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posted by martyb on Monday November 23 2015, @05:21PM   Printer-friendly
from the eyes-wide-shut? dept.

How does the Islamic State, a ragtag band of jihadis who are supposedly at war with the combined military might of the US, Turkey, the Saudis, the Russians, the Iraqis, the Iranians and many others (including, of course, the Syrians) manage to fund and coordinate spectacular international terror attacks, including not only the Paris attack, but also (apparently) bombings in Turkey and Lebanon, and the take down of Russian airliners? How is it that governments can flag and track the "suspicious" financial transactions of anyone withdrawing or transferring over $10,000 from their own bank account, but can't seem to find a way to restrict cash flows, arms and munitions to a geographically isolated enemy who are dependent on oil sales for their financial survival?

Good question. Just don't ask the US State Department spokesman those questions, because he doesn't have the answers. When asked earlier this week by RT's Gayane Chichakyan "whether the US has sanctioned any banks suspected of carrying out transactions for ISIL," department spokesman Mark Toner responded with a resounding: "I'd have to look into that. I don't have the answer in front of me."

Apparently the question of how ISIS is financing its operations is of so little interest to the State Department that they haven't bothered to look into it. So in the interest of helping them out with their homework, let's connect a few dots, shall we?

[More after the break.]

Earlier this year it was revealed that French President François Hollande had authorized illegal shipments of arms to the Syrian terrorists in 2012. The deliveries–including cannons, machine guns, rocket launchers and anti-tank missiles–were in direct contravention of an EU embargo that was in place at the time.

In late 2012 it was revealed that one of the most prominent backers of the Syrian terrorists was the French government, who in addition to their illegal arms shipments were also delivering money directly to the terrorist opposition leaders.

Last year the French arms export industry enjoyed its best sales in 15 years, with revenues up 18%. The reason for the Merchant of Death bonanza? A spike in sales to Saudi Arabia and Qatar, two of the main funders and supporters of ISIS.


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 23 2015, @07:50PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 23 2015, @07:50PM (#267140)

    Standard procedure.

    When I want to transfer $1M, I pull it out of my ass, give it to man A' who gives it to man B' who gives it to you, to put it in yours.
    Who needs banks?

  • (Score: 2) by SanityCheck on Monday November 23 2015, @07:55PM

    by SanityCheck (5190) on Monday November 23 2015, @07:55PM (#267142)

    GP is correct. The system is known as Hawala. It is exactly how he describes it. And it is very impossible to trace.

    • (Score: 2) by SanityCheck on Monday November 23 2015, @07:57PM

      by SanityCheck (5190) on Monday November 23 2015, @07:57PM (#267143)

      Apoligies, the site does not handle embeded URLs (recent change?), I meant to link to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawala [wikipedia.org]

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 24 2015, @07:55AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 24 2015, @07:55AM (#267350)

      It's not exactly how he describes it. He said:

      I pull it out of my ass, give it to man A' who gives it to man B' who gives it to you, to put it in yours.
      Who needs banks?

      It's more of :

      I pull it out of my ass, give it to man A' who _tells_ his cousin B' in a different country to give a near equivalent amount to the recipient
      After a number of transactions and some time the man and his cousin settle the net accumulated difference.

      The difference between his explanation and Hawala is with Hawala ZERO cash is actually transferred across borders at the time of the transaction. All that is transferred is information.