I don't like the phrase

I don't like the phrase "conflict diamonds." It's a bit too politically
correct for me. You can smell the manuevers the diamond companies made
to change the usage: it stinks of a PR campaign from hell. Ultimately,
it's an obvious effort to ensure that all those trophy wives don't stop
lusting after the stones that keep De Beers in the monopoly business.
Women wouldn't want blood diamonds, after all. They'd want pigeon-blood
rubies, yes, but where their diamonds are concerned, they want them to
be nice and sparkly and blood would ruin the effect.
Blood diamonds are just one more underworld financing scheme that keeps
dirty money out of banks, where it might be tracked, and in the hands
of the people who could use it for nefarious purposes. The US has paid
attention to this problem, but it hasn't done much about it---because
its hands are tied: a lawsuit was filed against De Beers back in the
1960's claiming flagrant violations of the anti-trust statutes. Because
of this lawsuit, De Beers have no formal presence in the United States
other than consistently swamping the airwaves with their cheesy
commercials that invariably make women look like the greedy little
bitches we are when it comes to jewelry. (It's in the blood---we can't
do a damn thing about it. It's like men and breasts: you can't stop
yourself from looking and wanting, either.) No executive from DeBeers
has stepped foot on US soil in all that time because they're afraid
they're going to be served with the papers. I'm completely serious,
too. This isn't an exaggeration or a joke. Everyone goes to them, but
not so much anymore. I read somewhere that because of newfound Russian
competition, that DeBeers is looking into settling the anti-trust suit.
If the Justice Department is wise, they will settle it so they can get
a grasp on the tiger's tail when it comes to stories like this one.

FREETOWN, Sierra Leone - Al-Qaida suspects in the deadly 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies took shelter in West Africa in the months before the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, converting terror cash into untraceable diamonds, according to findings of a U.N.-backed court obtained by The Associated Press. The allegations came as part of the Sierra Leone war crimes court's investigation of former Liberian President Charles Taylor, alleged have been a middleman between al-Qaida and West Africa's multimillion-dollar diamond trade. "We have in the process of investigating Charles Taylor ... clearly uncovered that he harbored al-Qaida operatives in Monrovia (the Liberian capital) as late as the summer of 2001," said David Crane, the court's lead prosecutor. "The central thread is blood diamonds." Other international investigators told the AP the three suspects are Mohammed Atef of Egypt, Fazul Abdullah Mohammed of Comoros and Sheikh Ahmed Salim Swedan of Kenya. Fazul and Swedan are believed in East Africa; Atef was killed in fighting in Afghanistan {...}Crane, in the Sierra Leone capital of Freetown, said he had "documentary" and "direct evidence" of al-Qaida's West Africa dealings. The international investigation findings obtained in part by the AP concluded that flight records and some undisclosed evidence in Europe appeared to support the accounts of pre-Sept. 11 al-Qaida diamond business in Liberia. Crane said he gave the information that his own team uncovered to the United States, European and other North American countries. "Now, what other countries, and it's not just the United States, choose to do with that is clearly up to them," Crane said.

DeBeers is a big conduit for those diamonds, whether they'll admit to it or not. They have to be. The laws of probabilities demand it. They have a monopoly on the world's diamond market, and while their choke hold is lessening, they still are the big dog: some of those diamonds are going to find their way into De Beers' hands. If the US is willing to cut them some slack on the anti-trust suit, there is a huge opportunity to have inside cooperation in tracing these diamonds---and the terrorism they fund. In return, De Beers will finally have direct access to the largest market of diamond buyers in a world that's suddenly doesn't work in its favor anymore. Too many people have been pissed off by De Beers' "take it or leave it" tactics and have started mining and marketing their own diamonds, short circuiting De Beers' access. Currently, however, because of the anti-trust suit, we don't have access to this company nor do we have any means to make them cooperate with us. That would change if that suit were settled. However, if the Justice Department decides they still want to make De Beers suffer, well, that's just one more terrorist financing outlet we won't ever have any access to, will we? Limited, informed access is better than none at all. Posted by Kathy at June 1, 2004 02:54 PM | TrackBack