    [Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 37, Number 51 (Monday, December 24, 2001)]
    [Pages 1810-1811]
    [Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    <R04>
    Remarks Announcing Action Against the Terrorists' International
    Financial Network

    December 20, 2001

        The President. Thank you all for coming. I'm honored to be joined by
    the Secretary of State and the Secretary of the Treasury. The Secretary
    of Treasury will stay over afterwards to answer any questions you have
    on this particular initiative that we'll be announcing today.
        This is the 100th day of our campaign against global terrorism. And
    in those 100 days, we've accomplished much. We've built a broad
    international coalition against terror, and I want to thank the
    Secretary of State for his hard work. We broke the Taliban's grip on
    Afghanistan. We took the war to the Al Qaida terrorists. We're securing
    our airways. We're defending our homeland. And we're attacking the
    terrorists' international financial network, and I want to thank the
    Secretary of the Treasury for his hard work.
        Today I'm announcing two more strikes against the financing of
    terror. We know that Al Qaida would like to obtain nuclear, chemical,
    and biological weapons. And we know that oftentimes they do not act
    alone. Al Qaida has international supporters, and some of those
    supporters hide themselves in the disguise of charity.
        Last year a former official of the Pakistani Atomic Energy
    Commission set up an organization known as the UTN. UTN claims to serve
    the hungry and needy of Afghanistan. But it was the UTN that provided
    information about nuclear weapons to Al Qaida. So today I'm adding UTN
    and three of its directors to our list of terrorist-supporting financial
    organizations and individuals. We're issuing orders to block any of
    their assets within U.S. jurisdiction and putting the world on notice
    that anyone who continues to do business with UTN and its principal
    figures will not do business with the United States.
        Since September the 11th, we've witnessed a series of terrorist
    attacks aimed at the United States and our friends around the world:
    anthrax mailings here at home; suicide bombings against Israel; and only
    last week, an armed attack on the Indian Parliament. The legislature of
    the world's largest democracy, a nation founded on the principles of
    freedom of speech, freedom of worship, was ruthlessly attacked. The
    terrorists killed eight innocent people. If their mission had succeeded,
    they would have kidnapped and killed many of India's elected
    representatives.
        Last week's attack was only the most recent terrorist assault on the
    institutions of Indian democracy. More than 30 people were killed in a
    car bombing of the State Legislative Assembly in Srinagar on October the
    1st. These attacks on India's Parliament buildings remind us that,
    whatever grievances or causes the terrorists may cite, their real target
    is democracy and freedom.
        The United States condemns these terrorist attacks against India.
    And we extend our sympathies and friendship to the families of the
    murdered.
        American power will be used against all terrorists of global reach.
    So today I'm adding another terrorist organization to the list of those
    whose assets are blocked by my Executive order. Lashkar-e-Tayyiba is an
    extremist group based in Kashmir. LET is a stateless

    [[Page 1811]]

    sponsor of terrorism, and it hopes to destroy relations between Pakistan
    and India and to undermine Pakistani President Musharraf. To achieve its
    purpose, LET has committed acts of terrorism inside both India and
    Pakistan. LET is a terrorist organization that presents a global threat.
    And I look forward to working with the Governments of both India and
    Pakistan in a common effort to shut it down and to bring the killers to
    justice.
        I'm optimistic about the future of our struggle against terror. I
    know we've accomplished a lot so far, and we've got a lot more to do.
    Over the past 100 days, we and our British allies and others in the
    coalition have destroyed at least 11 terrorist training camps inside
    Afghanistan, terrorist factories that produce thousands of trained
    operatives. We've also destroyed 39 Taliban command and control sites.
    Senior Al Qaida and Taliban officials have been captured or killed, and
    potential escape routes for the survivors are constantly being blocked
    to prevent the cowards from running.
        American, Australian, and German aid workers held hostage by the
    Taliban have been liberated. We've dropped some 2.5 million humanitarian
    rations to the hungry people inside Afghanistan.
        Our attack on terrorist finances is progressing. The assets of more
    than 150 known terrorists, their organizations, and their bankers have
    been frozen by the United States. One hundred forty-two countries have
    issued freezing orders of their own. The result: More than $33 million
    in terrorist assets have been blocked inside the United States; more
    than $33 million more have been blocked abroad by our partners in the
    international coalition.
        At home, we've created a new Office of Homeland Security, under my
    friend Tom Ridge, and worked with Congress to provide more than $20
    billion to safeguard our territory. New airline security legislation has
    been signed into law. Our law enforcement agencies are protecting our
    safety, while respecting the constitutional rights of our citizens. We
    listed the 22 most wanted foreign terrorists. We're reorganizing the INS
    so it can more effectively prevent the entry into the United States by
    those who want to threaten our national security.
        We arrested one of the murderers of the September 5, 1986 hijacking
    of Pan Am Flight 73, showing would-be terrorists and current terrorists
    that we have a long memory, that we're patient, that if you think you
    can hide, we'll come and find you and bring you to justice. We made the
    first indictment against the terrorists, those murderers of September
    the 11th.
        We and our coalition have done much in the past 100 days. And with
    the help of freedom-loving countries around the world, we will do much
    more to rid the world of evil and of terrorists.
        Thank you very much.
        Q. Mr. President, can you tell us where you are, sir, on your
    deliberations over John Walker, and have you ruled out a charge of
    treason?
        The President. I'm heading into the Oval Office.

    Note: The President spoke at 2:47 p.m. in the Rose Garden at the White
    House. In his remarks, he referred to Bushir-ud-Din Mahmood, founder and
    director, and Abdul Majeed and S.M. Tufail, directors, Umma Tameer-e-Nau
    (UTN); and President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan. A reporter referred
    to John Walker, a U.S. citizen who fought for the Taliban in
    Afghanistan.