Terrorists don't need much money to carry out their attacks. And what they do need can often be moved through informal channels beyond the reach of U.S. law enforcement.
Experts say those realities pose serious problems for the Bush administration as it tries to disrupt the flow of funds to groups such as Al Qaeda, founded by accused terrorist Osama bin Laden and blamed for the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
Experts said that although tracking the money may yield valuable leads and deprive terrorists of some funds, it would be naive to think the U.S. could put the groups out of business that way.
"If they're thinking they can shut down Al Qaeda financially and therefore shut down Al Qaeda . . . it's pie in the sky," said Kenneth B. Katzman, a former Middle East specialist with the Congressional Research Service who formerly worked for the CIA.
Great destruction can be accomplished on a shoestring budget, analysts say. According to some estimates, the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, which killed six people and injured more than 1,000, cost the conspirators less than $50,000 for bomb materials and other expenses.
The recent suicide hijackings, believed to have killed more than 6,000, were not expensive to mount, either. Government officials and terrorism experts have estimated the total cost at $250,000 to $2 million--"chump change," in one expert's words.
Suicide bombers aren't in it for the money, and the 19 hijackers lived frugally in cheap housing--their only significant expense being the flight training that helped them turn passenger jets into firebombs.
Credit card issuers will eat some of those costs, because the hijackers paid for plane tickets and other items with plastic.
Terrorists have shown enterprise in earning money, thereby limiting the need for financial support from outside sponsors. An example surfaced this year in the trial of four men who took part in the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania, for which Bin Laden also has been indicted.
According to testimony in the case, one of the conspirators was sent to the Kenyan coast in advance of the attacks to help run an Al Qaeda-owned fishing business there.
Separating Fact From Folklore
