U.S. Treasury Department Strikes Blow Against Terrorist Media (BM)
Ever since FDD founded the Coalition Against Terrorist Media (CATM) in 2004, our number one goal in the U.S. has been to have the Treasury Department name Hezbollah's al-Manar television as a terrorist organization.
Today, Treasury did just that. By identifying al-Manar as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) entity, it gave the U.S. government the power to go after al-Manar's sources of funding and organizations that do business with it. It also sent a clear message to the Iranian regime: we won't tolerate your terrorist surrogates waging war against free societies.
Al-Manar reportedly receives a substantial portion of its operating budget from the Iranian regime. It has employed these funds -- estimated to be well into the millions per year -- to build state of the art studios and the infrastructure needed to broadcast around the world.
Al-Manar is no mere propaganda tool. It is an operational weapon in the hands of one of the world's most dangerous terrorist organizations. Hezbollah -- and by extension its benefactors in the Iranian regime -- uses al-Manar to recruit suicide bombers, incite violent attacks, raise money for terrorist operations, and promote a message of hatred around the world.
While it was once carried by 10 satellites, CATM has led the fight to roll al-Manar back to just two: ARABSAT (majority-owned by Saudi Arabia) and Nilesat (majority-owned by Egypt). But these still reach millions in the Middle East, North Africa, and throughout Europe.
Today's designation gives the U.S. a powerful new weapon in the fight against al Manar.
Our press release on the decision is here.
The U.S. Treasury site seems to be down, but when it is up we'll add a link to their strongly worded press release. UPDATE: the link is here.
Learn more about our Coalition Against Terrorist Media and al-Manar here.
Sounds like an excellent move. I appreciate your efforts very much. Is there a similar effort against al Jazeera or are they different?
Posted by: handymom | March 24, 2006 at 11:09 AM