In Afghanistan, the hunt for Osama bin Laden is narrowing. But on the war's financial front, investigators are only now beginning to come to grips with al-Qaeda's money-raising apparatus, which they say is so far-flung and diversified that it could survive even if bin Laden is captured or killed.
Delving into a network that generates millions of US dollars a year, yet often traffics in small amounts, the inquiry has uncovered at least US$238,000 sent to the Sept. 11 hijackers in the US through a dozen wire transfers from the United Arab Emirates. Some transfers are linked to an al-Qaeda official who used various aliases, US government officials said in recent interviews.
Investigators have also found that the hijackers and some of their acquaintances declared about US$40,000 in cash when entering the US, the officials said, and law enforcement officials are trying to determine if that cash also aided the attacks.
Despite progress in unraveling the finances of the September attacks, government officials say dismantling the overall funding network of al-Qaeda is proving more difficult, in part because it hinges far less on bin Laden's fortune than was once believed.
During the past few years investigators have concluded that bin Laden's inheritance, once estimated at US$300 million, was actually more in the range of US$25 million. Instead, al-Qaeda uses an amalgam of private enterprises, corporate shells and charities that are structured like a financial archipelago with connections hidden beneath the surface.
To support al-Qaeda, some operatives work like organized crime crews. Government officials exploring al-Qaeda's operation in Bosnia found that operatives skimmed money from relief charities and linked up with Bosnian crime bosses. The success in Bosnia made it a model for al-Qaeda to use in embattled countries around the world.
The description of the expansive and self-sufficient structure of the network is based on interviews with current and former officials of many US government agencies, as well as from court records and other official documents. The George W. Bush administration's attempt to break up this financial network is as vital as the military action in Afghanistan, experts say.
"A military success would not be sufficient without an attack on the financial infrastructure" of al-Qaeda, said Michael Zeldin, former head of the money-laundering section at the Justice Department. "If that stays in place, then you may chase them from one geography to the next, you may be disruptive, but you haven't gotten to the root of the problem."
Since Sept. 11 the Bush administration has taken three public steps to block dozens of individuals, companies, charities and other organizations with al-Qaeda connections from the international banking system.
But out of public view, the effort is far broader, government officials say, involving diplomatic and covert actions. Working with governments in the Middle East and Europe, officials have privately confronted several international charities with accusations that terrorists had infiltrated their organizations and were diverting money to al-Qaeda.
US investigators, working with foreign counterparts, have monitored back transactions trying to track down al-Qaeda supporters. So-called "jump teams" of US forensic accountants, lawyers and other experts have descended on foreign countries to review records in search of al-Qaeda connections.
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