U.S. bombs 'millions' in ISIS currency holdings

[JDPriestly]

Source: CNN

Washington (CNN)In an extremely unusual airstrike, the U.S. dropped bombs Sunday in central Mosul, Iraq, destroying a building containing huge amounts of cash ISIS was using to pay its troops and for ongoing operations, two U.S. defense officials told CNN.

The officials could not say exactly how much money was there or in what currency, but one described it as "millions."

Two 2,000-pound bombs destroyed the site quickly. But the longstanding impact may be even more significant. The officials said the U.S. plans to strike more financial targets like this one to take away ISIS's ability to function as a state-like entity.
The ISIS terror threat
65 photos: The ISIS terror threat

. . . .

The U.S. considers the Mosul strike extremely sensitive, as the building is in an area where civilians are also located, and there was a significant risk of civilian casualties.



Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/11/politics/us-bombs-millions-isis-currency-supply/

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Video at link. This is important just before the State of the Union speech.

[leveymg]

1. When we start freezing Saudi and Qatari assets, then we'll start to be serious about IS finances.

The neocons are on bed with the Saud regime. Time to turn them out before they start the next big war.

[flamingdem]

2. Bombing money

America is da bomb

[EdwardBernays]

3. Ironically the US is...

...helping ISIS in Yemen, and bombing civilians...

[uhnope]

9. sounds like yet another BS conspiracy theory

[EdwardBernays]

10. luckily for you the internet exists

On Oct. 27, coalition airstrikes destroyed a Doctors Without Borders (MSF) medical clinic, one of the few still functioning in the northern Yemeni province of Saada. Inflicting widespread civilian hardship amounts to collective punishment, fueling the devastation that the MSF says has claimed as many lives as the bombings.

The US (and UK) offers logistical support for the coalition, in addition to selling billions of dollars in weapons to its members, including Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. US officials say American personnel are also involved in providing targeting assistance for airstrikes, which the UN says are responsible for the majority of the more than 2,300 civilian deaths in the conflict in the past six months.

http://america.aljazeera.com/opinions/2015/11/us-may-be-complicit-in-war-crimes-in-yemen.html

A Dutch-led effort to create a human rights mission for Yemen was abandoned Wednesday amid intense Saudi opposition at the UN, but human rights experts are laying blame in part at the feet of the United States, which failed to vigorously back the Netherlands — and may have worked behind the scenes to head off the independent investigation.

https://news.vice.com/article/as-saudis-block-a-human-rights-inquiry-in-yemen-the-us-stays-quiet

The U.S.-Backed War in Yemen Is Strengthening al Qaeda

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/08/25/the-u-s-backed-war-in-yemen-is-strengthening-al-qaeda.html

"The conflict has produced another bitter legacy: a new branch of the Islamic State that has quietly grown in strength and appears determined to distinguish itself as Yemen’s most disruptive and brutal force, carrying out attacks considered too extreme even by the country’s branch of Al Qaeda."

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/15/world/middleeast/islamic-state-gains-strength-in-yemen-rivaling-al-qaeda.html?_r=0


Now next time use google before you call what I post BS or a conspiracy theory.

And don't come back to me unless you go and read these links, which come from US, UK and Arabic sources.

Here's what else we're doing in Yemen:

"More than half a million children in Yemen face life-threatening malnutrition as a risk of famine grows, a senior official of the U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF) said on Friday."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/half-a-million-children-are-starving-in-yemen-report_5623bac5e4b02f6a900ca5c2

Saudi-led naval blockade leaves 20m Yemenis facing humanitarian disaster
Aid agencies say embargo imposed by US and UK-backed Arab coalition has had dramatic effect, with almost 80% of population in urgent need of food, water and medical supplies
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jun/05/saudi-led-naval-blockade-worsens-yemen-humanitarian-disaster

U.S. Support for Saudi Strikes in Yemen Raises War Crime Concerns
http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/10/15/u-s-support-for-saudi-strikes-in-yemen-raises-war-crime-concerns/

Arab coalition accused of war crimes in Yemen
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/10/yemen-151007015252750.html

Saudi Arabia’s US-Backed Air War in Yemen May Have Committed War Crimes—Again
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/01/us-backed-saudi-led-airwar-yemen-condemned-potentially-committing-war-crimes-again

[7962]

12. I guess it'd be better to just let yemen go back to the way it was before.

A pile of disorganized shit. So let Iran have it too, huh?

[EdwardBernays]

19. Iran or ISIS

Which do you want?

And if SA and Yemen hadn't spent years trying to bomb the Shia in Yemen out of existence this wouldn't be happening. Are you suggesting that it's just a shame that didn't happen?

