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| Terror Networks |
| Financial crisis hits Qaeda hard: Experts |
| 2010-03-01 |
| [Al Arabiya Latest] Al-Qaeda is running out of cash, experts say, with traditional sources of financing under increasingly tight surveillance and donors demotivated or suffering from the financial crisis. As a result, the heart of the network founded by Osama Bin Laden is busy financing its own survival while counting on partners, often relatively unknown, to organize attacks against traditional targets, they say. "Yes, I do think they are short of money," said Richard Barrett, United Nations pointman for monitoring al-Qaeda and Taliban activities. "We see quite a lot of statements asking for money, and we hear in other ways too that they are short of money." He says the drop off in funds is partly due to stepped-up international surveillance of radical Islam's traditional financing networks, as well as the international financial crisis. "Donations have dried up a lot," said Barrett, a former anti-terrorist chief at Britain's MI6 intelligence agency. "Partly because of the international regime of sanctions: if you're found to be giving money to al-Qaeda, then you suffer considerably, because your reputation, your business, all goes down the drain," said Barrett. Under surveillance Islamic aid agencies and other non-governmental organizations have in recent years come under increasingly tight surveillance. Previously opaque financial dealings in the Gulf and in South Asia now come under the scrutiny of bodies such as the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which develops policies to combat money laundering and terrorist financing. The FATF was set up by the G7 industrialized nations and 175 countries are now members. "The sympathy for al-Qaeda's aim has dropped off a lot," adds Barrett. "So it's much less likely that you have a lot of people giving small donations." No more extensive militant training camps, travel and lodging costs reimbursed, operations planned years in advance, pricey pilot classes in the United States for would-be suicide pilots. "Al-Qaeda Central" Bin Laden and his acolytes, known to intelligence services worldwide as "al-Qaeda Central", no longer have an operational role and are content simply to inspire, doubtless from hideouts in Pakistan, copycat attacks around the world. "Osama bin Laden and (his deputy Ayman) Al-Zawahiri maintain a high profile, they project an image of threat," said Loretta Napoleoni, terrorism finance specialist and author of "Terror Incorporated." "They are iconic figures, but they don't do anything, except survive. They don't plan attacks, they are icons hiding in Waziristan and that's it. They don't need a lot of money for that. "Their inspirational element is still very strong: look at all the different attacks that were made in their name, but these attacks are funded in a different way than the 9/11 attacks," she told AFP. "They are funded locally, mostly through crime. They don't receive money from al-Qaeda Central, and they don't need to... The cost of terrorist attacks since 9/11 has collapsed: it's very cheap to do an attack today." A case in point is al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) which consists largely of Algerians and has made a specialty out of providing logistical support to drug and people smugglers in their corner of the Sahara. They are also involved with kidnappings of Europeans, raking in millions in ransom payments. AQIM "finances itself though drug dealing from western Africa to western Europe," said Napoleoni. "They are in joint-ventures with drug dealers for that. And they resort to kidnappings too. They make a lot of money like that. ... It's people who know people, and they do business with each other." Like many businesses, al-Qaeda is having to implement cutbacks as the crisis bites, says Barrett: "They may have some money left, but nothing like in the past, when money was no object. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #4 They are also involved with kidnappings of Europeans, raking in millions in ransom payments. I wonder how many lives this has cost us. |
| Posted by: gorb 2010-03-01 16:23 |
| #3 I was wondering when Barry was going too announce the bailout myself Glenmore |
| Posted by: chris 2010-03-01 10:24 |
| #2 AQ had stock in Citi etc? Will they be getting some of the TARP bailout funds? |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2010-03-01 08:44 |
| #1 He says the drop off in funds is partly due to stepped-up international surveillance of radical Islam's traditional financing networks, as well as the international financial crisis. Of course the EU is threatening to end the Terrorist Finance Tracking program that has been so useful .... |
| Posted by: lotp 2010-03-01 06:41 |