The Globalization of Terror Funding (Tampa Fl) Cell members ran a used car "business."The Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, 52900, Israel http://www.besacenter.org
ISSN 0793-1042 September 2007 Banking and Front Companies The success of the assimilation of terror financinginto legitimate (and illegitimate) businesses and state-sponsored terrorism lies in its discreetnessand untraceability. International Islamic terror groups have been so successful in integrating their operations into the business community that many who actively provide money and funding channels are totally unaware of their involvement in any illegal activity .
One can make a comparison to al-Qaeda functioning like a holding company, which maintains several different business lines and operational divisions, functioning independently. Although it is impossible that there is a consolidated finance division overseeing the entire operation, individual units do direct and share revenues and expenses to carry out attacks.
As with business, terror groups have proven adept at penetrating main stream charities for the purpose of co-opting funds intended for humanitarian purposes. Both SAAR and IIIT are suspected of financing Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) through Tampa's World and Islamic Studies Enterprise (WISE) and the Islamic Committee forPalestine (ICP), once PIJ fronts in Tampa Florida but since closed.
Since being outlawed in the US, Hamas has taken steps to obscure its international fundraising operations, bringing it closer to other international terrorist organizations. Militant regional Islamist organizations in the West Bank, such as the Tulkarm Zakat Committee, are funded by a wide array of international organizations, which frequently mask their support for Hamas as generic support for Palestinians.
For example, in July 2002, the "Islam-on-line" portal featured a special page stressing the need to support Palestinian armed struggle and glorifying suicide attacks but also the need to support youth education, social activities and economic assistance (which it defined as "economic jihad").
In the United States, law enforcement officials are investigating a variety of criminal enterprises suspected of funding Middle East terrorist group ssuch as the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) ,including the stealing and reselling of baby formula, such as Saad Saad in Tampa Fl at Mike's Food Storewhere convicted terrorist supporter of the PIJ Samial-Arian owned the property.
Recent history has demonstrated that there are few religious-ideological barriers in the world of international terrorism. The secular Ba'athist regime in Syria works closely with Hizballah, as a secular Ba'athist regime in Iraq has developed ties to al-Qaeda.It would be a mistake to assume that Islamist international terror groups are driven primarily by the religious associations with radical Sunni or radical Shiite Islam. These groups have their own geopolitical interests in bridging this great Islamic divide - particularly their antipathy for the United States and its allies.
Terror expert and Private Investigator Jean-CharlesBrisard argues that 90 per cent of terror financing goes toward general maintenance of cells andequipment. Less than 10 per cent actually finances the execution of operations. A terrorist group will only operate a bank account under its own name when it is state-sponsored, or state approved, as is the case of Hizballah in Lebanon.
However, terrorists find ways of usingconventional banks by operating within legitimate businesses. The investigations into the September 11th attacks revealed the wide spread use of legitimate businesses and employment by al Qaeda operativesto derive income to support both themselves and their activities.
According to US Congressional testimony by a senior FBI official, a construction and plumbing company run by members of an al Qaeda cell in Europe hired mujahadeen arriving from places like Bosnia where they returned from a jihad.
In another case, cell members ran a used car"business. "In these and other examples, cell members deposited their legitimate salaries, government subsidies, supplemental income from family members and terrorist funds received by cash or wire transfer into the same one or two accounts. According to the Lebanese state prosecutor, members of a disbanded Lebanese al Qaeda cell had funded their activities by buying and selling cars in Germany and discussed establishing other business interests to cover the cell's activities.
In this way,terrorist groups have built up considerable assets through the conventional banking system in the US, Britain, Switzerland and Dubai. Legitimate employment offers terrorists cover, livelihood, and useful international contacts.
