ISIS Resources More Than ‘Any Other Terrorist Group In History’
ISIS is raking in more than $3 million a day from smuggling, human trafficking, theft and extortion.
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The extremist group’s resources exceed that “of any other terrorist group in history,” said a U.S. intelligence official who, like others interviewed, spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss classified assessments. Such riches are one reason that American officials are so concerned about the group even while acknowledging they have no evidence it is plotting attacks against the United States…
“There’s a lot of money to be made,” said Denise Natali, who worked in Kurdistan as an American aid official and is now a senior research fellow at National Defense University. “The Kurds say they have made an attempt to close it down, but you pay off a border guard you pay off somebody else and you get stuff through.”
The price the Islamic State group fetches for its smuggled oil is discounted -$25 to $60 for a barrel of oil that normally sells for more than $100 – but its total profits from oil are exceeding $3 million a day, said Luay al-Khatteeb, a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution’s Doha Center in Qatar.
The group also has earned hundreds of millions of dollars from smuggling antiquities out of Iraq to be sold in Turkey, al-Khatteeb said, and millions more from human trafficking by selling women and children as sex slaves.[su_csky_ad]
tiredoftea September 14th, 2014 at 7:14 pm
Money leaves a trail, a very bloody one in this case. Maybe our very expensive and plentiful drones can stop some of the more obvious oil trafficking?
Tommy6860 September 14th, 2014 at 7:19 pm
That’s the key, oil.It seems we can get reporting on where their monies come from using these illegal tactics, but who is selling them their arms? IMO, the Arab states that initially funded this monster, should bear the brunt of having to take them out. Turkey needs to militarily get in on this as well.
tiredoftea September 14th, 2014 at 7:23 pm
Turkey is complicit in the trafficking. Rich Turkish oil brokers are involved, no doubt government officials at all levels. That is a large part of the reason that Turkey hasn’t joined the “coalition”, as is a large number of Turkish hostages held in ISIL territory.
Tommy6860 September 14th, 2014 at 7:38 pm
And Erdogan is nothing less than a radical himself, considering he shuts down any freedoms of his people that doesn’t abide (his) Islamic edicts.
juicyfruityyy September 14th, 2014 at 8:03 pm
I was certain that he was going to voted out.
tiredoftea September 14th, 2014 at 9:24 pm
There’s elections in Turkey? I thought they gerrymandered their elections like red districts here.
mea_mark September 14th, 2014 at 7:22 pm
So it is the largest non-government criminal/terrorist organization in history. Organized religion for evil purposes sure is bad, I hope that doesn’t happen here in America with the Christians, NRA and radical right-wingers. That would be bad.
juicyfruityyy September 14th, 2014 at 8:02 pm
That sound like, snark…LOL
edmeyer_able September 14th, 2014 at 7:24 pm
If they sell enough oil they may start out bidding the koch bro.s and the waltons for control of the republican party………/s
tiredoftea September 14th, 2014 at 9:23 pm
If they shaved, we couldn’t tell them apart.
Obewon September 14th, 2014 at 7:41 pm
Big Oil’s Terrorists may not be able to spend their loot if US & NATO cyber warriors discover their bank account numbers. Furthermore Oil & Gold keep crashing to new lows:) http://www.bloomberg.com/markets/commodities/futures/
mea_mark September 14th, 2014 at 7:52 pm
FATCA might really be able to help here. It will be interesting to see as these new rules are now starting to affect things.
fancypants September 14th, 2014 at 9:24 pm
no wonder the republicans got their panties in a wad
isis has got their # in oil profits
fahvel September 15th, 2014 at 3:52 am
I am perplexed by unnamed sources who ooze info to the world and the world is expected to believe it. Who is the owner of the oil they are discounting and why can’t shell oil discount and make 3 million a day too. Oops, forgot, immeasurable profit is the motive, not the providing of a service with a civilized profit.