U.S. Tries to Block Money and Men From Islamic State
By Terry Atlas Oct 31, 2014 11:00 PM CT
Secretary of State John Kerry said the U.S. and its allies are expanding their efforts to curtail Islamic State’s finances and its appeal to young Muslims.
There are signs that U.S.-led airstrikes have broken the group’s momentum, Kerry said in an interview yesterday with Bloomberg View columnist Al Hunt for the “Charlie Rose” program on PBS. The group remains on the offensive in Syria, such as in the town of Kobani, and in Iraq, where some Sunni leaders report mass killings of tribesmen who opposed the extremists.
While Kerry presented a positive view of events on the ground, the administration’s efforts have been criticized as weak and inadequate, particularly in Syria, where the U.S. has indirectly strengthened President Bashar Assad in a civil war that’s claimed more than 200,000 lives.
The air strikes have had “some effect, but have done too little and done it too slowly,” according to an analysis this week by Anthony Cordesman, a military analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. “They have failed to halt the Islamic State gains in Iraq, and have involved steady mission creep in Syria at the expense of air operations in Iraq without reaching the scale of effort where they have had decisive tactical effects.”
Kerry said there is “no question in my mind” that Islamic State’s momentum has been stopped, citing what he said were successful efforts to thwart the militants in Iraq at Sinjar Mountain, Haditha Dam and in Amirli, a northern town that had been under siege.
“Step-by-step, that is going to deteriorate their command and control, their training centers, their supplies,” he said.
U.S. officials consider efforts to reduce financing and recruitment vital next steps toward weakening Islamic State, whose flows of new fighters and revenue from oil smuggling and other sources have facilitated its takeover of large swaths of territory in both Iraq and Syria.
“We are working on the measures that need to be taken in concert with many other countries to close down avenues for banking, for transfers,” as well as to identify and block large donors and “to identify the means by which they are collecting money in smaller sums but from larger numbers of people,” Kerry said.
The extent to which such steps will constrain Islamic State is unclear because intelligence analysts say the group is largely self-financing through oil smuggling, taxes, bank robberies and extortion.
At the same time, the U.S. is working with Muslim nations on a “delegitimization” effort aimed at Islamic State, as the group draws recruits from as far away as China and Russia as well as from Arab nations and Europe.
That entails having Islamic religious figures speak out “to discredit any claims whatsoever” that Islamic State makes about its “so-called legitimacy with respect to Islam,” Kerry said.
Yet those steps fail to resolve what Kerry said remains a key element drawing young Sunni Muslim fighters -- opposition to Assad, who’s responsible for far more deaths than Islamic Front is. Most of the Syrian rebels are Sunnis -- that nation’s religious majority -- who oppose Assad and his allies, whose Alawite faith is an offshoot of Shiite Islam.
Critics say President Barack Obama made a mistake by prioritizing the fight against Islamic State over dealing with the underlying Syrian civil war.
The U.S. wants a negotiated deal to end Assad’s rule, though short-lived talks collapsed months ago.
“After the Geneva peace process collapsed last February, I’m not sure there is an American strategy for Syria now,” former U.S. Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford said this week at Harvard University’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
The U.S. has limited its airstrikes to Islamic State targets in Syria, while drawing up plans to train vetted, moderate Syrian rebels in Saudi Arabia and Turkey next year.
Obama’s reluctance to move directly against the Assad regime has complicated relations with members of the anti-Islamic State coalition such as Turkey and Saudi Arabia, which see an urgency in removing Assad. U.S. officials have said that forcing Assad out without a political deal would lead to the collapse of all state institutions, as has happened in Iraq and Libya with disastrous consequences.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Oct. 30 that the “complications of Syria” include that Assad has gained from the U.S. priority on fighting Islamic State.
“Yes, Assad derives some benefit of that,” he said at a Pentagon news conference.
The U.S. is looking for ways to increase pressure on Assad to allow for a political transition, Kerry said.
“Assad ultimately has got to go because he is the magnet, and you cannot stop all of this if he is there,” Kerry said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Terry Atlas in Washington at tatlas@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: John Walcott at jwalcott9@bloomberg.net Larry Liebert
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-11-01/u-s-tries-to-block-money-and-men-from-islamic-state.html
By Terry Atlas Oct 31, 2014 11:00 PM CT

Secretary of State John Kerry said the U.S. and its allies are expanding their efforts to curtail Islamic State’s finances and its appeal to young Muslims.
