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Source: http://jcpa.org/brief/brief3-4.htm
Combating Terrorist Financing: Where the War on Terror Intersects
(Institute for Contemporary Affairs/Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs) Matthew Levitt - •Combating terrorist financing is one of the most critical fronts in both the war on terror and the implementation of the roadmap to peace. In both cases, cutting off the flow of funds to terrorists hinges on focusing on logistical and financial support networks. •Too often security, intelligence, and law enforcement services – and certainly politicians and diplomats – make distinctions between terrorist "operatives" and terrorist "supporters." Yet financial and logistical support networks are central to the conduct of international terrorism. Those who fund or facilitate acts of terror are equally as guilty of committing acts of terror as those who pull the triggers, detonate the bombs, or crash the airplanes. •The main effort in combating terror financing must be to shut down the key nodes through which terrorists raise, launder, and transfer funds. • Since there is significant overlap between terrorist groups in the area of financing, failure to deal with the financing of groups like Hamas undermines efforts to stem the flow of funds to al-Qaeda. Matthew Levitt is a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.