-Caveat Lector-
http://www.zolatimes.com/V6.2/washpost_wacko.html
Wacko Notions of Terrorist Finance
by J. Orlin Grabbe
Terrorists had better watch out. The U.S. uses supercomputers to analyze
their credit card receipts. So we were breathlessly informed by Dan Eggen and
Kathleen Day, on the front page of the Washington Post ("U.S. Probe of Sept.
11 Financing Wraps Up," January 7, 2002). The article illustrates why you
shouldn't send children to do post-pubescent propaganda chores.
First we are authoritatively told that the Sept. 11 attacks were a "$500,000
operation," of which "investigators have accounted for more than $325,000."
The money supposedly came from "suspected terrorist operatives in the United
Arab Emirates and a handful of other countries."
"Authorities who are winding down their investigation have traced the money
through credit card receipts, ATM withdrawals and other transactions
connected to the 19 suspected hijackers and believe the rest of the
expenditures for the $500,000 operation were made in cash."
Yes, I already have a mental image of Osama Bin Ladin in his cave in
Afghanistan/Kashmir/Iran/Somalia/CarlsbadCaverns/Area51 standing in
flickering torchlight as he announces: "Here, men, are your Terrorist Credit
Cards. But sure to use them liberally to spread around lush trails of
spending records for the FBI to follow." [This network of caves has secret
openings in New Jersey, from whence Bin Ladin emerged to mail those anthrax
letters to news organizations and politicians who might express skepticism
over the virtues of the Afghanistan bombing.]
The two Washington Post reporters pant excitedly over the "government's
exhaustive effort" and its "months of painstaking analysis". Here is what the
wonderful Government, Our Savior, has done:
"Using supercomputers and teams of financial analysts, U.S. officials have
discerned a number of important patterns in hijacker spending within the
United States . . ."
Now let me read that again. Supercomputers? SUPERCOMPUTERS?? For a few
hundred credit card receipts? The supercomputer findings are of course highly
classified, and "investigators declined to describe these patterns."
Well, not to worry. After a little effort I have come up with most of the
supercomputer conclusions:
* Supercomputer Conclusion #1: Terrorists like to eat in restaurants.
* Supercomputer Conclusion #2: Terrorists stay at hotels and motels.
* Supercomputer Conclusion #3: Terrorist credit cards all begin with the
number 666.
The teams of financial analysts were able to supplement these conclusions
with one or two of their own:
* Financial Analyst Conclusion #1: Terrorists have illegible signatures,
perhaps due to medical training.
This helpful information "could provide warning signs of other terrorist
plots, officials said." Well, you do feel safer now, don't you? Or do you?
"Investigators declined to describe those patterns, but said major U.S. banks
are cooperating in efforts to search for them elsewhere in the financial
system." There you go. I have been warning for years that Your Banker Is a
Snitch (http://orlingrabbe.com/money2.htm). Aren't you happy that your bank
will be helping government investigators track every dollar you spend?
Yes, authorities "have turned their attention to the global web of
individuals and organizations of . . . alleged terrorists, whether or not
they are connected to the Sept. 11 plot." No, you weren't connected to the
Sept. 11 plot, but no one cares once YOU become an ALLEGED terrorist. In
fact, only with a bad leap of faith can one connect any of this recent growth
in government financial surveillance to anything having to do with
terrorists.
If you are an alleged terrorist, the government will want to harass your
entire family: "Investigators are also keenly interested in money that may
have been given to families of the dead hijackers by charity groups tied to
al Qaeda, officials said." So, after you are Israeli treatment: Bulldoze
their homes.
The Washington Post interviewed financial whiz and U.S. Treasury Secretary
Paul H. O'Neill: " 'One of the things that we were able to do after we
identified all the people who were involved in the hijackings was to
retrospectively create a spider web of all their financial connections,'
Oneill said." Hmm. Why a "spider web" of connections? Why not a "fishnet" of
connections? Why not a DOILY of connections?
Terrorists are financial masterminds. We know this because "the financing of
the hijackings was remarkably disciplined and well organized." Discipline. Of
course. We remember those stories about the two "hijackers" who spent their
last night getting lap dances and running up enormous tabs of alcohol. I
wonder what the supercomputers made of that?
* Supercomputer Conclusion #4: Terrorists like to be low on testosterone
and have hangovers when they crash into buildings.
The terrorist financing, the Post tells us, "relied largely on a steady
influx of money through wire transfers from foreign bank accounts." Fancy
that. Whatever will those wily terrorists think of next? Wire transfers from
foreign bank accounts! And U.S. authorities found out about this by just
using supercomputers. Think of what the government could have been done with
linear accelerators or cyclotrons. With more funding and high tech equipment
we'd smash those terrorist cells for sure!
Back to the wire transfers. I say: Let's abolish them. No more wire
transfers! Especially if they involve FOREIGN bank accounts. Let's get ALL
foreign money out of the U.S. (Bye-bye U.S. dollar. Bye-bye stock market.
Up-up interest rates. But this is a matter of national security, dammit!)
Then we can think about getting rid of credit cards and cash also. The
government can just hand you a permission slip (signed in triplicate) once it
determines it's okay for you to have something!
But now the Washington Post turns up the propaganda machine to full power:
"The financial hub of this arrangement was the United Arab Emirates, where
loose banking regulations and a large population of Islamic militants
provided easy cover for the transfers, they said."
