Why “They” Would Attack the Financial System

by Kevin D. Freeman on July 28, 2011

Of the many arguments raised against the financial terrorism hypothesis, one of the most pervasive has to do with the false notion that jihadists are primarily ignorant cave dwellers. The reality is quite the opposite as we have demonstrated in an earlier post:

http://globaleconomicwarfare.com/2011/07/01/terrorists-are-not-ignorant-cave-dwellers.

Another persistent argument is that jihadists prefer violence to grab headlines and would not bother worrying about attacking the financial system. This, too, displays a lack of understanding. First, bin Laden was well aware that the war was first and foremost a financial struggle. His public comments often referred to desires to break the Western financial system as a primary target.


“Al Qaeda’s supporters are “aware of the cracks in the Western financial system as they are aware of the lines in their own hands.”

 

– Osama bin Laden, in a 2001 interview with a Pakistani Journalist http://www.odl.state.ok.us/usinfo/terrorism/ideologies.pdf

He was not alone in this effort. An article in Human Events from 2005 makes the case plain:

 

“A universal Islamic banking system is a jihad worth pursuing to abolish this slavery [to the West],” former Malaysian Prime Minister Mohamed Mahathir told a banking conference in Kuala Lumpur in November 2002. The conference was convened following the 9/11 attacks on the U.S. “to absorb the 11 September shock and reinforce the stability of Islamic finance.” Representatives of nine Islamic nations gathered to set up an Islamic Financial Services Board (IFS to “act as a global authority for Islamic banking and finance” and to compete with secular U.S. and international banking regulatory agencies.

More recently, in Nigeria terrorists announced plans to target banks precisely because they violate Sharia principles according to a report on AllAfrica.com:

Hamza Idris And Yahaya Ibrahim

14 July 2011

 


 

Maiduguri — MEMBERS of the Jama’atu Ahlis-Sunnah Lidda’awati Wal Jihad, popularly known as Boko Haram sect, yesterday claimed responsibility for attacking some banks in Borno, Bauchi and other places where they took away unspecified amounts of money, stressing that the modus operandi of the banks contravenes the Sharia legal system.

Also, for the first time, the group said it will agree to a temporary ceasefire, when members of the Joint Task Force (JTF) are withdrawn from the streets of Maiduguri.

The group which addressed journalists in Borno State through a telephone interview said the action was aimed at cleansing the banking system which is characterized by illegalities.

Spokesman of the group, Abu Zaid said: “Let me confirm to you that our warriors had actually attacked three banks, namely Bank PHB, First Bank of Nigeria and Unity Bank where they carted away huge sums of money.

“We took the measure because the mode of operations of the banks was not based on Islamic tenets”, Abu Zaid declared.

When asked if robbery was permissible in Islam, Abu Zaid said: “We had carefully investigated the affected banks and found that the owners and majority of its depositors were big men who siphoned public funds and kept there. We also discovered that even if we take the money, government would definitely pay them.”

But when told that small depositors, including students, traders and low income civil servants also keep their money in the banks, he said, “small depositors will not be gravely affected.”

“If the banks continued to operate contrary to Islamic code, monies snatched from them remain legitimate. We are out to eliminate all aspects of ills in socio-economic affairs of the people which go contrary to the Sharia legal system,” he said.

Sounds like a good excuse to rob banks. But it is also the same kind of thinking that would justify attacking Western financial markets and “dispossessing wealth” from American and Europeans (as advocated in the English-language version of al Qaeda’s magazine Inspire). It is also the same kind of reasoning as was used to try and justify bear raids to bring down our financial system in the 2008 collapse.

According to a July 25, 2011 posting at Deep Capture:

As documented by Patrick Sookhdeo, an expert on Islamic finance (he is the author of the book, “Understanding Shari’a Finance“), “shariah compliant” finance was spearheaded by the Muslim Brotherhood, and most of the major “shariah compliant” financial firms in the world are in some way affiliated with the Brotherhood (which publicly professes to be opposed to violence, though it created Hamas, and has served as the breeding ground for most of the world’s jihadi terrorist outfits, including Al Qaeda).

Violent or not, there is no question that the Muslim Brotherhood is waging what Brotherhood spiritual leader Yusuf al-Qaradawi regularly refers to as a “Financial Jihad.” And when addressing Muslim audiences (as opposed to infidel reporters and Western government officials), Brotherhood leaders make it clear that their goal is to undermine the United States.

… anyone who cares about the economic future of their children should be aware that Muslim Brotherhood financial firms have the firepower to achieve a considerable amount of “sabotage”. All the more so given that there are plenty of greedy infidel financiers willing to help, and not so many government officials (in this licentious democracy) who are inclined to stop them.

The Deep Capture blog goes in great detail to connect the dots between jihadist intention and the naked short selling that nearly collapsed our markets. The investigations detailed in that blog match with conclusions from the 110-page research outlined in Economic Warfare:  Risks and Responses  produced for the Department of Defense in 2009.

The bottom line is that regardless of how you look at the issue, whether in word or deed, those who seek to impose Sharia have the motive to commit “financial jihad.” Unfortunately, too few are aware of the reality of this threat.

All posts Copyright (c) 2011 Kevin Freeman, All Rights Reserved

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