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Guest Thinkers — December 21, 2010

AQAP Financing

Gregory Johnsen

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Just in time for my post on AQAP’s financing, the GAO has released a new report on al-Qaeda financing in Saudi Arabia. (Full disclosure: I participated in an interview for the report, but had nothing to do with its drafting.)

The report’s main conclusion meshes nicely with the latest cell phone video of al-Shihri calling on supporters in Saudi Arabia to donate cash.

Recommendation:

“The Secretary of State should direct the U.S. mission in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to reinstate, in consultation with relevant U.S. agencies, performance measures related to preventing the flow of alleged financial support, through mechanisms such as cash couriers, to terrorists and extremists outside Saudi Arabia.“

Also of note, I must say that I tend to agree more with ‘Abd al-Bari Atwan than I do with the series of US commentators and analysts, who if not arguing that al-Qaeda is dead seem to be saying that it is on the way. I think reports of AQ’s death are greatly exaggerated.

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