Bush freezes terrorist assets

President George W. Bush signed an executive order today freezing the assets of 27 individuals and organisations, describing it as a "strike on the financial foundation" of terrorists.

He said the order that took effect one minute after midnight (0400GMT) applied to "terrorist organizations, individuals, terrorist leaders, a corporation that serves as a front for terrorism and several nonprofit organizations." They operate primarily outside the US: "We're putting banks and financial institutions around the world on notice," the President saidIf they failed to assist, he said, the Treasury Department "now has the authority to freeze their banks' assets and transactions in the United States."

President Bush, flanked by Secretary of State Colin Powell and Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill, said: "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."

The President said that with a stroke of a pen he had started the war against international terrorism..

Included on the list are three non–government organisations, thought to be charities, which the US government believed were being used to channel funds to terorists.

President Bush said any bank or financial institution handling funds of individuals and organisations on the list would not be able "to do business with the United States".