Posted on 06/12/2014 9:08:49 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican
Of the many stunning revelations to emerge out of the wreckage of Mosul on Wednesday — 500,000 fleeing residents, thousands of freed prisoners, unconfirmed reports of “mass beheadings” — the one that may have the most lasting impact as Iraq descends into a possible civil war is that the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria just got extremely rich.
As insurgents rolled past the largest city in northern Iraq, an oil hub at the vital intersection of Syria, Iraq and Turkey, and into Tikrit, several gunmen stopped at Mosul’s central bank. An incredible amount of cash was reportedly on hand, and the group made off with 500 billion Iraqi dinars — $425 million.
The provincial governor of Nineveh, Atheel al-Nujaifi, said that the radical Islamists had lifted additional millions from numerous banks across Mosul, as well as a “large quantity of gold bullion,” according to the International Business Times, which called ISIS the “World’s Richest Terror Force.”
The declaration isn’t an easy one to fact-check. Not only is the definition of “terrorist” nebulous — are murderous but wealthy Mexican cartels terrorists? — it’s also exceedingly difficult to quantify a terrorist organization’s finances. One of the closest stabs anyone has made comes from the well-versed Money Jihad.
According to its analysis, which drew on journalistic and academic accounts, the cash seizure would make ISIS the richest terrorist organization in the world — at least for the time being.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
It surely seems as though the apocalypse is underway.
Obama’s Arab Spring.
he Religion of Peace and beheadings go together like peanut butter and jelly.
Everything is proceeding according to plan
Wonder how long it will be before Iraqi dinars are worthless.
Nuke them
“Not only is the definition of “terrorist” nebulous — are murderous but wealthy Mexican cartels terrorists? — it’s also exceedingly difficult to quantify a terrorist organization’s finances.”
What is this guy trying to say? Do we have an issue defining terrorist these days?
only an overthrow of this regime and the temporary control of power and policy by patriot members of our military , resulting in a comprehensive re-engagement of the Global war on Islamist Terrorists , bringing about their massive destruction and defeat , will save the future of the world at this point . Anything short of this and we have had it .
Yes that’s an extreme step but there have never been times like these , or people like these that think they control power . It all has to change and right away or we are all goners .
With all that money around, they can start thinking of bribing congress critters.
My bank surely does not have hardly any cash on hand.
I almost had to ask ahead for $2200 for a car purchase.
Why do you say that?
The folks in Hitler’s concentration camps had it much worse some 70 years ago and the world is still here.
We won’t get off so easily.
And somewhere in the White House, Obama is giving this terror group a big Thumbs Up
orthodox Christianity is under assault on all fronts.
They must have watched Kelly’s heros movie with Clint Eastwood.
Yes, they got a big chunk of money, but the real wealth is the oil in Mosul and Tikrit. Will they be able to sell it without control of the right pipelines and transport?
They also got a lot of U.S. military equipment:
It makes me sick.
I almost had to ask ahead for $2200 for a car purchase.
Shortly before US forces arrived in Baghdad in 2003, Saddam reportedly withdrew ~$1b in cash from the Iraqi Central Bank:
People who live near the Central Bank told CNN that they saw three or four trucks backed up to the bank then and that people appeared to be loading money onto the trucks.Large amounts of money have been found in the aftermath of the war, including the discovery of $650 million at one of Saddam's palaces. It is not clear, however, whether any of that money was from the Central Bank.
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