al-Qaeda discovers kidnapping pays

The LA Times reports that al-Qaeda cells have found that kidnapping westerners is a good source of money, thanks to European governments that ignore the fact that paying the terrorists only leads to more kidnapping;

Over the last two years, AQAP, as Western officials refer to the group, has extorted $20 million in ransom money, according to an estimate by Alistair Burt, who until this month was the top British diplomatic official for the Middle East.

If those payments continue, “AQAP’s attack capability in Yemen and against its friends and neighbors will only strengthen,” he said at a recent diplomatic meeting in New York. Kidnapping has become the group’s single largest source of funds, U.S. and European officials say.

Much of the money comes with the complicity of Western governments that have rebuffed British and American exhortations not to pay ransoms, the officials allege. The governments of Finland and Austria said they did not provide ransom money to terrorists. But two Western officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to avoid publicly criticizing allied governments, said that those denials are for public consumption and that the size of the ransoms shows government involvement.

The examples in the article refer to a particular kidnapping in Yemen, but al-Qaeda is finding kidnapping lucrative business in northern Africa, too. I have to wonder why people would be putting themselves in the position to be kidnapped in the first place. Who travels to Yemen or Mali without understanding the danger, and accepting the fact that they may be killed? And if they willingly put themselves in danger, what reasonable person would expect their government to bail them out and finance worldwide criminal activities?

How can the Times call these governments “allies” when they’re obviously supporting terrorists?

Category: Terror War