(Rapaport…August 25, 2004) US Congresswoman Sue Kelly has challenged the 9-11 Commission’s findings that there were no links between al-Qaida and conflict diamonds, the Voice of America reported on August 25.
Speaking at a hearing of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Financial Services about identifying and preventing terrorist financing and to discuss the commission’s findings, Ms. Kelly read out a sentence from the report which says that “We have seen no persuasive evidence that al-Qaida funded itself by trading in African conflict”. She questioned 9-11 Commission members about the basis of their conclusion. She also noted that several sources reached conclusions different from those of the Central Intelligence Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation cited in the 9-11 report.
Replying to her questions, Lee Hamilton, vice chairman of the 9-11 Commission, noted that the report was the product of an ongoing investigation: “There is some evidence that specific al Qaida operators may have dabbled in or maybe just expressed an interest in precious stones at some point. But what we are not able to do is to take that evidence and extrapolate from it and conclude that al Qaida funded itself in that manner”.