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Cato Daily Dispatch for July 10, 2003

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Report Will Indicate Saudi Royal Family Finances Terrorism
Draft of EU Constitution Completed
Bush Urges Troops to 'Stay the Course' in Iraq

Report Will Indicate Saudi Royal Family Finances Terrorism

"A long-awaited final report on the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks will be released in the next two weeks, containing new information about U.S. government mistakes and Saudi financing of terrorists," according to Knight Ridder. "One section provides new information on ties between the Saudi royal family, government officials and terrorists. The FBI may have mishandled an investigation into how two of the Sept. 11 hijackers received aid from Saudi groups and individuals."

In "Terrorist Sponsors: Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, China," Ted Galen Carpenter, Cato's vice president for defense and foreign policy studies, writes: "The Saudi government has been the principal financial backer of Afghanistan's odious Taliban movement since at least 1996. It has also channeled funds to Hamas and other groups that have committed terrorist acts in Israel and other portions of the Middle East.

"The U.S. government has warned that it will treat regimes that harbor or assist terrorist organizations the same way that it treats the organizations themselves. Yet if Washington is serious about that policy, it ought to regard Saudi Arabia as a prime sponsor of international terrorism. Indeed, that country should have been included for years on the U.S. State Department's annual list of governments guilty of sponsoring terrorism."

In "Is Terrorism the Price of Saudi Oil?" Cato Senior Fellow Doug Bandow writes: "Washington may not be able to force Saudi Arabia to accept political or religious freedom. But it can insist that Riyadh cooperate to turn off the financial spigot for terrorists. And the U.S. must do so even if it means loosening the two governments' friendly embrace."

Draft of EU Constitution Completed

"After 16 months of arduous negotiations, framers of the European Union's first constitution finalized their draft charter Thursday but failed to settle differences over how much power national governments would cede to Brussels," reports the Associated Press.

"Those differences, notably in taxation, foreign policy and immigration, are to be addressed in talks among representatives of member governments that begin in October in Italy."

In "US-EU: The Constitutional Divide," Marian Tupy, assistant director of Cato's Project on Global Economic Liberty, and Senior Fellow Patrick Basham write: "The recently drafted EU constitution is a product of 20th century welfare-state socialism. The official goal was to design a simpler, more efficient, more democratic Europe that is 'closer to its citizens.' However, the goal was never seriously pursued and, consequently, never achieved. As a result, the new constitution will have serious negative implications for liberal parliamentary democracy and the principles of self-government."

They go on to say: "The formal adoption of the EU constitution will result in one of two possible outcomes. Either the constitutional welfare provisions will be discretely ignored, because of their prohibitive cost and negative effect on European economic growth, or their enforcement will lead to even greater central government regulation of European social and economic life.

"In the former outcome, the entire EU constitution will be devalued by overtly broken promises. The latter outcome will relegate the European economy to permanent second-class socio-economic status and thus postpone, perhaps indefinitely, the European dream of eventually rivaling American financial wealth, cultural influence, and political power."

Bush Urges Troops to 'Stay the Course' in Iraq

"President Bush said on Thursday repeated attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq meant they had to 'remain tough' and 'stay the course,'" reports Reuters. "Two U.S. soldiers were killed in separate attacks in Iraq late on Wednesday, one when a convoy came under small arms fire and the other in a rocket-propelled grenade attack.

"The deaths bring to 31 the number of U.S. soldiers killed by hostile fire since Bush declared major combat over in Iraq on May 1. Audiotape messages purportedly from Saddam Hussein, calling on Iraqis to fight the occupation, have surfaced in recent days."

In "Leave Iraq As Soon As Possible," Charles Peņa, Cato's director of defense policy studies, writes: "Instead of accepting a less-than-ideal situation in Iraq, the United States now is in the position of having to fix what it broke.

"The problem with Iraq--and all nation-building efforts--is the natural desire to get it 'right,' which is a prescription for endless occupation. And the cruel irony is that the longer the United States stays, however well intentioned and noble the motive, the more Iraqis will come to resent a foreign occupier."

Peņa concludes: "To prevent gratitude from turning to resentment and hostility, we must have the wisdom to leave as quickly as possible. If we don't, the United States runs the risk of enduring its own version of the Soviet experience in Afghanistan: Arabs and Muslims from the region may flock to Iraq to expel the American infidel, and the United States could be bogged down for years."

Wyatt Dubois, editor, wdubois@cato.org