U.S. Can't Stop Money Flow To Jihadists

From Jihad Watch:

U.S. can't stop money flow to jihadists


"Millions of dollars are flowing largely unimpeded to extremist groups worldwide," and while this article is full of hand-wringing over that, no one ever stops to ask why that might be so, and whether they have underestimated the power of the jihad doctrine in the Islamic world.



"Cash Flow to Terrorists Evades U.S. Efforts," by Eric Lichtblau and Eric Schmitt for the New York Times, December 5:



WASHINGTON -- Nine years after the United States vowed to shut down the money pipeline that finances terrorism, senior Obama administration officials say they believe that many millions of dollars are flowing largely unimpeded to extremist groups worldwide, and they have grown frustrated by frequent resistance from allies in the Middle East, according to secret diplomatic dispatches.

The government cables, sent by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and senior State Department officials, catalog a list of methods that American officials suspect terrorist financiers are using, including a brazen bank robbery in Yemen last year, kidnappings for ransom, the harvesting of drug proceeds in Afghanistan and fund-raising at religious pilgrimages to Mecca, where millions of riyals or other forms of currency change hands.



While American officials have publicly been relatively upbeat about their progress in disrupting terrorist financing, the internal State Department cables, obtained by WikiLeaks and made available to several news organizations, offer a more pessimistic account, with blunt assessments of the threats to the United States from money flowing to militants affiliated with Al Qaeda, the Taliban, Hamas, Lashkar-e-Taiba and other groups.



A classified memo sent by Mrs. Clinton last December made it clear that residents of Saudi Arabia and its neighbors, all allies of the United States, are the chief financial supporters of many extremist activities. "It has been an ongoing challenge to persuade Saudi officials to treat terrorist financing emanating from Saudi Arabia as a strategic priority," the cable said, concluding that "donors in Saudi Arabia constitute the most significant source of funding to Sunni terrorist groups worldwide."



The dispatch and others offered similarly grim views about the United Arab Emirates ("a strategic gap" that terrorists can exploit), Qatar ("the worst in the region" on counterterrorism) and Kuwait ("a key transit point"). The cable stressed the need to "generate the political will necessary" to block money to terrorist networks -- groups that she said were "threatening stability in Pakistan and Afghanistan and targeting coalition soldiers."



While President George W. Bush frequently vowed to cut off financing for militants and pledged to make financiers as culpable as terrorists who carried out plots, President Obama has been far less vocal on the issue publicly as he has sought to adopt a more conciliatory tone with Arab nations. But his administration has used many of the same covert diplomatic, intelligence and law enforcement tools as his predecessor and set up a special task force in the summer of 2009 to deal with the growing problem.



While federal officials can point to some successes -- prosecutions, seizures of money and tightened money-laundering regulations in foreign countries -- the results have often been frustrating, the cables show. As the United States has pushed for more aggressive crackdowns on suspected supporters of terrorism, foreign leaders have pushed back. In private meetings, they have accused American officials of heavy-handedness and of presenting thin evidence of wrongdoing by Arab charities or individuals, according to numerous cables.



Kuwaiti officials, for example, resisted what they called "draconian" measures sought by the United States against a prominent charity and dismissed allegations against it as "unconvincing," according to one cable. [...]



In Kuwait, for instance, American officials have voiced repeated concerns that Islamic charities -- largely unregulated by the government there -- are using philanthropic donations to finance terrorism abroad. But a Kuwaiti minister, in a meeting last year with the United States ambassador, "was as frank and pessimistic as ever when it came to the subject of apprehending and detaining terror financiers and facilitators under Kuwait's current legal and political framework," a memo summarizing the meeting said. [...]



Saudi leaders appear equally resigned to the situation, according to the cables. "We are trying to do our best," Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, who leads the Saudis' anti-terrorism activities, was quoted as telling Mr. Holbrooke, the special representative to the region, in a May 2009 meeting.





Sure they are. See above, where even Hillary acknowledges their jihad financing.



But, he said, "if money wants to go" to terrorist causes, "it will go."

Yes, it will just find its way there on its own volition!

Posted by Robert on December 7, 2010 7:12 AM