Iran is the least of anyone's worries.

[uhnope]

14. None of which justifies such a piss-poor overgeneralized smear

as the one you made

[EdwardBernays]

18. Now that IS BS

Is the US bombing civilians?

Yes.

Is the US helping al Qaeda and ISIS.

Yes.

Are a variety of aid groups and the Un saying the US is involved in potential war crimes in Yemen?

Yes.

No smear.

I know that you've only found out about this and are now an expert suddenly, but consider spending more than 5 minutes reading about it before reaching your conclusions.

[PSPS]

4. This day-old story was already posted in LBN yesterday

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10141310824

[JDPriestly]

15. Sorry. I missed it.

[valerief]

5. Probably some of the trillions the Pentagon "lost".

[rhett o rick]

6. Oh no, that's long gone. I think it went to Russia. They would've been glad to launder that

money.

[rhett o rick]

7. Let me get this straight, can we bomb anywhere we like to kill ISIS terrorists or their money?

By the way, I bet some of ISIS's money is in the big banks of American.

[rhett o rick]

8. I have another question. If I deposit cash in my credit union and the government bombs

the credit union, what makes anyone think that my money got bombed. Banks don't keep the cash. The bank still owes ISIS their money. Help me out here.

[7962]

13. ISIS banking is not regular banking. They dont have an FDIC.

Whatever money is in the bank is the money they have. If we burn it, its gone. Nobody will step in to replace it other than other ISIS members & supporters

[rhett o rick]

16. That doesn't make any sense. You are saying that they only deal in cash. Where ever ISIS

gets their money, I bet it isn't in cash. And when they spend it, also not cash. I bet when a bank gets their money, even if cash they don't simply store it. They would invest it like other banks and give ISIS a credit balance.

[7962]

22. If that was true, it'd be easy to track. They dont bank like that

You really think whoever they deal with wants an electronic trail? They bank like drug dealers. They steal from banks in towns they overtake, they sell oil, they get paid in cash. They keep the cash SOMEWHERE. ISIS soldiers dont have direct deposit and I seriously doubt they take checks. They want CASH. Actual cash cant be wired from one location to another. So a bank full of cash bombed is a bank full of cash LOST. NO ONE is going to replace it as a loss.

[daleo]

23. There's always bitcoin

Mostly, kidding, but you never know. Actually, if ISIS is being supported by Saudi Arabia (as many suspect), through the back door, they may have access to banking that way. We really don't know just who bankrolls them, and how.

[rhett o rick]

24. How about drug cartel money? Same difference. The big banks of the world are not going

to let that money just sit around in rooms. They know they will only get a slap on the wrist if someone wants to make an issue of it.

[7962]

25. Drug cartels are a totally different animal.

Being connected to a cartel in the banking business is quite a bit further under the radar than worldwide terrorist organizations are.
Isis is nothing like them; they're new on the street. They havent had the time to build up a worldwide network of money laundering. But I guess its entirely possible that someone like a Saudi Arabia could replace the money destroyed if they wanted to. but it still would be more money spent. They're not running a normal business.
If it didnt matter, then why would the president want the military to destroy the cash? Its just like when they caught saddam, he had millions with him. If he had escaped and left the money, it wasnt going to be replaced.

[rhett o rick]

28. The name ISIS might be new but those running the organization and financing it are

not new. I am sure there are a lot of banks that would want their money and not to lock in a room.

"why would the president want the military to destroy the cash?" Maybe a better question would be, "why would the president want us to think he destroyed the cash?" Especially immediately before a state of the union address.

[7962]

29. Ahhhhhh, good point.

Careful or some will accuse you of comparing the President to Bush!!

[snooper2]

26. Yeah, they are running around and just swipe the card using a smartphone

[rhett o rick]

27. I would hope that "politically liberal" posters could have an honest discussion without

that.

[reACTIONary]

30. From the description i don't think this was a bank...

...so much as it was a money warehouse. I don't think isis can credit the demand accounts of their minions and have their checks honnored. I don't think they can or do mint/print species and if they did, it wouldn't be worth a Venezuelan bolívar.

So they have to stock pile cash from other lands, and deliver cash on the barrel head. If you physically destroy it, it’s gone.

[daleo]

11. The currency cratered

Seriously, though, I wonder how you would prove that you destroyed a few million dollars worth of paper money.

[JDPriestly]

21. "cratered" Right. Very good response.

[Proserpina]

17. Oh! They found the missing pallets?

[JDPriestly]

20. That's a good one. Could be!