Condi has a hard time over Hamas

"Unlimited money, the sinews of war" CICERO

Under Secretary at the US Treasury Stuart Levey, Harvard educated and ex Baker Botts heads the US efforts to deal with money laundering and funding of terrorists is accompanying Condileezza Rice on her whirlwind tour of the Middle East.

July 13, 2005 days after the London 7/7 bombings he said to the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs

The Middle East rightfully captures our attention at Treasury ...... and in the interagency community ......

Terrorism is increasingly targeted at innocents in the Middle East. Where the threat of terrorism does not generate the will to take effective action, however, my office, working in close cooperation with all of our interagency counterparts, will push for action.

....that the rigorous efforts by Treasury and the U.S. Government to identify and isolate key sponsors of terrorism, as well as sponsors of weapons proliferation, are being given wide effect in private banks in the Middle East and the world....

If he does have any success it is unlikely we will get to know about it, on a previous trip to the Ukraine this was his response at a Press Conference to questioning;


Q Is the U.S. monitoring the bank accounts of Ukrainian authorities that are in the U.S.?

UNDER SECRETARY LEVEY: I don't have any comment on that.

Q Do you have any information about any accounts owned by former president Kuchma or his family in the U.S. banks?

A Essentially it's the same answer. We don't comment about particular accounts or individuals whose activities we might be monitoring.

Q Do you have any data on what amount of money is laundered, generally, throughout the world and in Ukraine?

A There are estimates out there about how much money is laundered throughout the world. I don't know that they're that reliable, as it's something that's very, very hard to measure, but it's an enormous amount of money. There's an enormous drug trade alone that creates an enormous amount of money to be laundered.

Q Do you have any predictions on Lazarenko's case [former Ukrainian Prime Minister]?

A Even if I did I wouldn't comment on that.

Dubya's washroom assistant has a hard row to hoe, praising democracy but hating what it prduces. At a Press conference Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said "I'm sure that Hamas will develop, will evolve. We should not prejudge the issue," and poured scorn on the US position to Hamas forming a democratic Government, which had been reflected in the morning's (largely state controlled) press. See more at Wapo here. Next stop Saudi then on to the Emirates who have just bought control over the West Coast US ports - which Mr Frist is very unhappy about. The big question is, will Condi take time out on their fabled new ski slope in Dubai ? Perhaps not she doesn't want to be seen falling flat on her face ... well not in public.

Meanwhile Bibi Netanyahu, the calm cool voice of reason, is quoted in the Jerusalem Post today ..

"Hamas is not a local organization, it's part of a worldwide Islamic movement that is trying to liberate the State of Israel and fight a mad, historic battle with the West. Because of this, the assumption that Hamas is a leopard that can change its spots is false. Power did not domesticate the Taliban or the ayatollahs in Iran, and it won't domesticate Hamas."

Difficult to believe that the Lohamei Herut Yisrael have changed their spots either.