Financing Al Qaeda

OK, this Times story is a big deal:

Ransoming Citizens, Europe Becomes Al Qaeda’s Patron

...

Kidnapping Europeans for ransom has become a global business for Al Qaeda, bankrolling its operations across the globe.

While European governments deny paying ransoms, an investigation by The New York Times found that Al Qaeda and its direct affiliates have earned at least $125 million in revenue from kidnappings since 2008, of which $66 million was paid just in the past year.

In various news releases and statements, the United States Treasury Department has cited ransom amounts that, taken together, put the total at around $165 million over the same period.

These payments were made almost exclusively by European governments, who funnel the money through a network of proxies, sometimes masking it as development aid, according to interviews conducted for this article with former hostages, negotiators, diplomats and government officials in 10 countries in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. The inner workings of the kidnapping business were also revealed in thousands of pages of internal Qaeda documents found by this reporter while on assignment for The Associated Press in northern Mali last year.

In its early years Al Qaeda received most of its money from deep-pocketed donors, but counterterrorism officials now believe the group finances the bulk of its recruitment, training and arms purchases from ransoms paid to free Europeans.

Is that a lot of money? I would have thought so, but ISIS reportedly picked up around $400 million when they conquered Mosul, so who knows? And I suspect there are still plenty of oil sheiks who toss protection money at Al Qaeda. That said:

And business is booming: While in 2003 the kidnappers received around $200,000 per hostage, now they are netting up to $10 million, money that the second in command of Al Qaeda’s central leadership recently described as accounting for as much as half of his operating revenue.

“Kidnapping hostages is an easy spoil,” wrote Nasser al-Wuhayshi, the leader of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, “which I may describe as a profitable trade and a precious treasure.”

Meanwhile, in a "Millions for defense but not one cent for tribute" echo:

Only a handful of countries have resisted paying, led by the United States and Britain. Although both these countries have negotiated with extremist groups — evidenced most recently by the United States’ trade of Taliban prisoners for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl — they have drawn the line when it comes to ransoms.

It is a decision that has had dire consequences. While dozens of Europeans have been released unharmed, few American or British nationals have gotten out alive. A lucky few ran away, or were rescued by special forces. The rest were executed or are being held indefinitely.

However:

Negotiators believe that the Qaeda branches have now determined which governments pay.

Of the 53 hostages known to have been taken by Qaeda’s official branches in the past five years, a third were French. And small nations like Austria, Switzerland and Spain, which do not have large expatriate communities in the countries where the kidnappings occur, account for over 20 percent of the victims.

By contrast, only three Americans are known to have been kidnapped by Al Qaeda or its direct affiliates, representing just 5 percent of the total.

“For me, it’s obvious that Al Qaeda is targeting them by nationality,” said Jean-Paul Rouiller, the director of the Geneva Center for Training and Analysis of Terrorism, who helped set up Switzerland’s counterterrorism program. “Hostages are an investment, and you are not going to invest unless you are pretty sure of a payout.”

So European nations are financing terror groups with the hope that they can pay for the lives of Europeans today and put at risk the prospective local/native victims of terror tomorrow. Possible hashtag: #BringBackOurGirls(KillTheirs)

Comments

[henry]

More threads than Beasts has girlfriends.

You get more of what you subsidize, whether it's kidnappings or border jumpers.

[Rick B]

Is kidnapping for ransom better or worse than the bold attempted extortion of $2 billion by CA caudillos to #KeepGorditosHome?

I believe I'm going to have to read Lord of the Flies again. Clarice was right.

[Danube on iPad]

When my stepson went off to college, I told him he could become the world's richest man by developing a colorless, odorless gas that kills Mahometans and only Mahometans. He's still working on it.

[Jack is Back!]

May I pre-empt MarkO?

DOOM!

[Extraneus]

Does he have a PayPal account?

[Jack is Back!]

DoT,

Its called the smell of Bacon:) Can I win the prize?

[Ignatz]

--May I pre-empt MarkO?

DOOM!--

I believe you may receive a letter from the solicitor's solicitor, JiB.

[Beasts of England]

Is that a challenge, henry? lol

[henry]

Beasts, sure... But for which of you? ; )

[maryrose]

Beasts: I have to admit,I did laugh at Henry's comment.

[narciso]

I don't all the players but it doesn't look good:

http://www.libyaherald.com/2014/07/29/saiqa-forced-to-abandon-benghazi-headquarters-to-ansar/#axzz38tKK0hYO

the other jayvee team, Boko, has been up to it's shares of shenanigans,

[Jack is Back!]

narciso,

Your 7:52 reminds me of whether Chicago is going thru the same thing?

