The Change Mariner

Author Details Drug/Terrorism Link in Post-9/11 World

CNSNEWS.com

Narcotics trafficking, organized crime, money laundering and terrorism are inextricably linked and coordinated on American soil and in many countries allied with the U.S., according to the author of a new book on the financing of terrorism.

Rachel Ehrenfeld, who wrote Funding Evil: How Terrorism Is Financed and How to Stop It, also asserts that this nexus of wrongdoing continues to take place in the midst of the U.S. public, its institutions and elected officials, even in the post-9/11 world.

Ehrenfeld's book underscores the reality in the aftermath of the worst attack on the United States in its history, what allowed it to happen, what must be done to prevent it from happening again and how the window of opportunity to prevent another 9/11 attack is shrinking.

As director of the American Center for Democracy (ACD), Ehrenfeld is an acknowledged expert on corruption, money laundering, transnational organized crime, international terrorism, drug trafficking and substance abuse. She is also credited with coining the term "narcoterrorism" in her 1990 book, Terrorism.

In Funding Evil, Ehrenfeld alleges that illegal narcotics, principally heroin and cocaine, flow from the Middle East and South America to U.S. and Western European streets before the drug profits are then allegedly funneled through charitable organizations, front businesses, banks (many based in America) and ultimately back to Islamo-fascist terrorist organizations like Islamic Jihad, al Qaeda, Hizballah and Hamas.

According to Ehrenfeld, information culled for the book did not come from classified documents or undercover sources, but rather from government documents, congressional committee testimony and executive agency reports, all of it available to the public.

The clandestine operations were conducted in places like Herndon, Va., Charlotte, N.C., and Quincy, Mass., as detailed in the book.

"Since I have been following this - I started with drugs, money laundering and criminal organizations and terrorist organizations - I've been doing it for 18 years," Ehrenfeld told CNSNews.com. "When I see a name, I immediately make a contact. Thank God I have a good memory. It is interesting that many of the same people are still operating, and this is why it is easy for me to identify many of the suspects."

Posted by Norm M. Wada at October 31, 2003 12:09 AM | TrackBack
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