Al Qaeda Running Short On Cash Support
June 16, 2009 by national
Filed under World Report
A recession-driven income slide? Or a brand in terminal decline? Whatever the origin of its money worries, al-Qaida’s latest appeal for funds reveals a group struggling with a fall in donations for its attacks on the West.
In an audio message posted in militant web forums on June 10, 2009, the group’s leader in Afghanistan Mustafa Abu al-Yazid said militants were short of food, weapons and other supplies needed to fight foreign forces there.
The complaint, the latest appeal by Qaeda leaders in the past 18 months, echoes a June 3 request from Osama bin Laden for supporters’ “charity and support” for the militant network’s operations in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
So little is known about current al-Qaida operations that analysts can only speculate about the reasons for the troubles in its fund-raising, which provided an estimated annual budget of $30 million at the time of the 2001 attacks on U.S. targets.
But most agree it is a combination of tighter curbs on charities in the Arab world, a drop in lucrative al-Qaida kidnapping and extortion campaigns in Iraq and the wallet-thinning effect of recession on donors and sympathizers.
Some speculate it also shows a drop in ideological support.
Man Dressed As UPS Driver Robs Check Cashing Store
January 19, 2009 by national
Filed under Incident Reports
The story is not terror related, rather it’s a reminder of why it’s important to be vigilant and ALWAYS follow security procedures. This time it was a robbery however; the same scenario could just as easily have taken place in a shopping mall, school, government office or any number of other locations with much more serious consequences.
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A man dressed to look like a UPS driver robbed a Peoria check cashing store Monday and got away with about $50,000,police said. Read more