[narciso]

Seems like scouting season:

http://www.france24.com/en/20140728-morocco-police-arrest-french-al-qaeda-recruiter-nusra-front/

apparently that glossy for CNN, treatment by
Redford, has not improved Rahm's chances.

[maryrose]

narciso:
Doom for Rahm because he couldn't stop the Chicago killings.
Gowdy reserves the right to call Hillary for Benghazi hearings.
Doom for Hillary

[miss Marple]

Apparently the Europeans never read that poem about Danegeld.

[narciso]

For those who parlez vouz, can you make anything of this;

http://www.rts.ch/video/la-1ere/invite-redaction/5574125-une-dizaine-jean-paul-rouiller-directeur-du-gctat.html

[peter]

j-i-b @ 7:32 LOL!

[Carol Herman]

Vietnam had tunnels. You don't know about it because it went unreported. But now? These holes in the ground are tourist attractions. (So? Maybe, there's hope for gaza?)

Meanwhile, in response to Kerry's machinations, what you saw was a big fireball in gaza city. (This means the IDF has made it across. And, is fighting, probably fighting from the sea.) And, again, the media fails. Because UNDERGROUND are the tunnels. Where now the lights are out. And, the air conditioning has failed. Do they have enough flashlights?

How far down are some of these tunnels? Some are more than 4 stories deep. Surviving, though, when the exygen is pulled out is not a trick Americans learned how to do in Vietnam.

[narciso]

He seems to be one that ' hath understanding'
although he has been carrying out policy in his absence

http://www.p4peace.com/subindex.asp?id=A131_11

[jimmyk]

Isn't this basically what the Barbary pirates were doing, that Jefferson put a stop to 200+ years ago? The more things change...

[miss Marple]

This morning I brought up the Barbary Pirates, jimmyk.

It's an omen or something.

[Skoot]

F Chuck was whining to Sen Ron Johnson this morning, "How can Israel HUMILIATE Lurch on the world stage?" It was pathetic even by his standards.

And that Sargent post is funny as heck!

[Ignatz]

This post doesn't make sense to me.
We know that AQ has been "decimated" and "is on the run" because Barry said it is so, so how could they even be kidnapping anyone let alone making hundreds of millions of simolians off of it?

Maybe he meant they're running toward us, not away.

[clarice]

Shoebat and others have videos of ISIS brutally murdering 1400 unarmed Shiites they captured.We are talking savages. I hope DoT's stepson quits messing around and develops that weapon/

[henry]

WI open records law strikes again. This time it uncovered a private G**gle group of lefty game changers. UW prof, NARAL, and a bunch of MSM types.

[narciso]

just another Journolist bloodworm,

[Jeff Dobbs]

My only disappointment from spending all weekend at a neighbor's lake house and being locked up in meetings the last two days while the hit family enjoys the beach is . . . that there weren't more threads.

If there aren't more threads I will continue not to post.

[TheVIMH: is that a threat or a promise?]
Who cares what it is . . . go back and look, what matters is I didn't split my infinitive!

[TheVIMH: don't tell me you're threatening bad grammar if you don't get you're way]
The second "you're" was bait. I'm not biting.

[TheVIMH: that's not what she said]
I will neither confirm nor deny what she said.

[TheVIMH: you won't or you can't?]
I will not deny nor will I confirm any allegation of biting her. But if any biting were to have occurred, I had her consent.

[Jane on Ipad]

Hit,

This morning we were still posting about Sunday. TM only got relentless today.

[narciso]

Seriously he must have gotten another Keurig

[BB Key]

Why not a POI thread.....just to keep everybody guessing

[Tonto]

Hello from New Boston, TX. And apropos of absolutely nothing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItMJtA8vfpw

I really, really hope the choral director didn't make them sing all the lyrics to "Hey Ya".

[Eric in Boise]

Serious question: what is the pronunciation of (Walid) "Shoebat"?

I'm pretty sure it isn't like it reads in English, i.e "Shoe"-"Bat".

Thanks.

[Jeff Dobbs]

BB Key:
Why not a POI thread

And re-direct JiB from the last thread? That would be humane.

[Ignatz]

IIRC, it's Sho-BAT, but I defer to well anybody else pretty much.

[daddy]

Okay, Just in from a great long Dog Walk, dirty and sweaty and tired. No bears, no moose, but ran into 4 backpacking young cheerleaders from the local college in the woods and since they loved dogs that made my day!

