A recent UN report suggests a link between diamonds and Al-Qaeda. However: there is no real proof of diamonds being involved with those terrorist groups endangering western civilization in any systematic or real way.

Sometimes one gets the scary feeling that Osama Bin Laden has quietly hi-jacked the conflict diamond issue to the tremendous detriment of the diamond industry. In the last two to three years, through the Kimberley Process and the World Diamond Council, the industry has effectively put in motion chains of warranties and rough diamond certification systems, which to a large degree, seem to be working.

What is more important, the United Nations, the United States and even the NGO's feel comfortable that genuine efforts are made to eradicate conflict diamonds from the diamond business.

Then came Osama Bin Laden. In the latest (March 2002) United States Senate bill, titled 'The Clean Diamond Trade Act," the sponsors have redefined the term "conflict diamond." The new legislation now also considers as "conflict diamonds" those "Diamonds that evidence shows fund the al-Qaeda international terrorist network and related groups designated under Executive Order No. 13224 of September 23, 2001 (66 Federal Register 49079).

It is this addition that gives one the quivers. It isn't only al-Qaeda, but also related groups, which may include Hezbollah, Hamas, PLO and others. This wide definition of conflict diamonds is not limited to rough diamonds but extends to polished as well. There is (so far) very little evidence of meaningful involvement of al-Qaeda with diamonds.

An incidental arrest of a terrorist with dollars and diamonds in his pockets, a General Electric frigidaire at home and a Sony Laptop in his briefcase, doesn't make all these items "conflict" products. With President George Bush and other U.S. high officials warning the public that more September 11 type of attacks may be unavoidable, our industry's leaders must do everything to disassociate diamonds from this unproven and highly flammable linkage with Al-Qaeda.

In the absence of real hard evidence, that Senate Bill must be changed.