Both interesting links.
Thanks Brad’s gramma.
http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/templateC06.php?CID=1205
“Targeting Terrorists’ Financial Networks”
By Matthew Levitt and Michael Jacobson
Jerusalem Post, January 6, 2009
SNIPPET: “Despite being under geographic siege and financial sanction, Hamas was still able to smuggle some 80 tons of explosives, roadside bombs and longer-range rockets into Gaza over the course of the past cease-fire.
Were it not for that success, Hamas would not have been able to continue firing rockets at the South, let alone effectively control Gaza. Denied access to regular trade routes and international banking, Hamas developed alternative mechanisms such as an extensive network of smuggling tunnels, taxes and custom fees, and increased reliance on charitable front organizations.
It is ironic, then, that one of the most effective counterterrorism tools since 9/11 has been targeting terrorists’ finances. Disrupting terrorists’ means of financial support frustrates their ability to operate, while following the money trail up and down the financial pipeline can reveal to investigators otherwise covert terrorist networks.
As the current conflict illustrates, these tools face multiple challenges, the most pressing being the ability to be flexible enough to keep up with a constantly moving target.”