ISIS Financing, Money Laundering and Bank Culpability |
Do European or Arab banks do more to prevent ISIS? A Lebanese banker makes some interesting claims...
According to an article in the Lebanese newspaper, The Daily Star, there is less vigilance on the part of American and European banks than Arab banks when it comes to ISIS. Since the terror group, which President Obama once called the "junior league," has grown to the point where it needs a great deal of money in order to operate in the large areas under its control, the United States urges banks to prevent ISIS from channeling money through their financial systems.
The US has requested that new measures be taken by banks, and the Secretary General of the Union of Arab Banks, Wissam Fattouh, told the newspaper that Arab banks have fulfilled that request and are taking every precaution necessary. Though he admits that banks can only do so much regarding counter-terrorism, which is more of a police matter. Still, Lebanon has an investigation commission which looks over any suspicious activity.
Europe and the US, on the other hand, are not as careful, according to Fattouh, who said that the US has "fined several leading American and European banks which breached sanctions while most of the Arab banks were spared such measures." Hmm...One way or another, the money is flowing.
Recently a lawsuit was filed by a group of Iraq War veterans under the US Anti-Terrorism Act against banks for their role in funding the terrorists who attacked them. The six banks these 200 people are suing are Barclays, Credit Suisse, HSBC, Standard Chartered and the Royal Bank of Scotland. There is no doubt that money laundering is taking place worldwide.
Terrorism can be funded in many ways including drug and human trafficking, the sale of the oil under the control of ISIS for example, and donations from rich terror supporters and terror-supporting countries. As the International Business Timesreports, "figures from Global Financial Integrity estimate that the size of the global illicit flow of goods, guns, people, and natural resources is $650bn (£410bn, €521bn)."
Much of the money comes in the form of cash, which is impossible to track, but not all. Several banks have found themselves in trouble for their links to terror organizations including Standard Chartered and Natwest; and Arab Bank PLC, the largest financial institution in Jordan, was found liable for providing assistance to Hamas.
However, if the claims of Mr. Fattouh are true when it comes to ISIS and Western carelessness, it would be in keeping with the liberal European mindset, which is making its way over to America as well, courtesy of a US President, who despite the concern for ISIS money laundering, has indirectly and over time, done more to help the terror group than to hinder its actions. This is a President who has been a friend to enemies and an enemy to friends, who ignores the concerns of the American public and allies in the Middle East over the Iran deal (and those allies include not only Israel but also Arab nations), and who refuses to classify the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) as a terror group, even though neither Saudi Arabia nor Egypt, which has had quite an intimate experience with the MB, have hesitated to call this spade a spade.
Mosque surveillance is also off the table for being too invasive and "racist," even though several terror plots had been uncovered through this counterterrorism measure. Nevermind the fact that Islam is not a race, and Muslims are as diverse as Christians. The real issue at hand here is that mosques are breeding grounds for terror. Why? Because imams are preaching violence in their so-called "houses of worship." A study has found that only 3.5 percent of mosque-goers in the US are getting the peaceful version of the "religion of peace." The rest are either hearing violence preached or supported in some way.
But the West turns a blind eye.
Massive immigration from Muslim countries to both Europe and now the US, is changing the West. There are Muslim enclaves scattered across these nations, where Muslim immigrants or children of those immigrants are running off to join ISIS- like the current case of six Somalis living in Minnesota, arrested for attempting to join ISIS and supporting a terror organization. As a Wall Street Journal article points out, first American Somalis were running off to fight for Al Shabab, and now it's ISIS. Of course the article also falls back on the stereotypical excuse of "disaffected youth." There are always excuses in the mainstream media because it is safer that way than to look at Islamic doctrine or to admit that Islam is not just another religion like any other.
Islam is now the second largest religion in the US behind Christianity, and the liberal atmosphere on college campuses, together with the influence of Muslim student groups (with ties to Muslim terror groups), is making it a dangerous place for Jewish students, the victims of Islamic and liberal Jew hatred. In one recent case, a Connecticut college professor got in trouble for supporting Israel against Hamas, even though Israel is an ally of the United States, and Hamas is classified as a terror group. And a Cornell University Dean told an undercover journalist posing as a student that it would be ok to start an ISIS "humanitarian club" and training camp there because it's very liberal, according to the Dean.
Anti-Semitism is growing across the West along with the Muslim population. But Jews are not the only targets of Islamic hatred. Attacks on Christians in the Middle East are increasing, and 15 African Muslim migrants were arrested last week for throwing 12 Christians overboard when they were together on a boat headed for Europe. The motive was said to be plain and simple: they were Christians.
To point these things out is always met with criticism and often name-calling, accusations of racism or "Islamophobia." But in the Middle East, no one worries about "Islamophobia." Arab countries are worried about Obama's Iran deal, the rise of ISIS and other terror groups, and political correctness will not stop them from raiding mosques. In fact, Al Monitor reported in February that Egypt is closing 27,000 mosques in small villages in an attempt to protect young people from militancy and extremism.
Imagine such a move in the West!
When a North African country like Egypt, with approximately 80 million Muslims has a devout Muslim as its leader, claims of "Islamophobia" or racism would be ridiculous to say the least. Yet Egypt has no problem shutting down as many as 27,000 mosques to prevent extremism. Western nations, however, refuse to recognize that the threat exists in mosques, searching instead for excuses about some disaffected youths and the big bad wolf ISIS taking advantage of these poor lost souls.
We have a serious problem on our hands which would never have come about without the tremendous increase in Muslim immigration over the past decade. Now we have terror money laundering schemes, (the Council on American-Islamic Relations [CAIR] has terrorist ties and has been involved in money laundering yet is still in existence and continues to scream "Islamophobia" every chance they get); more and more Muslim immigrants running off or attempting to run off to join ISIS and other terror groups; our governments putting up road blocks for counterterrorism authorities; and the extreme liberalism and political correctness disease that has grabbed hold of the US and Europe. Still, when the Secretary General of the Union of Arab Banks claims to do a better job at preventing terrorist money laundering- it is mind-boggling to say the least.
Regardless, whatever measures are taken to prevent illegal activity, naturally it is going on, and of course there is State-sponsored terror from countries like Iran, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and come on- Lebanon, the country where the Union of Arab Banks is headquartered- has Hezbollah! And two months ago the Palestinian Authority and PLO were found liable in a US federal court for supporting six terrorist attacks in Israel. This is just a tip of the iceberg regarding their involvement in terror. Yet the US and Europe continue to push for a Palestinian State, the Obama Administration removed Iran and Hezbollah from the terror list, and Qatar and Saudi Arabia are allies.
Clearly ISIS is getting plenty of support. Yet, if the Arab banks are doing more to prevent suspicious activity than we are, it wouldn't be surprising. It would instead, be just one more indication that the West has drifted too far into a left-wing la la land which includes the practice of backing the wrong people, being soft on crime and lacking the proper counterterrorism tools out of respect to political correctness. It's time to cut the money flow and get our priorities in order.
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