Just doing catch-up now and am about to head off to the Grocery store to try Clarice's Pickle recipe. Wish me luck.

I was still undecided tho' until I just saw Clarice's update that what I needed to do was "cut off the flowery end of a bunch of small Persians."

Count me in for that! I feel like I'm on a crusade:)

[Eric in Boise]

Ig, show-BAT or shaw-BAT?

[Jeff Dobbs]

Tonto:
Hello from New Boston, TX.

If you have any free time, I have a JOMer or two within an hour of two of there you might enjoy meeting.

I wish it was me.

[Threadkiller]

Several hours after Speaker John Boehner announced to colleagues in the Capitol that the GOP border bill wouldn't address President Obama's threats to unilaterally grant amnesty to as many as 6 million people, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) was befuddled.

“I'm utterly baffled by the unwillingness of Republicans to see the danger that has so explicitly been stated out there by the president,” Sessions told reporters.

“Institutionally, Congress can't acquiesces into that kind of presidential overreach. Failure to put that in just indicates, to me, a lack of, well, I'll just say it this way – I think the Congress should be very clear that it will resist and that it opposes the president taking that action,” Sessions said.

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2014/07/29/Is-Boehner-Ready-For-Obamas-Planned-Constitutional-Crisis

[Threadkiller]

President Barack Obama "yelled'' at Benjamin Netanyahu during a tense phone conversation as he demanded that the Israeli prime minister agree to an unconditional, humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza, a former Israeli defense official told Newsmax TV on Tuesday.

"It was not a pleasant conversation if you saw what happened . . . it was not pleasant,'' Danny Danon — a Likud party member of the Knesset and Netanyahu's former deputy minister of defense — said on "The Steve Malzberg Show.''

http://www.newsmax.com/Newsmax-Tv/Benjamin-Netanyahu-yelled-ceasefire-Gaza/2014/07/29/id/585626/

I can no longer tell the parody stories from the real ones.

[Jeff Dobbs]

TK
I can no longer tell the parody stories from the real ones.

You realized this when?
:)

[daddy]

BTW,

This is a big topic on local talk today. Interior Department says Pruitt is ‘wrong’ about Jewell’s ‘get over it’ comment. Pruitt stands firm.

Our local Rep says that Sally Jewell blew him off and said Alaskan's need to "get over it", regarding the Emergency road that is needed between 2 native communities I've blogged about before in King Cove Alaska.

In December, Jewell denied the 10-mile road that would connect King Cove to an all-weather airport in another village that could be used in medical emergencies. Over the years, people have died because of the lack of access to the airport. The issue has been a point of simmering tension between Jewell and the state, particularly with Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who, along with Sen. Mark Begich, voted to confirm Jewell. The state is now suing, and Murkowski has been peppering Jewell with letters and with questions about her decision.

Pruitt said that he was paying close attention and was taking notes as Jewell was talking. Her comment, and the overall tone of her answer, shocked him. “I was almost embarrassed,” he said. “I’m sitting there thinking, ‘Am I hearing this wrong? Is there something that I’m missing here?’”

Rep Pruitt was on local talk today and said that is what she said and she said it "with attitude", and that has done a good job of firing up the anti-Federal Govt callers out here. That bodes well for the Election, especially since the radio show did a good job of tying it in with this comment from the EPA head a few months back: The flap comes only a few months after Environmental Protection Agency chief Gina McCarthy joked that a gift of moose meat from a young Alaskan girl could “gag a maggot.”

Okay, off to gag a maggot make pickles!

[Threadkiller]

Hit!

[Ann]

Hi, Everyone!! ♥

I'v been shopping at discount stores to help my daughter set up her first apt. in Cinti. this fall and I just had to share some good news.

Look who is on the double discount clearance shelf at T.J. Maxx in Columbus, Ohio?

I just noticed the "Keep It Real" canvas art work on the same shelf!
LOL :)

P.S. Keep your chins up, JOM. Lots of love to all of you. Ann
(Has Janet patented that saying yet?)

[Jack is Back!]

Hit,

What is the record for the most threads in one 24 hour period on JOM,. This may be damn close,

Watching POI for the 1st time:)

[Jeff Dobbs]

Daddy - I assume you've seen Keith Colburn's take

He likes Begich.

[Jeff Dobbs]

JiB:
What is the record for the most threads in one 24 hour period on JOM,.

It's < this.

For more detailed analytics . . . I can be bought.

[Jack is Back!]

Ann.

