Page 163 - Encyclopedia Of Terrorism

F-Kushner.qxd 30-10-02 10:04 AM Page 138

138———Financing Terrorism

groups depended heavily on state sponsorship or funds are raised for purposes that have no apparent
financial backing from a national government because connection to terrorist activities or to terrorist orga-
the goals of the organization were almost always nizations. Consequently, it can be difficult to estab-
defined in the broad, ideological terms of the Cold lish a clear relationship between contributions and
War, for example, anti-imperialism, anticolonialism, terrorist group, thus creating significant obstacles for
and so on. During this period, the majority of organi- anyone attempting to track and interrupt the flow of
zations using terror had as their goal either redistribu- funds. These obstacles are augmented by the fact that
tion of wealth or the attainment of basic political governments home to the sympathizers may be
rights against a ruling authority. This meant that, in reluctant to intervene and disrupt the fund-raising.
practice, these organizations had the financial backing Raising money via private solicitations is an inher-
of either the Soviet Union or governments allied with ently unstructured, unreliable method. The features
the Soviet Union. that make this approach appealing from the standpoint
The end of the Cold War dramatically has altered of avoiding detection and interference—decentraliza-
the character and the prevalence of state-sponsored tion and anonymity—mean that groups depending on
terrorism. Groups can no longer use the rivalry this method can never be sure how much they will
between superpowers as leverage for extracting rev- receive or when. Some terrorist groups have begun to
enue for their operations. To the extent that groups use private charities to collect and remit funds. The
had relied on the Soviet Union, support from Russia vast majority of the work done by these charities may
has disappeared primarily because the Russian be legitimate, and most of the charity’s donors may be
government no longer had a political reason for unaware of any ties between the charity and terrorist
underwriting groups with disruptive or subversive groups. They also possess a high level of political
agendas. insulation. Public officials and law enforcement are
A few terrorist groups continued to receive assis- reluctant to accuse charities of wrongdoing, since the
tance from national governments. Lebanon’s Hezbollah political repercussions of a false accusation would
has a very close financial and political relationship with likely be significant.
Iran, for example. But this link between terrorist group Related to terrorist fund-raising in the Arab world
and national government has become the exception is a mode of exchanging and transferring money
rather than the rule. Unable to depend on financial sup- known as a hawaala. Hawaalas involve a network of
port from national governments, most terrorist organi- people with multistate contacts and established repu-
zations have turned to developing their own financial tations. Instead of actually collecting and remitting
sources. funds from one individual to another, the hawaala
operator merely extends lines of credit. Hawaala
PRIVATE FUNDING SOURCES operators emerged in parts of the Middle and Near
East centuries ago, before banks were established.
One such source involves the solicitation of contribu- Even with the advent of banks, hawaalas continue to
tions abroad from those sympathizing with organiza- function. They are not subject to the same record-
tion goals. Foreign sympathizers may share the keeping and regulatory requirements as banks, thus
philosophical goals of the terrorist organization or making hawaalas an attractive alternative to banking
they may identify with the ethnic or religious back- for anyone seeking to conceal the movement of
ground of the organization. Throughout the 20th cen- funds.
tury, the Irish Republican Army regularly depended
on contributions from Irish Americans. Indeed, Irish FINANCING AL QAEDA
revolutionary leaders would sometimes conduct fund-
raising tours in U.S. cities, much to the consternation Al Qaeda—a confederation of loosely organized
of British authorities. groups sharing a common agenda and relying on com-
This reliance on foreign solicitations takes many mon methods of attack—is unique in that the initial
forms, but an important common denominator is that funds for the organization came from the group’s
the link between contributions and the terrorist orga- wealthy founder, Osama bin Laden. Access to a portion
nization is almost never overt. In many cases, in fact, of his family’s fortune enabled bin Laden to bankroll