March 09, 2009

Heartache: Financial Crisis Hits al Qaeda Hardest

Sure your 401k is worth half of what it was last year, but look on the bright side: Ayman al-Zawahiri will work for food:

Al-Qaeda leaders, unlike their Taliban hosts who are heavily involved in the lucrative drug trade, do not currently have significant financial resources. (Their current financial state contrasts sharply with the situation before the September 11 attacks, when the annual al-Qaeda budget was between $20 and 30 million a year, of which several million went to the Taliban.) The financial crisis is most likely affecting the amount of donations al-Qaeda receives, as donor resources fall and requests from other supplicants increase.

Because of its tenuous financial state, al-Qaeda often asks for money. Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, also known as Shaikh Said, whom the 9/11 Commission Report identified as al-Qaeda's chief financier, and who is now considered the head of al-Qaeda operations in Afghanistan, often makes direct appeals for donations. For example, in an interview in mid-2008, he stated that al-Qaeda had many potential suicide bombers but lacked the resources to equip them. Abu Yahya al-Libi, considered the principal religious authority in al-Qaeda, also often appeals for money in his statements, arguing that donating is a perfectly adequate and acceptable alternative to fighting.

Financial problems take a serious toll on al-Qaeda's ability to run its organization effectively. Even the group's leadership in the Afghan-Pakistani border area must pay for food, living quarters, accommodations for families of fallen comrades, and security, both in terms of hiring guards and in buying the silence of their neighbors. In addition, the leaders need money to recruit and train operatives and to mount operations.

But it seems that we're missing the obvious here. While we need to remain vigilant on the finance front, I doubt that our efforts have had much more payoff than the knowledge that far less money is flowing to al Qaeda from the West than it was pre-9/11. Further, it's doubtful that 'the base's' funds are invested heavily in Wall Street or any other stock market for that matter.

So, why has al Qaeda fallen on such hard financial times -- probably even worse than last year? I'd merit a guess that this might have something to do with it.

Go read the article, the real crux of which is that al Qaeda is taking credit for the financial crisis. That's right, this is Allah's punishment on you decadent Western capitalist kafirs!