Well, gee, I haven't lived here in the United Arab Emirates that long, but
where are all the Islamic militants? Hanging out at the Rock Bottom Club,
perhaps? Can't the Washington Post with all its vast resources send a
reporter to Dubai?
But, you see, the Washington Post knew it was telling a blatant lie. The
editors don't care. They knew that all you needed to see was the word "Arab"
in "United Arab Emirates," and the word "militant" follows automatically,
doesn't it?
And, oooooh, "loose banking regulations". Better do something about that. "
'There are more places than you can imagine that have immense financial flows
that have a 1920 level of automation and sophistication and understanding of
how to do these things,' [U.S. Treasury Secretary] O'Neill said." Well, now,
as best I can determine, all the local banks here have automated teller
machines and Internet banking. In fact, it seems to be considerably more
sophisticated in terns of "automation and sophistication" than most of the
United States. But I won't bother to point out that Paul O'Neill is mentally
challenged (though he is that for a fact), because there is a darker meaning
to his words.
In the 1920s in the U.S., the government didn't spend vast resources spying
on its citizens' financial affairs. In fact, the Federal Reserve and the
Internal Revenue Service were scarcely a decade old. So, yes, in that
respect, the United Arab Emirates have a 1920s level of sophistication,
something Big Brother O'Neill can't tolerate. But not to worry. The U.S. is
exporting Big Brother everywhere: "In recent weeks, the Bush administration
has sent teams to help countries such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab
Emirates upgrade their financial systems to make them less hospitable to
terrorists. The administration also is urging officials in those countries to
more fully monitor transactions."
With upgraded financial systems, they'll be able to make loans to such
exciting firms as Enron, Long-Term Capital Management and Lockheed, just like
the non-terrorist U.S. banks.
Terrorist Snipe Hunts
" 'In terms of the 19 or 20 individuals and the money they spent in the
United States, we've wound down pretty well in terms of identifying the
records we're going to identify,' a senior Justice Department official said."
Yes, one of the great things about having an investigation is the ability to
choose the records you don't want to identify. Delete record. Delete. Delete.
Meanwhile, the U.S. exercises power over assets around the world. It has
"frozen more than $33 million in assets of more than 150 individuals and
organizations that allegedly fund terrorism" and a similar amount "has been
frozen in bank accounts overseas by 142 other nations cooperating with the
United States, the White House said."
And it's going to get worse before it gets better Much like a Texas snipe
hunt, it is now "patriotic" to go on "terrorist" hunts. "At the Treasury
Department, Operation Greenquest was formed at the end of October to
anticipate and disrupt the flow of money to suspected terrorists. The
recently approved U.S.A. Patriot Act dramatically increased the level of
funding for financial investigators at the Treasury Department and gives
greater authority to U.S. regulators to keep foreign businesses from
operating in the United States if they do not cooperate with terrorism
investigators."
Like I say, if you are foreign, pull your money out of the U.S. It's on a
megalomaniac power trip, flogging enterprises around the world into handing
over their data. The U.S. doesn't deserve your money. Tell the U.S. to take
its financial regulations and stick them up its Paul O'Neill.
And now we bring in the corrupt FBI and the corrupt U.S. Customs Service. "In
addition, the FBI joined the Treasury Department and other agencies in
forming a task force focused on investigative goals, and the group is
expected to become a separate, permanent division of the bureau.The U.S.
Customs Service has beefed up efforts to track large amounts of cash carried
into or out of the country, officials said."
Yes, the FBI is going to do for terrorism what it did for Waco, the Oklahoma
City bombing, and the missile shootdown of TWA 800. Namely, cover-up the
trail of those really responsible, then enact new procedures to increase
surveillance and social control over ordinary law-abiding citizens�the honest
people they really fear.
As for the U.S. Customs Service, it's a wholly-owned subsidiary of the drug
cartels. Do you really think drugs can buy their way over the border and
terrorists can't? And for the privilege of being harassed, ordinary Americans
are supposed to pay these clowns even more in taxes? But here is an idea to
thwart terrorists! Why don't we have RED and GREEN money, with the GREEN
dollar being usable only inside the U.S. and the RED dollar usable only
outside the U.S.! Hasn't that idea been floated before? Oops, I forgot. We
already have this. Except the RED dollar is called the EURO.
And what have we gotten from all this activity on the part of the U.S.
government? "The effort has also provided a key piece of evidence against
Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person charged in the United States in
connection with the Sept. 11 attacks." Just think. With a few more
supercomputers and teams of financial analysts, and more hefty legislation
like the U.S. "Patriot" Act [i.e., Coup d'Etat], there'll soon be TWO people
charged with the Sept. 11 attacks.
The article concludes: " 'These guys were so well mission-oriented and
funded, and the planning was so good, that they didn't need any financial
support here,' an investigator said. 'It was totally financed by an overseas
source, or a limited number of overseas sources.' "
Apparently this unnamed investigator is talking about the propaganda efforts
of Dan Eggen and Kathleen Day themselves, and the sources of their funding.
But the self-congratulation is a little overdone. As I say, Don't send
children to do a post-pubescent teenager's job.
* Financial Analyst Conclusion #2: It's easier to sucker reporters than to
track terrorists.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
J. Orlin Grabbe is the author of International Financial Markets, and is an
internationally recognized derivatives expert. He has recently branched out
into cryptology, banking security, and digital cash. His home page is located
at http://www.xs4all.nl/~kalliste/ .
-30-
from The Laissez Faire City Times, Vol 6, No 2, January 14, 2002
-----
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