Has anyone seen any info on who is financing ISIS?

[hedgehog]

Although, I think they took over several banks, so my question may be moot at this point.

My understanding is that they are now equipped with heavy artillery supplied by the US to the Iraqi Army.

[The Magistrate]

1. Wealthy Saudis And Gulf Emirate Residents, Sir

Government funding from Saudi Arabia was cut off fairly recently, and this may have something to do with the timing of the recent break-out.

They have certainly captured a good deal of equipment, including artillery. How long supplies for this will last is another question; there is often a sort of 'expiration date' to captured items....

[snagglepuss]

5. ISIS netted $875,000,000 from a raid on a Mosul awhile back

A recovered ISIS memory confirmed their net worth. Even if they get outsede money they don't need it. They're the wealthiest terror ever.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iraq/10899995/ISIS-half-a-billion-dollar-bank-heist-makes-it-worlds-richest-terror-group.html

[The Magistrate]

6. There Is Some Question About The Whole 'Bank Heist' Thing, Sir

Though doubtless there was loot to be had in the big city. It is quite certain they have long raised funds locally by extortion, and by smuggling. The area in which they arose had a very well developed smuggling network that was part of the evasion of sanctions by Hussein's regime, and even that was just a regularization of traditional practice in the area. More modern crimes like credit frauds by computer and such are said to be part of the repertoire.

[alsame]

2. I found this a while ago

America's Allies Are Funding ISIS
The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), now threatening Baghdad, was funded for years by wealthy donors in Kuwait, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia, three U.S. allies that have dual agendas in the war on terror.

The extremist group that is threatening the existence of the Iraqi state was built and grown for years with the help of elite donors from American supposed allies in the Persian Gulf region. There, the threat of Iran, Assad, and the Sunni-Shiite sectarian war trumps the U.S. goal of stability and moderation in the region.

It’s an ironic twist, especially for donors in Kuwait (who, to be fair, back a wide variety of militias). ISIS has aligned itself with remnants of the Baathist regime once led by Saddam Hussein. Back in 1990, the U.S. attacked Iraq in order to liberate Kuwait from Hussein’s clutches. Now Kuwait is helping the rise of his successors.

As ISIS takes over town after town in Iraq, they are acquiring money and supplies including American made vehicles, arms, and ammunition. The group reportedly scored $430 million this week when they looted the main bank in Mosul. They reportedly now have a stream of steady income sources, including from selling oil in the Northern Syrian regions they control, sometimes directly to the Assad regime.

But in the years they were getting started, a key component of ISIS’s support came from wealthy individuals in the Arab Gulf States of Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. Sometimes the support came with the tacit nod of approval from those regimes; often, it took advantage of poor money laundering protections in those states, according to officials, experts, and leaders of the Syrian opposition, which is fighting ISIS as well as the regime.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/06/14/america-s-allies-are-funding-isis.html

[hedgehog]

3. Thank you for the quick responses - with allies like these, who needs enemies?

[snagglepuss]

4. A while ago they raided a bank in Mosul and made off with $875,000,000

THis is confirmed when ISIS memory drives were recovered revealing their net worth

[hedgehog]

7. Which also raises the question - who had $875,000,000 on deposit in Mosul?

(more likely - who had $875,000,000 in safe deposit boxes in Mosul?) i'm pretty sure I know where the cash came from.

[Igel]

10. The Magistrate properly raised doubts about this.

When Mosul "fell" the report was that the central bank there had $875M in assets. The assumption was that IS made off with the entirety of it immediately.

However, later the Iraq central bank said otherwise--that the vaults were secure and, in fact, the money was not taken.

Who had money on deposit? Lots of people. Lots of companies. Mosques. The government tends to use its central bank. It's where taxes are stored after collection, where benefits are stored prior to payout. Plus I think it was a reserve bank. Sort of like a branch of the treasury.

In some countries banks are the way that social benefits are distributed, and I don't know how such things work in Iraq; but in Ukraine Natbank shut down its electronic funds system in rebel-held territory, and with that immediately suspended all government-provided social benefits--pensions, unemployment, "welfare".

Either way, early on outside funding sources were important. But by the time they spread out over much of Iraq, they had at least partly switched to internal funding. They have smuggling, taxes, oil revenues. At some point if they control the power-generating facilities you'd think they'd charge Baghdad for electricity (!).

[angrychair]

8. RNC

[FSogol]

9. One of the RT fans on DU claims Obama is financing them

[Igel]

11. "RT fan." Sigh. 'Nuff said. n/t

[littlemissmartypants]

12. Kicking. nt