President Bush launched a financial offensive against Osama bin Laden yesterday, freezing the assets of the Saudi exile’s organization and its sympathizers, while threatening foreign banks with the same treatment if they fail to cooperate with the U.S. initiative. The order froze the assets of 27 individuals and organizations suspected of links with bin Laden’s al-Qaeda and other networks. It went further than a similar order issued by the Clinton administration, expanding the category of targeted groups to include all those “associated with designated terrorist groups.” The order also gave the Treasury Department the authority to freeze the U.S. assets and transactions of foreign banks which did not cooperate with the U.S. President Bush made it clear that European banks could be targeted, and said he recognized the country’s concerned might have to rewrite their laws to meet U.S. demands.