Divesting from Terror

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Is it just me or does anybody else see something wrong with this picture?

Congress Moves to Protect US States That Divest From Terror
August 02, 2007 - A movement to promote "terror-free investment" is spreading across the United States as public employees and taxpayers increasingly oppose their money going to companies that do business with terror-sponsoring countries. The countries listed by the U.S. State Department as sponsoring terror include Iran, Syria, Sudan, North Korea and Cuba.

We talked to firefighters, teachers and other employees, and when we let them know how their retirement [fund contribution] was spent, they were outraged," Florida Democratic state Sen. Ted Deutch said, speaking at the conservative American Enterprise Institute in Washington D.C., last week. Florida Republican Gov. Charlie Christ signed a divestment bill after it unanimously passed the state Legislature. Florida is among more than two dozen states that are considering - or have passed - measures to prevent state pension dollars from being invested in companies that do business in rogue nations.

A "divest terror" movement began last year in Missouri and spread to Illinois and Louisiana. The California Legislature is on the verge of clearing a divestment bill that Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger intends to sign. On Tuesday, the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed both the Iran Sanctions Enabling Act and the Darfur Accountability and Divestment Act. One would provide legal protection for money managers - in the public and private sector - who divest money from Iran's energy industry.

The other requires the federal government to establish a list of firms doing business with Sudan that "directly" support the genocidal regime in Darfur. According to the Conflict Securities Advisory Group, a consulting firm that specializes in managing global security risk, there are 485 publicly traded companies that operate in the five countries designated by the U.S. State Department as state sponsors of terrorism. The companies are overwhelmingly foreign-owned.

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Congressmen Invest in Businesses in Terror-Sponsor States
August 02, 2007 - More than 30 members of Congress, or their spouses, invest in companies that do business in countries that the U.S. government says sponsor terrorists

Financial disclosure forms show that Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.) -- one of the leading national security experts in Congress -- has hundreds of thousands of dollars invested in nine corporations listed by the Securities and Exchange Commission as doing or having done business with a terror-sponsoring state.

Reps. Randy Neugebauer (R-Texas) and Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.) have smaller investments in as many such companies. Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-N.J.) each have more than $1 million in companies that are doing or have done business with one or more of these countries.

The five countries on the U.S. State Department's list of terror-sponsors are Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan and Syria. (The SEC relies on the State Department's list.) Most members of Congress whose offices commented for this story said the members did not have direct control over their investments because their money was either handled through a blind trust or through a broker.

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France and World Bank support divesting from terror...

France urges companies to stop investing in Iran
Tuesday , Sept.18 , 2007 -- France has called on leading French companies to desist from investing in Iran, French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner has said.

"We have already asked some of our major companies not to bid for any tenders in the country," the foreign minister who was speaking on RTL radio and LCI television, said Sunday adding the move was aimed at forcing Iran to stop its sensitive nuclear activities. In addition, the minister said that the European Union was considering its own set of economic sanctions against Iran in a bid to force the country to comply with the demands of the international community.

For quite some time now, Iran has been at loggerhead with the international community over its nuclear program. The United States, its European allies and other world powers are accusing Iranian authorities of seeking nuclear weapons under the cover of civilian nuclear technology while on the other hand, Iran continues to insists that its nuclear program is aimed at helping the country meet its energy needs.

So far negotiations and two sets of U.N. Security Council sanctions have failed to persuade Iran to stop its uranium enrichment program, a process that can produce fuel for nuclear power plants and also material for making atomic weapons. Speaking recently on state television, president Ahmadinejad appeared to doubt the resolve of the international community to impose punitive measures against his country. "They talk of imposing sanctions on Iran, but they cannot do it," the president said.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy is seen as taking a tougher stand on Iran than his predecessor Jacques Chirac. During his first major foreign policy speech last month, Sarkozy said that a diplomatic push by the international community was the only alternative to "an Iranian bomb or the bombing of Iran."

France urges companies to stop investing in Iran

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World Bank leaves Iran in the cold
Thursday 8th November, 2007 - U.S financial sanctions against the Islamic republic of Iran have caused the World Bank to suspend US$5.4 million worth of aid to the country.

The payments, for four of nine World Bank projects in Iran, were to have been made by Bank Melli, but the U.S government has put sanctions on Bank Melli and two other large Iranian banks.

The World Bank will now have to make alternative arrangements. The sanctions forbid any financial transactions between a U.S citizen or private organization.

