ISIS Money

I had a section in my last book about funding for terrorist groups, especially ISIS.  There are a lot of myths about where that money comes from, including the best one about the bank in Mosul, where ISIS was said to abscond with several hundred million dollars, even though the Iraqis and the bank deny it today.  Even selling oil, which this week got some attention when tankers and oil transport trucks were on the target list being bombed.  A CNN report on this said $40 million a month went to ISIS from this kind of activity.  But, we are avoiding the real question about ISIS to believe that it is self-sustaining.

A government that refuses to say "Islamic extremists" is odd to say the least.  Few people understand this kind of ignorance, but this odd combination also keeps them from saying who is really funding ISIS.  We should remember that Al Qaeda and Hezbollah are still on our list of terrorist organizations.  ISIL is just current because of Paris, but the others have not gone away.   They are not shy about who their targets will be.  The Administration talks about oil, selling artifacts, and extortion to keep from talking about the politically sensitive question of how ISIS got going and how they perpetuate themselves in an environment where everyone says they hate them and bomb them regularly.  They get money from other sources and the press should focus on those.  Shutting them off is important to disbanding and destroying this "JV Team" of terrorists.

In 2015, the Congress put together a couple of studies on terrorism financing and I used the COMMITTEE ON FINANCIAL SERVICES U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES from testimony on 22 April.  You can read the whole thing here  http://financialservices.house.gov/uploadedfiles/114-15.pdf

Oil going to Turkey and Iran can be cut off, as we are seeing now.  The question, of course, was why it took a mass execution in Paris to act on it when it has been known as a source of terrorist financing for years. But the real problem of terrorist financing is not just oil.  

"Mr. SCHANZER. Yes. I would agree with just about everything that Juan has just stated, but I think I would note two things. One thing that has not changed at all is the challenge of deep pocket donors in the Gulf states. We knew that this was a problem in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, and when you look at the statements that have come out of the Treasury Department, we continue to see challenges out of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, et cetera. This is an issue that we have not fully tackled yet. There has been better co-operation in some cases, but in some cases we continue to see these intransigent countries where they are not cracking down enough. I am thinking of Qatar in particular. It is an incredibly problematic jurisdiction."  (page 15)

The Middle East is full of people who finance operations that will do harm to Western countries.  We know they will do that because they make videos and publish articles saying so.  Turkey  and  Iran buy oil from ISIL, proving only that oil makes strange bedfellows.  The Turks facilitate the sale of antiquities from areas ISIL has seized.  Guys trying to make a buck, no doubt.  What ISIL did in Paris is remind the rest of the world that there are enemies worse than each other.  The kind that looks you in the eye and lies about how much your friendship means to them.