There are signs that U.S.-led airstrikes have broken the group’s momentum, Kerry said in an interview yesterday with Bloomberg View columnist Al Hunt for the “Charlie Rose” program on PBS. The group remains on the offensive in Syria, such as in the town of Kobani, and in Iraq, where some Sunni leaders report mass killings of tribesmen who opposed the extremists.
While Kerry presented a positive view of events on the ground, the administration’s efforts have been criticized as weak and inadequate, particularly in Syria, where the U.S. has indirectly strengthened President Bashar Assad in a civil war that’s claimed more than 200,000 lives.
The air strikes have had “some effect, but have done too little and done it too slowly,” according to an analysis this week by Anthony Cordesman, a military analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. “They have failed to halt the Islamic State gains in Iraq, and have involved steady mission creep in Syria at the expense of air operations in Iraq without reaching the scale of effort where they have had decisive tactical effects.”
Kerry said there is “no question in my mind” that Islamic State’s momentum has been stopped, citing what he said were successful efforts to thwart the militants in Iraq at Sinjar Mountain, Haditha Dam and in Amirli, a northern town that had been under siege.
Expanding Strikes
“Each one of those we successfully stopped, and in addition we have begun to take strikes to their command-and-control headquarters, to their oil production facilities” which they use to make money, Kerry said in the interview for “Charlie Rose,” which also airs on Bloomberg Television.“Step-by-step, that is going to deteriorate their command and control, their training centers, their supplies,” he said.
U.S. officials consider efforts to reduce financing and recruitment vital next steps toward weakening Islamic State, whose flows of new fighters and revenue from oil smuggling and other sources have facilitated its takeover of large swaths of territory in both Iraq and Syria.
“We are working on the measures that need to be taken in concert with many other countries to close down avenues for banking, for transfers,” as well as to identify and block large donors and “to identify the means by which they are collecting money in smaller sums but from larger numbers of people,” Kerry said.
Curbing Financing
The U.S. will join other nations at a Bahrain conference in November on curbing financing by terrorist groups such as Islamic State, Kerry said.The extent to which such steps will constrain Islamic State is unclear because intelligence analysts say the group is largely self-financing through oil smuggling, taxes, bank robberies and extortion.
At the same time, the U.S. is working with Muslim nations on a “delegitimization” effort aimed at Islamic State, as the group draws recruits from as far away as China and Russia as well as from Arab nations and Europe.
That entails having Islamic religious figures speak out “to discredit any claims whatsoever” that Islamic State makes about its “so-called legitimacy with respect to Islam,” Kerry said.
Yet those steps fail to resolve what Kerry said remains a key element drawing young Sunni Muslim fighters -- opposition to Assad, who’s responsible for far more deaths than Islamic Front is. Most of the Syrian rebels are Sunnis -- that nation’s religious majority -- who oppose Assad and his allies, whose Alawite faith is an offshoot of Shiite Islam.
‘The Magnet’
Kerry said Assad is “the magnet for most of these fighters coming in” and said that “you will not have peace in Syria ultimately as long as Assad remains the focus of power” in Syria.Critics say President Barack Obama made a mistake by prioritizing the fight against Islamic State over dealing with the underlying Syrian civil war.
The U.S. wants a negotiated deal to end Assad’s rule, though short-lived talks collapsed months ago.
“After the Geneva peace process collapsed last February, I’m not sure there is an American strategy for Syria now,” former U.S. Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford said this week at Harvard University’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Talking With Russia
Kerry said the U.S. is talking with Russia and Persian Gulf Arab states such as Saudi Arabia about “how we can deal with Syria in a more concerted way.”The U.S. has limited its airstrikes to Islamic State targets in Syria, while drawing up plans to train vetted, moderate Syrian rebels in Saudi Arabia and Turkey next year.
Obama’s reluctance to move directly against the Assad regime has complicated relations with members of the anti-Islamic State coalition such as Turkey and Saudi Arabia, which see an urgency in removing Assad. U.S. officials have said that forcing Assad out without a political deal would lead to the collapse of all state institutions, as has happened in Iraq and Libya with disastrous consequences.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Oct. 30 that the “complications of Syria” include that Assad has gained from the U.S. priority on fighting Islamic State.
