An A on Terror Finance?
By Douglas Farah
The one bright spot in the final report of the 9-11 Commission is combatting terror finance. While awarding the effort an A-, the Commission wrote:
"The U.S. has won the support of key countries in tackling terrorism finance—though there is still much to do in the
Gulf States and in South Asia. The government has made significant strides in using terrorism finance as an
intelligence tool. However, the State Department and Treasury Department are engaged in unhelpful turf battles,
and the overall effort lacks leadership."
I would beg to differ with the high grade, although, if it is grading on effort, it might be accurate. The truth is, accross the civilian and military terrain, I have not talked to anyone who really believes that we now have a handle on terror finance issues, especially the Zarqawi network, or that we have any real metrics for measuring true progress. It is true that there is broad lip service now paid across the Gulf region to the need to deal with terror finance issues, but charities continue to opereate, designated individuals continue to sit on the boards of the charities, offshore structures continue to function unimpeded. While there appear to have been some cash flow problems for the traditional al Qaeda structure, it does not seem those problems represented anything more than a temporary glitch.
There is also growing evidence of the willingness of al Qaeda and its affiliates to occassionally hook up with organized criminal groups, sometimes blending the two into one operation, as is the case with Dawood Ibrahim, the main subject of the fine U.S. News cover story from last week. So, the money may be generated from different sources and the organizations may not need the amount they once did to keep the Taliban afloat. The change is the funding patterns of Islamic extremist groups does not mean their financial flows are disrupted. It means, rather, that they are adaptable, flexible organizations that know how to move far ahead of where law enforcement and intelligence usually are. Go here to read entire blog.