and Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill as he spoke.

He made his appearance as the nation struggled with its recovery from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that have killed an estimated 7,000 at the World Trade Center in New York, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania.

Bush said he signed the order one minute after midnight, adding, "This list is just the beginning."

"To follow the money is a trail to terrorists," the president said. He called the list "the financial equivalent of law enforcement's most-wanted list."

Bush spoke as, halfway around the world, the leader of the Taliban in Afghanistan, Mullah Mohammed Omar, said the US should withdraw from the Persian Gulf and "put an end to the biased attitude on the issue of Palestine."

In a faxed statement, he said the death of Osama bin Laden -- the suspected mastermind behind the Sept. 11 attacks -- would do little to remove any threat to the US.

The Taliban also announced it was mobilizing an additional 300,000 troops for an expected jihad, or holy war against the US.

Bush's executive order marked the first public step of the financial elements of his declared war on terrorism. He was working diplomatic channels earlier, meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien at the White House.

At the same time, US military forces are deploying around the world in anticipation of an expected strike against bin Laden and his al-Qaida network. Bush spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin for nearly an hour over the weekend -- their third conversation on the anti-terror campaign -- and will see Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi later today.

The Bush administration has promised to offer evidence of bin Laden's role in the attacks.

"I think we will put before the world, the American people, a persuasive case that there will be no doubt when that case is presented that it is al-Qaida, led by Osama bin Laden, who has been responsible," Secretary of State Colin Powell said.

"What we want to do is to make sure that his activities are stopped and that he is stopped," Powell said on ABC's "This Week" on Sunday. "One way or the other."

Powell also said that the Bush administration would provide evidence of bin Laden's involvement in the terror attacks soon.

"I think in the near future, we will be able to put out a paper, a document, that will describe quite clearly the evidence that we have linking him to this attack," he said.

A US military team, believed to number four members, is now in Islamabad to consult with Pakistan's government on President Pervez Musharraf's pledge to back Washington's efforts to remove bin Laden from Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, the number of people missing or dead following the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center has risen to 6,729, New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani said yesterday.

The number of missing stood at 6,453, he said, an increase of 120 from the previous number.

The number of bodies recovered at the site where two hijacked airliners slammed into the twin centers had increased to 276, of which 206 have been identified, he told a news conference, adding that they included 40 firefighters and seven other uniformed officers.

"I believe that it is certainly time to say that chances of finding anyone alive would now involve a miracle," Giuliani told a news conference.

"Miracles have happened but it would unfair offering any kind of broad hope to people," he added.

As the US ramped up its response, most Americans appeared solidly behind Bush, with 90 percent approving of the way he has handled his job, according to a CNN and USA Today poll. That was the highest rating for a US president ever recorded by the Gallup polling group, overshadowing the previous record 89 percent scored by Bush's father, President George Bush, at the end of the 1991 Gulf War.

In other developments, Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev said on yesterday the sprawling Muslim country whose southern border is only 300km from Afghanistan was "ready to support an action against terrorism with all the means it has at its disposal," including military bases and air space.

Nazarbayev is the first leader in former Soviet Central Asia to make a firm pledge of practical support for the US.

The Washington Post and the New York Times reported on yesterday that US officials were looking at a deeper involvement in Afghanistan's internal affairs.

The Post said officials were debating an overthrow of the Taliban and the Times said the White House favored building an internal coalition against bin Laden and the ruling Islamic purist forces, who control about 90 percent of the country.

Afghanistan's opposition forces have launched new attacks in three northern provinces, according to reports.
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