August 8, 2007

Cutting Off the Money to al Qaeda

Iraqi Scouts, U.S. Special Operations Forces operasting in Rawah captured an extortionist who was responsible for extorting money from local contractors and using those funds to finance al Qaeda in Iraq activities:

FALLUJAH –– Iraqi Army Scouts and U.S. Special Operations Forces conducted a series of targeted raids in Western Iraq Aug. 5, resulting in the detainment of an individual allegedly responsible for running an extortion network.

With U.S. Special Operation Forces present as advisers, Iraqi Soldiers raided a residence and office in the vicinity of Rawah and detained their primary suspect without incident. Several bags and boxes of paper documents, computer equipment and compact discs were also seized during the operation.

The detained individual was allegedly engaged in extorting money from local contractors and using those funds to finance al Qaeda in Iraq activities. He is also accused of paying insurgents significant sums of money from construction project contracts he has been awarded in the Rawah area.

No Iraqi or U.S. Forces were injured during the operation.

Cutting off the money that funds al Qaeda makes them more vulnerable to be defeated. When you only focus the reporting on the body counts you miss stories like this about the progress being made in Iraq.

No comments: