I have not seen this posted yet, and I thought it was interesting:
Latam Tri - Border Area Bankrolling Islamic Militants
By REUTERS
Filed at 11:05 a.m. ET
FOZ DO IGUACU, Brazil (Reuters) - The Organization of American States' anti-terrorism boss says the Muslim community in the tri-border area between Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay is bankrolling Islamic militants.
``There's no question, whether it's intentional or not, that money from here ends up in the hands of terrorists,'' Steven Monblatt told Reuters in an interview after a helicopter tour of this steamy jungle corner.
While visiting this weekend, Monblatt, executive secretary of the OAS's Committee Against Terrorism, urged the region's 12,000-strong Muslim community to keep closer tabs on the money it sends to relatives and charity groups in the Middle East.
U.S. officials estimate that between $10 billion and $12 billion a year is funneled through the tri-border area, some of which they believe is diverted to Islamic militant groups in the Middle East.
Monblatt, who served in the State Department's counter-terrorism unit prior to joining the OAS last October, said, however, there was no evidence to support local media reports that the region may also be home to terrorist training camps and sleeper cells, arguing instead that the area's links to Islamic terrorism are mostly financial.
``I've read the media reports about supposed al Qaeda cells here, but even the State Department rules out that possibility,'' said Monblatt, referring to the terrorist network led by Osama bin Laden that is blamed for the Sept. 11 attacks two years ago on the United States.
The region's porous borders and slack law enforcement have long attracted shady characters from across the globe and a number of alleged terrorists have been confirmed to have spent time in the area, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the senior al Qaeda lieutenant believed to be a close associate of bin Laden. Mohammed was arrested in Pakistan in March.
``The fact that people like him turned up here over the last six to eight years raises some uncomfortable questions, like well, we know about him, but who don't we know about,'' said Monblatt.
HIZBOLLAH AND HAMAS
Still, Monblatt says he's most concerned with the money that flows out of the region to the Middle East, some of which is thought to be diverted to groups like Hizbollah and Hamas.
Both Islamic groups are considered terrorist networks by the U.S. government, a label that some Arabs here dispute. After all, they argue, Hizbollah is a legitimate political party in Lebanon, while Hamas is frequently cited as a liberation group fighting against the Israeli ``invaders.''
Monblatt says the dispute over semantics is off the mark, arguing that the tri-border's Arab community should instead be more concerned about taking the moral high ground.
``Whether or not Hizbollah is a terrorist group is not relevant,'' he said. ``What's relevant is to put in place a system of financial controls on the charities that they deal with that are up to world standards and then live up to those standards.''
That, he said, means donors should take it upon themselves to learn more about the charities they support to make sure their money is going to legitimate beneficiaries.
Authorities can also do more to tighten border controls and crack down on money laundering, he said, in addition to boosting intelligence sharing and other forms of cooperation.
But there are also some major obstacles in the triple frontier's war against terrorism, including severe budget constraints and age-old rivalries between the different security forces in the region, Monblatt said.
``There are things that can be done. But people, I think, underestimate just how difficult this problem is to deal with.'' |
