Drug trafficking, kidnapping fund al Qaeda
By Rachel Ehrenfeld, Special to CNN
May 4, 2011 -- Updated 1015 GMT (1815 HKT)
A screen shot of a video posted on the Internet on October 6 shows militants
from al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
A screen shot of a video posted on the Internet on October 6 shows militants
from al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
* Rachel Ehrenfeld: Al Qaeda might suffer setbacks from bin Laden's death,
but none major
* Al Qaeda's many branches and groups are mostly funded by international
crime, she says
* Terrorists are sustained by international drug trafficking and
kidnapping, she writes
* People, states, groups that fund terrorism must be identified, assets
frozen, she says
Editor's note: Rachel Ehrenfeld is a terror finance scholar and author of
"Funding Evil." She is director of the American Center for Democracy, a
nonprofit organization that monitors global and domestic free speech issues.
Her initiative led to the passage of "Rachel's Law " in New York state and the
federal SPEECH act, which protects American writers and publishers from the
enforcement of foreign libel judgments.
(CNN) -- Al Qaeda Inc. might suffer some initial setbacks from Osama bin
Laden's death, but so did Apple Inc. when shares dropped over rumors of Steve
Jobs' illness. But it did not take long to realize that Jobs has established a
highly functional corporation, and the shares bounced back.
The same can be expected for al Qaeda Inc. The jihadist organization has
changed since its establishment in Afghanistan in 1988 by bin Laden and
Palestinian sheikh Abdallah Yusuf Azzam. Al Qaeda Central has developed several
branches and inspired many other radical Islamic organizations, each with its
own independent resources.
Most rely heavily on a variety of illegal activities, ranging from drug
trafficking to kidnapping for ransom, often in association with international
criminal syndicates.
The al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb terrorist group, for example, has sustained
itself since 2003 primarily on revenues derived from the business of hostage
taking, mostly Westerners. It also engages in drug trafficking and receives
some donations.
Rachel Ehrenfeld
Rachel Ehrenfeld
The Maghreb group's kidnap-for-ransom business, especially in North Africa,
generates many millions of dollars. The problem has become so prevalent that in
September, Britain's Foreign Secretary William Hague called on the U.N.
Security Council to urgently "act to prevent" the practice of "kidnap ransoms."
The U.N. Security Council expressed its concern, reminding member states to
prevent terrorist financing, but did not address the payment of ransom for
kidnapping.
The illegal drug business, mostly Afghan heroin, has been a bountiful financial
resource for the Taliban, al Qaeda and its affiliates in Pakistan, Central
Asia, Africa and Latin America.
What is next for al Qaeda?
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RELATED TOPICS
* Al Qaeda
* Osama bin Laden
* Drug Trafficking
* Kidnapping
* The Taliban
In January 2010, a Drug Enforcement Administration official revealed that al
Qaeda groups in West Africa were charging protection fees from cocaine
drug-trafficking groups affiliated with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of
Colombia (FARC). West African countries and criminal organizations have been
used for years by the Colombians to transfer drugs to Europe. Al Qaeda
involvement with drug trafficking organizations in South America has been
documented since the early 1990s. More recently, terrorist group operatives
have been linked to Mexican drug cartels, providing the terrorists easy access
to the U.S.
Then there are the Saudis, who funded al Qaeda from the beginning. WikiLeaks
reported November 28 that a cable from the State Department in December 2009
complained that Saudi donors remain the primary financiers of Sunni militant
groups like al Qaeda. The cable confirmed that very little has changed since
former Undersecretary of the Treasury for Financial and Terrorism Intelligence
Stuart Levey's testimony before Congress in 2006. "On terrorist financing ...
there has been a real lag between what (the Saudis) say they were going to do
and what they do," he said.
Pakistani police reported in 2009 that Saudi Arabia's charities continue to
fund al Qaeda, the Taliban and Pakistan's Lashkar-e-Tayyiba. The report said
the Saudis gave $15 million to jihadists, including those responsible for
suicide attacks in Pakistan and the death of former Pakistani Prime Minister
Benazir Bhutto.
In May 2010, Buratha News Agency, an independent news source in Iraq, reported
on a leaked Saudi intelligence document showing continued Saudi governmental
support for al Qaeda in Iraq in the form of cash and weapons.
In 2009, Levey told the Senate Banking Committee about concerns over
"deep-pocket donors" and the abuse of charities to fund militants.
"Is money leaving Saudi Arabia to fund terrorism abroad? Yes," he was quoted as
saying. "Undoubtedly, some of that money is going to Iraq. And it's going to
Southeast Asia, and it's going to any other place where there are terrorists."
An article in the May 31, 2010, edition of The Sunday Times in London revealed
that the Afghan financial intelligence unit, FinTRACA, reported that since
2006, at least $1.5 billion from Saudi Arabia was smuggled into Afghanistan,
headed most probably to the Taliban. However, a portion of the money was
withheld by al Qaeda on its way to Afghanistan through Pakistani tribal areas,
especially through North Waziristan, known as "al Qaeda's heartland."
On April 25, a WikiLeak report revealed that a corrupt Afghan official who
ended up in Guantanamo transferred British funds for opium eradication in
Afghanistan to al Qaeda. Rising opium and heroin prices and increased
production in Afghanistan, combined with corrupted Afghan officials, all but
guarantees that drug revenues, as well as coalition aid and development funds,
will end up with al Qaeda.
To stop the funding of al Qaeda, the Taliban, radical Islamic organizations and
other terrorist groups, it's time for the U.S. government to publicly identify
and list everyone -- individuals, organizations and states -- engaged in
funding terrorism directly and indirectly, including those who finance the
spread of radical Islam. They should also be designated as terrorists,
prosecuted whenever possible, and their assets should be frozen.
On the drug front: The U.S. government has the means to severely curtail the
cultivation of opium poppy, the coca bush and cannabis. The U.S. must complete
research on mycoherbicides, specialized bioherbicide agents designed to
inoculate the soil against the growth of certain plants, ensuring that the
targeted plants cannot be cultivated. In Afghanistan, we must subsidize the
cultivation of alternative crops to the poppy.
Bin Laden is dead, but his jihadist disciples are alive, ready to avenge his
death. Those who funded him and other radical Islamic groups have not changed
either. While bin Laden's death is likely to affect al Qaeda Central, it did
nothing to quench the radical Islamic mission to fight for the establishment of
Islamic supremacy.
The opinions in this commentary are solely those of Rachel Ehrenfeld
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