The world's 5 richest terrorist groups
August 29, 2011
http://moneyjihad.wordpress.com/2011/08/29/the-worlds-5-richest-terrorist-groups/
In terms of their annual operating budgets to the best of our knowledge at
this time, the Taliban, Hezbollah, the FARC, Hamas, and al-Shabaab may be
the wealthiest terrorist organizations in the world today. Al Qaeda trails,
but if all its affiliated organizations are included, Al Qaeda remains in
the upper echelon of the world's terror budgets.
1. Taliban
Taliban nets between $70 and $400 million from drug activity (of which at
least $15 to $25 million is collected as ushr, Islam's 10 percent tax on
harvests) annually. In addition, the Taliban collects an estimated $150 to
$200 million per year in zakat and sadaqa donations, mostly from the Arab
nations of the Persian Gulf. These figures exclude extensive Taliban
revenues from ransoms, extortion, and improperly diverted money from Western
aid, U.N. contributions, defense contractors, and the Afghanistan government
itself. My own estimate would place that subtotal of an additional $50
million per year.
Splitting the difference for the estimated range of revenues, that would
bring the Taliban's total budget to an estimate of approximately $560
million annually.
2. Hezbollah
Rachel Ehrenfeld's Funding Evil documented that Hezbollah's annual operating
budget is between $200 and $500 million. Iran provides at least $120
million of that, with the rest coming from khums, drug trafficking, and
other criminal activity.
3. FARC
Columbia's Marxist guerrillas, the FARC, enjoy annual revenues that range
from estimates of $80 to $350 million.
4. Hamas
For 2010, Gaza's budget adopted by Hamas was $540 million, but that's a
larger amount than Hamas's own budget. The Council on Foreign Relations
lists Hamas's budget as $70 million. However, the recent news that Iran is
cutting or ending its aid to Hamas which would substantially diminish
Hamas's treasury. Hamas receives significant funding through charitable
front groups and from Saudi Arabia.
5. Al Shabaab
A recent report from the U.N. revealed that al-Shabaab's revenues are
between $70 and $100 million per year, propelling it into the top tier of
global jihadist funding.
DISHONORABLE MENTIONS
Al Qaeda
The CIA estimated that before 9/11, al Qaeda's annual budget was $30
million, which was almost exclusively from "donations" (zakat and sadaqa).
By almost all accounts, al Qaeda's financial situation has deteriorated
since then. Other estimates place their budget from $16 to $50 million,
which still puts al Qaeda itself toward the bottom of the list. However,
there are indications that revenue collections of al Qaeda offshoots such as
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb
(AQIM), and al-Shabaab are flush with funds. With AQIM in particular, the
evidence shows that funds are being transferred from the regional
organization back to the parent al Qaeda organization itself.
Lashkar-e-Taiba
Reuters calls Lashkar-e-Taiba (whose revenues include hawala, the Gulf, and
Pakistan's ISI) "one of the largest and best-funded Islamic militant
organizations" in South Asia.
It bears repeating that much of the revenue listed above, with the exception
of the FARC's drug money, originate from traditional Islamic revenue sources
such as zakat, sadaqa, khums, and ushr, rather than from "secular," criminal
activity.
==========================================
(F)AIR USE NOTICE: All original content and/or articles and graphics in this
message are copyrighted, unless specifically noted otherwise. All rights to
these copyrighted items are reserved. Articles and graphics have been placed
within for educational and discussion purposes only, in compliance with
"Fair Use" criteria established in Section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976.
The principle of "Fair Use" was established as law by Section 107 of The
Copyright Act of 1976. "Fair Use" legally eliminates the need to obtain
permission or pay royalties for the use of previously copyrighted materials
if the purposes of display include "criticism, comment, news reporting,
teaching, scholarship, and research." Section 107 establishes four criteria
for determining whether the use of a work in any particular case qualifies
as a "fair use". A work used does not necessarily have to satisfy all four
criteria to qualify as an instance of "fair use". Rather, "fair use" is
determined by the overall extent to which the cited work does or does not
substantially satisfy the criteria in their totality. If you wish to use
copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you
must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
THIS DOCUMENT MAY CONTAIN COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL. COPYING AND DISSEMINATION IS
PROHIBITED WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE COPYRIGHT OWNERS.
--
Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups.
For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum
* Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/
* It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls.
* Read the latest breaking news, and more.
No comments:
Post a Comment