After my Frosh year at UC I took an Apt. in Mt. Adams. This was just as it was being gentrified. Good times back in the 60's:)

[Danube on iPad]

"Vietnam had tunnels. You don't know about it"

Seriously--are you shitting me?

[Jack is Back!]

Dot,

Chu Chi. IIRC. One guy I know said they had a cinema but no bowling alley:)

[Jeff Dobbs]

TK:
Hit!

TK!

I think you effectively killed the "Funniest Thing" thread apropos of your name.

Ironically I couldn't say so on that thread without jeopardizing the literal reading of your name.

[MarkO]

Extortion is all the rage. The Mohamatans have perfected its use in all of the defined forms. Extortion is defined as “The obtaining of property from another induced by wrongful use of actual or threatened force, violence, or fear, or under color of official right.”
Speak ill of the Prophet and you will be hunted and killed. Complain of the Religion and you will be hunted and killed. Thus, we have “The Book of Mormon” musical, but not “The Quran” reality show. So effective is the extortion that the Prophet cannot be mocked by cartoons and they may not be shown in American newspapers. Even the President must lie and suggest that Mohamatans were part of the “fabric” of America.
Kidnapping and ransom of people is only a small slice of the ransom business. Lately the USA, under our lying President, has given Iran millions of dollars merely to sit idly by pretending to negotiate a slowdown in the development of a nuclear weapon. When that day dawns, the ante, already too high, may require us to leave the table.
Europe will soon become fully Mohamatanized. The extirpation of this crime syndicate masquerading as a religion must come soon. Who will lead it? Certainly, despite anyone’s striking defense of his birth, not someone named Hussein. Do we have an Elliot Ness of international relations?

As to the DOOM™® issues, I’m keeping an accounting to be applied when we JOM’ers gather at the river. Or in San Diego.

[Ann]

Hi, JIB

It's come a long way:

Forbes Magazine lists University of Cincinnati among world's most beautiful campuses
http://magazine.uc.edu/favorites/web-only/forbes.html

[Danube on iPad]

"I'll just say it this way – I think the Congress should be very clear that it will resist and that it opposes the president taking that action,”

And I'll just say it this way; I wholeheartedly agree, nut I tecognize thatbCongress is comprised of two chambers, and so long as the Dems control one of those chambers there is absolutely zero chance that the Congress will make any such thing clear. Find a new sport.

[Jack is Back!]

Before I go to bed, The Champ just took his 1,000th or maybe 1,001st flight on Marine One today.

Think about that.

Nytol.

[Captain Hate]

F Chuck was whining to Sen Ron Johnson this morning, "How can Israel HUMILIATE Lurch on the world stage?" It was pathetic even by his standards.

F Chuck knows something about being humiliated in Israel. I'm sure Lurch felt really really bad for him.

Sooo they've started the second round of reruns for POI; maybe this time they won't sneak the episode with Reese on a plane by me on some "special night". I really hope Elias is part of their plans for next season. I somehow didn't previously realize that Scarface nabbed the diamonds and the money after the shooting stopped.

[Threadkiller]

1/2 of Congress should shut up.

[narciso]

Hey, Ann how are you doing?

I would have gone with 'Shirley you can't be
serious, Carol, Ralph Peters pointed out to Megyn, that 'our most traveled' secretary of state, has no idea of the dimensions of Gaza.

[Ignatz]

Show-BAT (I think), Eric.

[Captain Hate]

Hey Ann!

[Ignatz]

I'm staying out of San Diego.

[Threadkiller]

:(

[Ignatz]

Have I ever mentioned that Ann is my favorite?™®

Now, if I understand marko correctly, nobody else can make that claim without me mulcting them spectacularly. :)

[narciso]

Well they didn't put him through the medal detector, because straw doesn't register,

I don't know how they are to get out of this mess, in the upcoming season, with a fully
functional panopticon,

[Ignatz]

Only when Mark is in town, TK.

[Ignatz]

Glad I'm gliding over these POI comments cause it doesn't come on for a half hour here and it's one I haven't seen. :)

[Captain Hate]

Reading a review of Sara Lodge's book on English manners lets me come across gems like this while not having to slog through the whole thing:

There were also home-grown guides to self-improvement, like Sir Thomas Elyot’s The Boke Named the Governour: a text that aimed to equip Tudor men for positions of authority. Elyot’s recommendation that prospective power-brokers learn chess, avoid games involving dice, and refresh themselves with music still seems fair enough; his less fortunate later advice to avoid all fruits, as they often cause “putrid fevers,” may be partially responsible for the want of fiber in English political life.

