A New Designation Points to an independent Zarqawi Network

The U.S. Treasury Department just designated Sulayman Khalid Darwish, a Syrian, as a terrorist financier. He is the first person to be designated for directly offering financial support to the Zarqawi network (Jama'at al Tawid al Jihad) in Iraq. What is interesting about the designation is that is clearly shows a separate financial pipeline to Zarqawi, one that operates independently of the Baathist elements who finance themselves with Saddam's cash. This separation has been the topic of some debate within the U.S. intelligence community, although my European friends had no doubt about the separation. There may even have been specific times when Zarqawi actually gave financial aid to the Baathists, when the Baathist money shipments were delayed. Darwish was responsible for sending $10,000 to $12,000 to Zarqawi every 20 to 25 days. He also is responsible for recruiting combatants for Iraq, and is an expert in forging documents. Replacing him in the latter operation may be the most difficult and most crucial for the network. While there are numerous replacements for bagmen and recruiters, a good document forger is hard to find.

The separate financial pipeline is important because it not only opens up another front that need to be dealt with in the efforts to cut off funding (as opposed to simply going after the Baathist money), but it also means that the financial needs of the Salafist/al Qaeda/Zarqawi network are growing. I have heard nothing to hint they are having any difficulty meeting these new needs, and that is bad news, indeed.

It is also interesting to note the link that Evan Kohlmann has here on the response of Algeria's Salafist Group for Prayer and Combat (GSPC). It seems, from my inexpert reading of the text, that, while al Qaeda, bin Laden and Omar are praised, Zarqawi comes in for the lion's share of the adoration. It may be interesting to see how their egos play out over time.

The designation itself is unlikely to have much impact. A designation allows the United States to freeze all Darwish's assets, and ask the United Nations to add him to its list of designated individuals, thereby obligating all U.N. members to take action against his financial assets and keep him from traveling. But I doubt Darwish has any assets in his own name that could be seized or frozen, and he is not likely to be traveling under his own name, with a legitimate passport. Moving money out of the most obvious, traceable accounts was lesson learned long ago by al Qaeda, and, one assumes, the Zarqawi network. Most of the money raised in these types of operations comes by courier from donors on the Arab peninsula. The money doesn't pass through bank accounts. One other interesting sideline: Since 9-11, the United States has now designated 397 individuals and entities as terrorists, their financiers or facilitators. Saudi Arabia has designated two, count them, two. And neither one has been punished, not even a slap on the wrist. A U.N. report issued more than a year ago found that the whereabouts of almost all of the designated individuals was unknown, and that no country had ever reported detecting any designated individual trying to travel. At least there is some range of consistency there!