Newsweek Singles Out Steelman for "Divesting Terror"

In a recent column, Newsweek's Jonathan Alter praises Missouri Treasurer Sarah Steelman for promoting a "terror-free" investment fund in the Show-Me state that has yielded big returns.

Alter's column argues for other ways to confront Iran, besides a bombing campaign or ground war. He writes that many state and local officials have "identified a powerful grass-roots tool" to divest from Iranian assets.

He calls Steelman, "the first important convert" to divesting terror.

From Alter's piece:

"When Steelman assumed supervision of the state pension funds, she learned that Missouri parked a large chunk of its assets with BNP Paribus, a French bank that floated billions in loans to Iran, and that the Show Me State invested its pension funds in dozens of European and Asian companies that effectively helped prop up murderous regimes. (North Korea, Syria, Sudan and, until recently, Libya are the other governments cited for sponsoring terrorism and targeted for divestment.) The pension funds don't like to be told what to do, and they claimed divestment would bring heavy losses. Wrong. Steelman's "terror-free" fund returned 29 percent in the last 12 months, 4 percent higher than the benchmark."