Libyan Rebels to Receive £1.8 billion Trust Fund
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Libya's opposition is to get access to a special $3 billion (£1.8 billion) trust fund established by its Western backers to finance the breakaway regions fighting Col Muammar Gaddafi.

The Libya Contact Group will seek to unfreeze Libyan state assets to replenish the rebels' coffers through the initiative at a meeting in Rome.

That would include allowing the rebels to sell oil from territory under their control, but there are legal questions over who exactly owns the oil, given that Gaddafi is still in power.

There are also legal issues over whether assets owned by the regime and seized abroad could be given to the Libyan leader's opponents.

The rebels' National Transitional Council has said it urgently needs supplies of food and medicine as well as salaries for state employees.

The council said that without urgent funds from the West, the rebel leadership will face food shortages within three to four weeks and a humanitarian crisis. » | Nick Squires, Rome | Wednesday, May 04, 2011

Our Friends and Allies, the Saudis! Terror Link Alleged as Saudi Millions Flow into Afghanistan War Zone
TIMES ONLINE: Millions of dollars of Saudi Arabian money have flowed into Afghanistan over the past four years, the country’s intelligence officials say, with the sponsorship of terrorism its most likely use.

According to members of the Afghan financial intelligence unit, FinTraca, the funds, totalling more than £920 million, enter from Pakistan, where they are converted into rupees or dollars, the favoured currency for terrorist operations.

“We can trace it back as far as an entry point in Waziristan,” said Mohammed Mustafa Massoudi, the director-general of FinTraca in Kabul. “Why would anyone want to put such money into Waziristan? Only one reason — terrorism.”

The revelations illuminate the difficulties in dividing the Taleban from al-Qaeda influence and the continuing involvement of Saudi donors in sponsoring the insurgency. >>> Anthony Loyd, Kabul | Monday, May 31, 2010

Star comment:

Oil revenues have allowed the Saudis to spread Wahabbism, the fanatical, destructive form of Islam all over the Muslim world and among the Muslims in the West. One of the Five Pillars of Islam established in the Koran requires that all Muslims give 2.5% of their income to charity. These donations are known as zakat.The amount of zakat donated in Saudi Arabia has been estimated to be around $10 billion annually. Predictably, the Wahhabis have now co-opted this mainstream institution within Islam to promote jihadism.The Saudi government funds mosques, university chairs, Islamic study centres, and religious schools known as madrassas all over the world. The Saudi education system has played a central role in indoctrinating an entire generation of young men into a rabidly xenophobic ideology. – © Alec Paterson | [Source: Times Online Comments] | Monday, May 31, 2010

The Profligate President
Photo of President Bush courtesy of The Times
TIMESONLINE: President Bush yesterday asked Congress for another multibillion-dollar slice of military funding, spending which should ensure the cost of the Iraq war rises over the $500 billion mark early in the new year.

His request for an additional $42 billion brings the total budget for Iraq and Afghanistan wars in the financial year beginning this month to $190 billion. Spending has risen from $8 billion a month last year to a projected $15 billion. President Bush presses Congress for extra $42 bn to fund wars (more) By Tom Baldwin in Washington

Mark Alexander