https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PIC-7csbzo
This January 18th video depicts three 250 pound GBU-39 bombs dropped by B-1 or F-18 aircraft, in rapid succession on the same spot of the roof of an ISIS cash depot near Mosul, Iraq. As of last week, it was the ninth ISIS cash depot US-led forces had destroyed in Iraq &/or Syria. ISIS uses cash depots to store assets it accumulates from oil operations, kidnappings, looting & taxes. ISIS loots banks; art assets & cultural heritage property; & it taxes Iraqi government officials in Mosul & businesses in Syria & Iraq. ISIS also places a protection tax on Christians & other non-Muslims.
A FORCE MULTIPLIER
Since ISIS can not sustain itself without vast sums of money, searching for & then destroying its money is a force multiplier for US-led forces & Western nations fighting ISIS. At “U.S. Drops Bombs Not Just on ISIS, but on Its Cash, Too,” Army Colonel Steven Warren makes the point: “[a] combination of taking away their ability to earn money by striking oil and taking away the money that they have on hand by striking the Daesh[ISIS] cash really puts the squeeze on them [emphasis added].”
THE SEARCH FOR ISIS ASSETS & FOREIGN TERRORIST FIGHTERS
Besides destroying cash depots & other assets ISIS possesses in Iraq or Syria, US-led forces &/or Western nations are searching for assets ISIS hides across the globe. These assets hidden offshore & laundered by ISIS, include: foreign bank accounts; valuable real estate; plundered antiquities; etc. One way Western nations try to search for & interdict these assets is through the Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units.
As set forth at “Searching For Assets Used To Carry Out Terrorist Attacks,” the Egmont Group uses money laundering indicators as part of its effort to locate assets washed & hidden by ISIS. The Egmont Group has also developed operational intelligence for law enforcement & intelligence agencies about Foreign Terrorist Fighters who travel to Iraq & Syria to join ISIS. This endeavor is discussed at the December 23, 2015 Egmont Group Communiqué available by clicking here.
January 18, 2016 video: U.S. Department of Defense.
Copyright 2016 Fred L. Abams