Al Qaeda’s Means and Methods to Raise, Move, and Use Money
Contrary to popular myth, Usama Bin Ladin does not support al Qaeda through a personal fortune or a network of businesses. Rather, al Qaeda financial facilitators raise money from witting and unwitting donors, mosques and sympathetic imams, and nongovernment organizations such as charities.
Charities
Al Qaeda’s charities’ strategy before 9/11 had two prongs. In some instances, al Qaeda penetrated specific foreign branch offices of large, internationally recognized charities. In many cases, lax oversight and the charities’ own ineffective financial controls, particularly over transactions in remote regions of the world, made it easy for al Qaeda operatives to divert money from charitable uses.
These large international Gulf charities donated money to end recipients, usually smaller in-country charities, whose employees may have siphoned off money for al Qaeda. In the second class of cases, entire charities from the top down may have known of and even participated in the funneling of money
to al Qaeda. In those cases, al Qaeda operatives had control over the entire organization, including access to bank accounts.
Much has been made of the role of charities, particularly Saudi charities, in terrorist financing. A little context is necessary here. Charitable giving, known as zakat, is one of the five pillars of Islamic faith. It is broader and more pervasive than Western ideas of charity, in that it also functions as a form of income tax, educational assistance, foreign aid, and political influence.
The Western notion of the separation of civic and religious duty does not exist in Islamic cultures. The Saudi government has declared that the Koran and the Sunna (tradition) of Muhammad are the country’s constitution, and the clergy within Saudi Arabia wield enormous influence over the cultural and social life of the country.
Funding charitable works is ingrained into Saudi Arabia’s culture, and Saudi zakat has long provided much-needed humanitarian relief in the Islamic world. In addition, a major goal of Saudi charities is to spread Wahhabi beliefs and culture throughout the world.
Thus Saudi efforts have funded mosques and schools in other parts of the world, including Pakistan, Central Asia, Europe, and even the United States. In some poor areas these schools alone provide education; and even in affluent countries, Saudi-funded Wahhabi schools are often the only Islamic schools available.
Other than support provided by the Taliban in Afghanistan, there is no persuasive evidence of systematic government financial sponsorship of al Qaeda by any country either before or after 9/11.
While there have been numerous allegations about Saudi government complicity in al Qaeda, the Commission staff has found no persuasive evidence that the Saudi government as an institution or as individual senior officials
knowingly support or supported al Qaeda.
http://govinfo.library.unt.edu/911/staff_statements/911_TerrFin_Ch2.pdf
