Terrorists' blacklist grows 100 days since attacks

WASHINGTON -- President Bush marked the first 100 days of his war on terrorism by trying to choke off money to two more terror groups -- one suspected of giving Osama bin Laden nuclear technology.

In a Rose Garden appearance Thursday, Bush added to his blacklist of terror sponsors the group known as Umma Tameer-e-Nau or UTN, the nuclear scientists at its helm and a separate group that India blames for last week's attack on its parliament.

"Today, I'm announcing two more strikes against the financing of terror," Bush said.

But neither the UTN nor the anti-India insurgent group called Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, or LAT, has assets in the United States, officials said, leaving Bush reliant on Pakistan and other nations to give his executive order any teeth.

With Thursday marking the 100th day since the Sept. 11 attacks on America, the White House also released a 25-page report designed to show progress in the war at a time when frustration swirls over the whereabouts of bin Laden, suspected terrorist mastermind, and over the seemingly dead-ended investigation into subsequent anthrax attacks.

Frozen millions

According to the White House report, the Bush administration has already blocked more than $33 million in assets of groups said to be involved in terrorism. Another $33 million has been frozen in some of the 142 cooperating countries.

Among other accomplishments showcased in the report: the U.S.-led destruction of at least 11 Afghan terrorist training camps and 39 command posts of Afghanistan's terrorist-allied Taliban militia.

In his announcement, Bush gingerly balanced support for India with sensitivity to rival Pakistan, whose cooperation Bush will need in the hunt for bin Laden if it's true the suspected terrorist mastermind has slipped across the Afghan border into Pakistan.

Bush pointedly called LAT "a stateless sponsor of terrorism" that has victimized both India and Pakistan -- both of them nuclear powers whose recently escalated tensions are a serious source of concern for the White House.

Still, Pakistani cooperation in freezing LAT's assets was uncertain.

A spokesman for LAT said Thursday the group is not involved in terrorism, but in the "just cause" of Kashmiris who seek independence from India.

Besides, said spokesman Yahya Mujahid, LAT has no assets in the United States so Bush's "strange decision will hardly affect us."

Representatives of UTN, which presents itself as a humanitarian organization, had no comment.