“Yes, Assad derives some benefit of that,” he said at a Pentagon news conference.
The U.S. is looking for ways to increase pressure on Assad to allow for a political transition, Kerry said.
“Assad ultimately has got to go because he is the magnet, and you cannot stop all of this if he is there,” Kerry said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Terry Atlas in Washington at tatlas@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: John Walcott at jwalcott9@bloomberg.net Larry Liebert
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-11-01/u-s-tries-to-block-money-and-men-from-islamic-state.html
» A gradual decrease in the dollar exchange rate in Baghdad
» Finance writes off governorate allocations..popular anger and parliamentary action
» The Iraqi judiciary agrees to Ashtar's waiver of the amount supposed to be paid to the Rafidain Bank
» Iraq loses 3 trillion dinars in one year due to the corruption of outlets
» After being subjected to air attacks, will Iraq succeed in obtaining an advanced radar system?
» Despite paying the full war debts.. Iraq is obligated to pay other money to Kuwait
» Parliamentarian: Al-Sadr killed his revolution and retreated from the demands for a radical change o
» Iraqi oil exports to independent Chinese refineries rise in a month
» Government official: Iraq is not thinking of floating the currency at the moment
» “Disastrous effects” .. UN report: The construction of an alcohol dam threatens food security in Ira
» From Mosul.. Al-Kazemi invites the political blocs
» Negotiations begin between the National Investment Commission and Hanwha regarding housing units
» The Central Committee of the Sadrist Movement issues a notice regarding the upcoming Friday prayer
» "In order to understand the world, I understand the economy." A new book by an Iraqi economist at th
» A pessimistic report by the United Nations: a mass exodus in Iraq and the drowning of 3 provinces
» Finance announces the release of funds for lecturers and administrators in the governorates
» Health announces the imminent opening of 30 hospitals in Baghdad and the provinces
» Official statistics: Ashura visitors made 220 million phone calls in two days
» The Iraqi Insurance Company announces the provision of new insurance coverage
» The start of talks between the Investment Authority and the Korean Hanwha regarding the completion o
» Representative Ali Shaddad describes what Basra is being exposed to as a big conspiracy and holds th
» The surroundings of Parliament are filled with Husseini processions in an unprecedented scene
» Contrasting speeches penetrated into the struggle of Al-Matoulah between Al-Sadr and Al-Maliki
» British report: Attacks on doctors are increasing, and a large part of them are considering emigrati
» Suggestions to exclude amending the constitution: a complex process at the current stage
» The Ashura Letters between Al-Sadr and Al-Maliki deepen the crisis of dissolving Parliament
» The Food Security Act leaves a new shock to the graduates and the unemployed
» Al-Kazemi: There are great efforts to rebuild Mosul
» Release of funds for lecturers and administrators for the governorates
» Parliamentary direction to resolve the file of their contracts terminated in the Ministry of Defense
» Al-Kazemi: The political blocs are required to assume their responsibilities by resolving the issue
» Iraq reissues a consignment to Jordan
» With a difference of 100 dinars.. dollar exchange rates on the Iraqi Stock Exchange
» Al-Rafidain Bank confirms its continued granting of advances and loans
» Finance addresses the service council regarding the first graduates and those with higher degrees
» The Ministry of Finance calls on the governorates to receive the books of the lecturers' wage differ
» Slight decline in oil prices
» In the presence of Blackshart.. The start of a meeting of Kurdish parties in Erbil
» The new generation decides to boycott the meeting of the presidency of the region with the heads of
» Al-Maliki requires the dissolution of Parliament by reconvening its sessions.. Al-Sadr tweets: Corru
» Al-Kazemi: Dialogue for a thousand years is better than the moment we collide with as Iraqis
» Monday Night KTFA CC "Kazemi Is Like E.F.Hutton" 8-8-2022
» Al-Fateh responds to Al-Sadr's calls: No early elections and no return for the current's representat
» An expert talks about Iraq's loss of two million dollars a day.. Where do you go?