The suspension of payments will affect four projects in Iran: emergency aid after a deadly earthquake in Bam, water treatment, environmental management and urban renewal.

World Bank leaves Iran in the cold

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Brits joining the effort...

Britain seeks ban on Iran investment
November 13, 2007 - BRITAIN will seek a global ban on investment in Iran's oil, gas and financial sectors unless Tehran agrees to abandon its uranium enrichment activities, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said yesterday.

Mr Brown described the Islamic republic as "the greatest immediate challenge to non-proliferation'' and again said it had a choice between complying with the international community or being ostracised. "We will lead in seeking tougher sanctions both at the UN and in the European Union, including on oil and gas investment and the financial sectors,'' he said at the Lord Mayor of London's annual banquet. "Iran should be in no doubt about our seriousness of purpose.''

Brown said further sanctions were conditional on the conclusion of two reports by Europe's foreign policy chief Javier Solana and the UN atomic watchdog, both of which are due out later this month. In addition, Mr Brown supported calls for a nuclear fuel "bank'' to aid non-nuclear states in gaining access to new sources of energy, provided they renounce nuclear weapons and meeting international treaties.

Although he has threatened to push for tougher measures against Iran if it does not stop enriching uranium, Mr Brown has until now not given more specific details. In a television interview on Sunday, he again asserted that he was ruling nothing out in the stand-off, amid speculation about a possible strategic military strike against Iran's nuclear facilities. The comments also come as Britain, France, Germany, the United States, Russia and China prepare to back a third UN Security Council resolution against Iran.

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Fearless W tryin' to get the Arabs support away from Iran...

Bush Urges Arab Allies to Confront Iran
January 13, 2008 — President Bush urged wary Persian Gulf allies on Sunday to rally against Iran “before it is too late,” even as the International Atomic Energy Agency announced that the country had agreed to answer outstanding questions about its nuclear programs within four weeks.

In an address to government and business leaders here, Mr. Bush focused not only on what the United States suspects are Iran’s nuclear ambitions but also its suspected support for Islamic groups and militants in Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories. He called Iran’s government “the world’s leading sponsor of terrorism” and accused it of imposing repression and economic hardship at home. “Iran’s actions threaten the security of nations everywhere,” Mr. Bush said. “So the United States is strengthening our longstanding security commitments with our friends in the gulf and rallying friends around the world to confront this danger before it is too late.”

The announcement about Iran’s pledge of cooperation on its nuclear program, however, could undercut efforts to build international support against Iran. It came after a visit to Iran this weekend by Mohamed ElBaradei, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations’ nuclear monitoring agency, who met with the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iran agreed to carry out its pledges, made last year, to resolve suspicions about its nuclear programs, although Iran’s state news agency said that it expected the United Nations Security Council to drop its sanctions in return. The announcement essentially delayed for another month what had been an end-of-the-year deadline to disclose all of its nuclear work, including any covert or undeclared military research.

With Mr. Bush in the middle of a trip to the region intended to build a united Arab front against Iran, the White House acknowledged that the announcement represented progress, but it expressed skepticism about Iran’s willingness to provide complete information and said Iran was still obliged to suspend its enrichment of uranium, as required by the Security Council. “Answering questions about their past nuclear activities is a step,” said Gordon D. Johndroe, a White House spokesman. “But they still need to suspend their enrichment and reprocessing activity. Another declaration is no substitute for complying with the U.N. sanctions.”

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Fearless W tellin' it like it is...

Bush Labels Iran World's Leading Sponsor of Terrorism
President Bush says 'Iran's actions threaten security of nations everywhere' and lists Tehran's support for extremists in Iraq, Lebanon, Palestinian territories

President Bush says Iran is the world's largest sponsor of terrorism, and a source of instability in the Middle East. Standing on a stage in Abu Dhabi, less than 300 kilometers across the Persian Gulf from Iran, President Bush called for unity against Tehran.

"Iran's actions threaten the security of nations everywhere. So the United States is strengthening our long-standing security commitments with our friends in the Gulf, and rallying friends around the world to confront this danger before it is too late," said Mr. Bush.

He said Iran is the world's largest state sponsor of terrorism, listing Tehran's support for extremists in Iraq, Lebanon, and the Palestinian territories. "It sends hundreds of millions of dollars to extremists around the world, while its own people face repression and hardship at home," added President Bush.

Mr. Bush told Iran's neighbors that the kind of extremism embraced by the government in Iran stands in opposition to their hopes for a better future.

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