U.S. Wages Financial War on Saddam Hussein

WASHINGTON-President George W. Bush signed an executive order last week to freeze the assets of the Iraqi government, Saddam Hussein, the Iraqi regime and their agents so the funds can be put toward Iraq’s future. The Executive Order charges the Treasury with controlling the assets and using the funds for the benefit of the Iraqi people. Last week, Treasury Secretary John Snow announced that the United States was confiscating non-diplomatic Iraqi government assets in the United States to use the funds for the benefit and welfare of the Iraqi people; called upon the world to identify and freeze all assets of Saddam Hussein, the Iraqi regime, and their agents; and ordered a “worldwide hunt for the blood money that Hussein and his cronies have stolen from the Iraqi people.” In a letter to Federal Reserve Bank of New York President William J. McDonough and other banks, Snow wrote, “Accordingly, you are hereby notified that.all blocked funds held in the United States in accounts at your bank and at other financial institutions in the name of the Government of Iraq, the Central Bank of Iraq, Rafidain Bank, Rasheed Bank, or the State Organization for Marketing Oil.have been vested in the United States Department of the Treasury.” He also ordered the funds to be consolidated at the New York Federal Reserve Bank.