The Financing of Terror

’A fascinating piece of research’ – The Sunday TimesTerrorism costs money.Without it, today’s organised, hi-tech terrorism simply couldn’t exist.Sophisticated weapons, training, safe houses and living expenses, international travel, false identities and documents…Modern day terrorism is expensive. The days when a few idealists would reach into their own pockets or the local supporters have a whip-round are long gone.Fund raising has become large scale and professional. The more successful a terror group, the more income is generated. The more active a group, the more money is needed.In the mass of literature about terrorism, one essential aspect has so far been ignored — money, despite the fact that there is an annual worldwide terrorist budget in excess of $1 billion.So where does the money come from? And how is it raised and passed on?James Adams has untangled the financial threads, the supply lines, of modern terrorism world-wide, to demonstrate with a clear, cold logic just who is responsible for The Financing of Terror and so ultimately for the terrorism itself.One of these is the Soviet Union and while suggestions of a global conspiracy are an exaggeration, Russia and her allies have certainly encouraged instability in the West and the Third World.The extreme right-wing and fascist groups are all considered with equal thoroughness and the IRA is scrutinised particularly closely.In this fascinating and shocking work, Adams looks at counter-terrorism, assessing how effectively different governments combat the problem and how much money they are prepared to spend.The Financing of Terror is a comprehensive and unsettling study on the history of global terrorism.

Praise for James Adams

‘… one of the best works to appear on terrorism in a field often dominated by the hysterical and the ludicrous’ – The Spectator‘A wealth of fascinating detail … this alone makes it indispensable … A harsh, sometimes devastating critique of anti-terrorist measures of Western governments and intelligence agencies.’ – Paul Wilkinson, Professor of International Relations, University of Aberdeen, author of Terrorism and the Liberal State‘Solid and worthwhile’ – The Guardian‘Too many journalists are respectful and too many ordinary men and women do not want to be bothered to help put terrorists down; so millions are threatened by self-perpetuating cliques … may help to rouse plain citizens to an only too plain danger’ – The Economist‘Contains much useful data’ – The London Evening Standard‘Fascinating at every turn … surprising’ – British Book NewsJames Adams was born in Newcastle in 1951 and educated at Harrow and Neuchatel University. He was trained as a journalist on the Evening Chronicle, Newcastle, and after a period working in Africa and the USA became chief reporter and then news editor on 8 Days, a magazine specialising in the Middle East. He has held various positions with The Sunday Times including Defence Correspondent. He is married and living in London.

Adams takes a close look at the financial resources of several terrorist groups including the Palestinian Liberation Organization, the Irish Republican Army and Italy's Red Brigade, and reaches startling conclusions. The PLO, he maintains, does not depend on Arab governments for its survival nor has it ever received funds from the Soviet Union. Operating on worldwide investments that provide an annual income of $1.25 billion, the PLO, according to the author, is the most financially successful terrorist group of all and well on the way toward fiscal independence. As to the Red Brigade, Adams describes their kidnap-and-ransom form of financing as developing into "something resembling an art form." He argues that the U.S. raid on Libya was a serious mistake politically, militarily and morally, and that the supposed godfather of international terrorism, Muammar Khadafy has supplied almost no money to terrorist groups for at least five years. His proposal, that the way to reduce the power and influence of terrorist groups is to stop their economic growth, is convincing.
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