U.S. Finds Iraq Insurgency Has Funds to Sustain Itself

NYT: The insurgency in Iraq is now self-sustaining financially, raising tens of millions of dollars a year from oil smuggling, kidnapping, counterfeiting, connivance by corrupt Islamic charities and other crimes that the Iraqi government and its American patrons have been largely unable to prevent, a classified United States government report has concluded.

The report, obtained by The New York Times, estimates that groups responsible for many insurgent and terrorist attacks are raising $70 million to $200 million a year from illegal activities. It says $25 million to $100 million of that comes from oil smuggling and other criminal activity involving the state-owned oil industry, aided by “corrupt and complicit” Iraqi officials.

As much as $36 million a year comes from ransoms paid for hundreds of kidnap victims, the report says. It estimates that unnamed foreign governments — previously identified by American officials as including France and Italy — paid $30 million in ransom last year. (More)

LSB: France is an easy target to blame, but let’s not forget the ransom FOX NEWS paid for their reporters. Nor should we forget the $800 MILLION U.S. TAXPAYER DOLLARS that cannot be accounted for by the corrupt politicians Bush installed in Baghdad. Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t Bush tell us the Iraqi oil reserves would pay for OUR portion of the war effort? And where in this report is el-Qaeda mentioned? Isn’t the war on terror what we’re fighting – so why is only the civil insurgency being mentioned these days?