Al Qaeda Finances

[Tigermike 3,053]

Very long, it you want to read the entire piece link is at the bottom.

Al Qaeda Finances and Funding to Affiliated Groups

Strategic Insights, Volume IV, Issue 1 (January 2005)

by Victor Comras

This paper provides a case study of al Qaeda finances and funding to affiliated groups. It is based in large part on my observations and experience as one of five international monitors charged by the UN Security Council to oversee the effectiveness of the measures adopted by the Security Council against al Qaeda and the Taliban. Some of the material in this paper is drawn directly from the five reports our monitoring group made to the Security Council during my tenure..

Considerable mystery and intrigue still surrounds the al Qaeda terrorist network and its sources of funding. We know more today than we did three years ago about its financial tools and structure, but we still have not identified much of its sources of supply and funding. And much of what we know may only be conjecture. The CIA has estimated, for example, that it cost Al Qaeda’ some $30 million a year to sustain itself during the period preceding 9/11, but the agency is still not sure what al Qaeda needs or expends today. And we still do not know with any precision just how much, and from whom, al Qaeda raises its money, or how it allocates it

The roots of al Qaeda’s financial network, we believe, trace back directly to the extensive recruitment and financing networks established to support anti-Soviet jihad activities in Afghanistan. These networks made extensive use of Muslim charitable organizations and businesses around the world. As al Qaeda developed and transformed itself into an international terrorist movement, it established or infiltrated a series of international Muslim charities that could be use to collect and mask the funds it needed. These funds were used by these charities for both legitimate humanitarian relief and to support al Qaeda activities. This included supporting the establishment and maintenance of new radical Islamic centers propagating al Qaeda’s virulent theology and opposition to western culture and values. These centers also provided a means by which al Qaeda could undertake extensive, worldwide indoctrination and recruitment efforts. They also helped to raise, and encouraged donations for al Qaeda’s cause.

http://www.ccc.nps.navy.mil/si/2005/Jan/comrasJan05.asp

[tiger88 934]

Al Quaeda finances? What's their a.p.r.?

[TexasTiger 13,016]

Al Quaeda finances? What's their a.p.r.?

162330[/snapback]

The real question is how do they respond to late payments.

[tiger88 934]

Al Quaeda finances? What's their a.p.r.?

162330[/snapback]

The real question is how do they respond to late payments.

162369[/snapback]

One Word, ANTHRAX! On second thought, I'll shop around.

[Tiger in Spain 0]

Al Quaeda finances? What's their a.p.r.?

162330[/snapback]

The real question is how do they respond to late payments.

162369[/snapback]

They repossess your head