Influx of Al Qaeda, money into Pakistan

[Stalwart]

U.S. officials say the terrorist network's command base is increasingly being funded by cash coming out of Iraq.
By Greg Miller, Times Staff Writer
May 20, 2007

WASHINGTON — A major CIA effort launched last year to hunt down Osama bin Laden has produced no significant leads on his whereabouts, but has helped track an alarming increase in the movement of Al Qaeda operatives and money into Pakistan's tribal territories, according to senior U.S. intelligence officials familiar with the operation.

In one of the most troubling trends, U.S. officials said that Al Qaeda's command base in Pakistan is increasingly being funded by cash coming out of Iraq, where the terrorist network's operatives are raising substantial sums from donations to the anti-American insurgency as well as kidnappings of wealthy Iraqis and other criminal activity.

Snip

The cash is mainly U.S. currency in relatively modest sums — tens of thousands of dollars. The scale of the payments suggests the money is not meant for funding elaborate terrorist plots, but instead for covering the day-to-day costs of Al Qaeda's command: paying off tribal leaders, hiring security and buying provisions.

Snip

U.S. officials got a glimpse of the Al Qaeda leadership's financial dependency when American forces intercepted a lengthy letter Zawahiri sent to now-deceased Iraq insurgent leader Abu Musab Zarqawi in 2005. In the letter, Zawahiri alluded to financial difficulties, saying "the lines have been cut off," and asked Zarqawi for fresh funds.

"We need a payment while new lines are being opened," Zawahiri wrote, according to a translation released publicly by the U.S. government. "So, if you're capable of sending a payment of approximately one hundred thousand, we'll be very grateful to you."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-na-binladen20may20,0,5046563.story?coll=la-home-center

My comment: This is getting extensive discussion over on Huffpost. Some of the more frequent comments are related to billions in cash shipped to the CPA and "lost".

The billions shipped to Iraq were sent from the New York Federal Reserve Bank. They were printed by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. BEP has a record of its production for the various Federal Reserve Banks at http://www.bep.treas.gov/section.cfm/2/431/581. Shipments to the CPA ended in June 2004.

All 100 dollar bills printed for the FRBNY start with CB then 8 numbers and then an ending letter associated with the printing batch. I think it is probable that the entire batch of 100 dollar bills ending in the letter F (8.32 billion dollars) was sent to the CPA in Iraq and much of the previous batch ending in E (9.94 Billion). So many billions were sent, some would have to come from previous batches printed by the BEP for FRBNY. In any event, since billions were sent, some investigation could determine probable ranges of serial numbers. Of course, the CIA knows those numbers.

So, what are the serial numbers on those bills showing up in Pakistan? What were those "new lines" being opened up that Zawahiri mentioned? A pipeline to handle bigger amounts.

Leaving the ammo dumps open and unprotected contributed to IED's. What are all those "lost" billions contributing to? Is cash from Iraq really coming from the proceeds of kidnapping and stolen cars? That is what crooks do and to the extent that crooks are doing it, crooks tend to keep what they get. Anybody with any substantial money has probably left Iraq?

What's in your wallet? Any 100 dollar bills with a serial number starting with CB and ending in F? I have found some ending in E in the USA but none in F yet.