Bin Laden's wealth didnot finance 9/11

[Sleepless In NY]

Bin Laden's wealth not the force behind 9/11
Wealth overstated
Thursday, September 2, 2004 Posted: 8:20 PM EDT (0020 GMT)



WASHINGTON (AP) -- Recent investigations into al Qaeda, including by the September 11 commission, have substantially altered the commonly held view that Osama bin Laden's inheritance and massive fortune are being used to finance his international terror operations.

While bin Laden isn't poor, he's not worth the $300 million once believed. Nor is he thought to be directly financing his terror group with his personal wealth or a network of businesses in Sudan, where he operated from 1991 to 1996.

"There has been a revision of collective thinking," said Kenneth Katzman, a Congressional Research Service expert who has studied terror groups. "The new thinking is that bin Laden's fortune didn't really enter into al Qaeda that much, or wasn't the driving force in al Qaeda."

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/09/02/binladen.wealth.ap/index.html