This should not be a surprise to anyone but the latest news from Iraq is that al-Qaeda has resorted to extortion and organized crime in order to raise money for its terrorists activities. Violence is down in the areas where crime has increased and it seems like the mission of the terrorists in these areas is quickly changing from terrorism to organized crime.
This kind of shows that they were not too committed to a righteous cause from the beginning. Seems to me that they just wanted to raise hell. The word is that their primary targets are small businesses and the business owners know that if they don’t pay up there will be serious consequences to pay. They are also taxing supplies going and coming across the border from Syria.
This goes to show that there is a lot of work yet to be done in Iraq. The Iraqi government is obviously not in control of these areas since the extortion is so rampant. I can see the area deterioating into total anarchy if something isn’t done quickly.
The word is that those who don’t pay up will wake up dead compliments of al-Qaeda. Our custom military ring customers who served in Iraq were soldiers not policemen. Their job was to secure territory and expel the enemy which is what they did. The new Iraqi government is going to have a long road to climb and must get serious about establishing order in their country.
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