» Iraq's Brink of the Abyss... A Reminder of Nechirvan Barzani's Initiative
» The industry details its plan to rehabilitate and operate the suspended factories
» Electricity: Formation of a higher ministerial committee to oversee the electricity file in the sout
» How big is the Iraqi investments in Jordan?
» Commencement of construction of the "tallest" residential tower in Iraq
» Rule of Law: There are no close political understandings
» The FBI raids Trump's home in search of presidential records, and his son hangs
» A statement by Iraqi intellectuals and journalists regarding the arrest campaign in the Kurdistan re
» The New Generation Movement: Kurdistan's demonstrations will come back stronger
» More than 3,800 accidents during 6 months in Iraq received nearly 4.9 trillion dinars in compensatio
» 40% of Iraqi oil export revenues to China, with which Iraq bought Chinese goods
» Iraq "sacrificed" $20 million a day to persuade India to buy its oil after fierce Russian competitio
» Al-Kazemi will visit Nineveh tomorrow to lay the foundation stone for Mosul Airport
» After the end of the deadline for the Minister of Al-Sadr.. the protesters were removed from Parliam
» Al-Kazemi and Al-Hakim discuss political, economic and security files and discuss the "complete shut
» Al-Sadr: (Dissolving Parliament) has become a popular, political and elitist demand for which there
» The coordinating framework reveals the truth of the agreement to change Al-Sudani to absorb Al-Sadr'
» Al-Kazemi and Al-Halbousi present joint visions to strengthen the constitution and the law
» After the controversy over the $600 million contract, Faik Zeidan talks with Allawi about "contract
» The issue of the 600-dollar contract is escalating.. A Sadrist leader: Ali Ghulam "my tire" and the
» Al-Sadr proposes a "solution" to the political crisis: forming a government devoid of the Sadrists a
» Al-Sadr: God does not judge us (the corrupt)
» Al-Maliki: Parliament will not be dissolved or early elections unless this condition is met
» Iraq decides to allow Kuwaitis to roam the country in their cars without paying any money
» More than 43 thousand tons of raw sugar reach the southern port of Umm Qasr
» The Ministry of Health, the World Health Organization and UNICEF conclude the activities of the Worl
» After defining his demands, will al-Sadr negotiate the coordination framework?
» Al-Sadr: Reform will defeat corruption in Iraq
» Suddenly, FBI agents storm Trump's house
» Iraq's total imports are close to 17 billion dollars... and China is the most important partner
» Its imports are equivalent to oil.. Iraq loses its religious tourism to “win” morale
» Sadr's supporters inaugurate the ninth day of the sit-in with hundreds of tents
» Economist: This is the value of what Iraqis spend on private generators
» Continuing the policy of Arabization in Kirkuk..Deletion of the Kurdish language from official books
» Once again his threat to invade.. Erdogan: The decision to establish the "safe zone" is still valid
» A “historic” corruption deal fines an Iraqi government bank $600 million
» A source reveals the latest developments regarding the 14th Kurdistan Democratic Congress
» Headed by Nechirvan Barzani and attended by Blackshart.. Kurdistan political forces meeting Wednesda
» Nechirvan Barzani on Ashura commemoration: We continue to draw lessons from it for sacrifice and sta
» Kurdistan Democratic Socialist: 'Confederation' is the solution to Iraq's problems
» Early elections, a lifeboat in danger of sinking
» More than 10 billion dollars in Iraq's imports from China in a year
» Alia Nassif calls for the arrest of those involved in the Ishtar Gate scandal... and confirms: This
» Falling oil prices in world markets
» The rise in the exchange rate of the dollar
» Britain: We have confidence in the wisdom of the Iraqi political leaders to come up with practical s
» Saleh on Ashura: Our country needs a comprehensive reform
» Al-Halbousi: The Epic of Ashura is a guide to freedom seekers
» Al-Maliki: There is no solution to Parliament and no elections unless the Parliament returns to sess
» Al-Sadr: Like me, he does not swear allegiance to corruption..Will Nasser help us?
» Some "Monday News" Posted by Samson at KTFA 8-8-2022
» The Central Bank raises the maximum limit for virtual electronic cards
» Some "Sunday News" Posted by Samson at KTFA 8-7-2022
» KTFA Members "News and Views" Saturday 8-6-2022