Embarrassments still arose, of course, despite the efforts of courtesy counselors to prevent them. Famously, Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, let off a loud fart when making a deep bow to Queen Elizabeth I. He was so ashamed that he left the country for several years. Allegedly, on his return, Elizabeth greeted him with the double-edged assurance: “My lord, I had forgot the fart.”

[Beasts of England]

I remember reading a book decades ago about our tunnel rats in Viet Nam. Certainly not a job for me. The book contained photos and maps of their tunnel complexes. The had arsenals, hospitals - virtually everything - underground. I would think the jungle brush was hard enough to overcome, but adding the tunnel networks made it even tougher to neutralize.

[DrJ]

doodlemum of the day:

http://doodlemum.com/2014/07/28/purry-happy-to-see-you/

[Eric in Boise]

Thank you, Ig.

[Captain Hate]

I have no idea what they have planned for next season because everything has been turned upside down. I assume the old machine has ceased to exist at least as a functioning entity.

[MarkO]

"Was it before or after the Minky Fart?"

[narciso]

this is where that commment came from:

http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2014/07/just-dumb-hillary-claims-hamas-fires-rockets-from-schools-because-gaza-is-small-video/

[Beasts of England]

And so a directive has been sent out to our soldiers asking them to refrain from eating and drinking in the presence of their Muslim colleagues during Ramadan? Did I miss the directive not to eat a cheeseburger in front of their Catholic colleagues on Fridays? Ugh.

[narciso]

Shirley they can't be serious;

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2014/07/a-twitter-exchange-for-the-ages.php

[Danube on iPad]

"1/2 of Congress should shut up."

1/2 of Congress shouldn't do stupid things. If it is aware that the other half will not join it, then it should not undertake to speak on behalf of the entire body.

Dems are enjoying a fund-raising field day with the loons advocating impeachment. Will impeachmeny happrn? No. Will discussion of it by GOP dopes cause big bucks to flow to Demx? Yes.

Nice going.

[Threadkiller]

One 1/2 of congress will always be more successful than the other 1/2.

[Danube on iPad]

"One 1/2 of congress will always be more successful than the other 1/2."

Since this statemebt is incomprehensible, it's not possible to respond. Maybe it should be sufficient to note that the two halves of Congress will remain unchanged for the next six months.

Perhaps the GOP 2016 candidate should campaign on a promise to identify and prosecute the birth certificate forgers. There's a winner! He could even go after the Archfiends who mutderd poor Loretta Fuddy.

"Stupid Party" may be quite apt.

Nytol.

[Threadkiller]

Maybe the party of stupid can continue to deny that their half of congress believes Obama was born in Hawaii, like they have done for the last six years, and still get identified as birthers by the party they strive so hard to please.

That worked out so well.

[Threadkiller]

Not "deny". Should be "claim."

[Ignatz]

Narc's 12:18 link is pretty hilarious.
The guy isn't even fit to be a juiceboxer.

[Janet - the districts lie fallow, while the Capitol gorges itself]

henry's 9:30 link is something.

One member - Elizabeth Rose, Director of Communications at the Economic Policy Institute

The Economic Policy Institute was represented on the JournoList also.
They are a 501(c)3 organization.

from the known JournoList group -
Robert Kuttner - American Prospect, Economic Policy Institute
Jared Bernstein - Economic Policy Institute

[Janet - the districts lie fallow, while the Capitol gorges itself]

Hey, Ann.

I've been doing the same thing here in Arlington. Naomi got her own place & I've been out hunting up 2nd hand lamps, little tables, & misc. things for her apartment.

A new lamp shade, some paint, & some new knobs can make old things look pretty good.

[Captain Hate]

So dumb people give money to the commiecrats and that's the fault of somebody else?

[Pagar]

Janet, we need everyone to be aware of who is involved in that group in
Henry's 09:30 link. The Communist party must be so proud.
Code pink and the AFL.

[Captain Hate]

Henry's link was included in the AoS morning news dump.

[jimmyk]

So dumb people give money to the commiecrats and that's the fault of somebody else?

And what is the evidence that they are giving money because of the impeachment issue? It's not as though there was a previous shortage of idiots giving money to the Dems.

[Threadkiller]

Jimmy asks the right question.

[Fred Beloit]

A video ISIS made to show the world what a great outfit it really is. Unfortunately, we have a lot more killing to do. Video is not for the squeamish:

http://grid.pjmedia.com/?cmd=view-show-profile-article&id=2087