9/11 panel report details Qaeda funding

Financial support for Al Qaeda and the size of its operating budget have plummeted in the three years since the September 11 attacks, but th...

Financial support for Al Qaeda and the size of its operating budget have plummeted in the three years since the September 11 attacks, but the network ‘‘continues to fund terrorist operations with relative ease,’’ according to new findings released on Saturday by the commission that investigated the strikes.

The report from the panel also says that the Saudi government provided lackluster cooperation in the effort to stanch the flow of money to Al Qaeda for two years after the attacks, but began to respond more aggressively after several Al Qaeda strikes in the kingdom last year.

Al Qaeda’s annual budget appears to have shrunk from about $30 million a year before the September 11 attacks to as little as a few million dollars per year now, the commission reported. Funding for the terrorist network has shriveled during that same period, partly because of the more aggressive stance by Saudi Arabia, the report said.

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But the financial shortfalls have not caused a commensurate decline in Al Qaeda’s capabilities because the attacks it sponsors are relatively inexpensive, it said.

The commission also released a comprehensive account of Al Qaeda’s exploitation of lax US border and immigration security.

—(LAT-WP)

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