So dangerous.
Zaqari ,as a fundamentalist Muslim would only use western style banking systems for veryt small amounts of his funding. Fundamentalist Muslims and many other Musliims use the traditional hawala system of money transfer which is based on personal contacts and long term relationships.
Assets are generally kept liquid in the form of gold, silver, diamond. Lomger term assets are kept in the form of land or invested directly in business assets.
If Bin Laden needs money to be given to someone in Indonesia, he goes himself, sends a trusted retainer or someone else to the hawala. What happens here is interesting. A person in Indonesia who has a long term business or personal relationship with Bin Laden puts up the money in Indonesia for whatever Bin Laden wants it for. Or just provides liquid assets. The agensts of the hawala witness the transaction and its terms. Later on when the person who has provided money to BIn Laden needs money in lets say, South Africa, He sends a representative to Bin Laden ot Bin Ladens representative calls on the witnesses from the hawala, and then Bin Laden REleases funds from a BUsiness or gold from a vault, and he pays for whatever the person needs in South Africa.
This avoids all sorts of problems with international transfer of money, and exchange rates and money transfer limits and such.
It also impossible to trace by western methods.
This is why Bush's decision to go into Iraq and not after Bin Laden, his sons and his closest lieutenants has placed America in enormous danger. Bin Laden has been left free for thee years to plan, but more than that. Al Qaeda is NOT a a decentralized democracy. While individuall groups exist and operate independently, planning, command structure for ordering pre-planned actions, and in particular FINANCE are highly centralized. And all rely on Bin Laden his sons, or his lieutenants to be available as the hawala system relys on personal relationships and honor.
Thet may then move small sums into western banks to be easily accessed without need for Bin Laden, but capturing or killing Bin Laden and his sons and his closest lieutenants would completely freeze Al Qaeda' s ability to access Bin Ladens wealth for terrorist use.
Getting rid of Bin Laden would have paralysed AL Qaeda activity for many years, possibly reducing it from a world wide threat to a regional one again
Of Course, Bush and his cronies refer to this system as a money laundering system, but it is a traditional system based on Islamic Law.
A description of this system shows why the attempts to freeze assets will be a total failure:
Hawala (1) is an alternative or parallel remittance system. It exists and operates outside of, or parallel to
'traditional' banking or financial channels. It was developed in India, before the introduction of western
banking practices, and is currently a major remittance system used around the world. It is but one of several
such systems; another well known example is the 'chop', 'chit' or 'flying money' system indigenous to China,
and also, used around the world. These systems are often referred to as 'underground banking'; this term is not
always correct, as they often operate in the open with complete legitimacy, and these services are often
heavily and effectively advertised.
The components of hawala that distinguish it from other remittance systems are trust and the extensive use of
connections such as family relationships or regional affiliations. Unlike traditional banking or even the 'chop'
system, hawala makes minimal (often no) use of any sort of negotiable instrument. Transfers of money take
place based on communications between members of a network of hawaladars, or hawala dealers
Hawala works by transferring money without actually moving it. In fact 'money transfer without money movement' is a definition of hawala that was used, successfully, in a hawala money laundering case.
http://www.interpol.int/Public/FinancialCrime/MoneyLaundering/hawala/default.aspIf you read the rest of this link it shows how this system completely relies on personal contact and personal trust. Without Bin Laden, Al Qaeda' s access to the largest source of funding would literally vanish. In essence Al Qaeda's financing would die with Bin Laden and his Adult sons.
Under the hawala system there are NO RECIEPTS. None of the instruments of transaction that western banking relies on. NO ACCOUNTS.
Which is why Al Qaeda still can operate, and why the insurgents in Iraq can get anything they need. Virtually without detection
THe hawala system is alive and well in the U.S.
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