Did you fund a terrorist today? (The War Against Terrorism)

Member Name: gollygumdrops

Product:	The War Against Terrorism
Date:	01/10/01 (118 review reads)
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Advantages: This is the dumbest field ever

Disadvantages: Except the next one

I hope not, but you’d be surprised. I’m guessing you didn’t hand over a brown envelope full of unmarked non sequential small bills to a man wearing a balaclava and toting a Kalashnikov, but sometime this week you may well have done the same thing in a slightly more discrete way. Many people fund terrorism without knowing about it. Are you one of them?

Charity Donations

The people of Britain, Ireland, Israel and Palestine are more than used to seeing friends, relatives and colleagues killed and maimed by American money. The US is second only to Libya in funding terrorist attacks on mainland Europe. Some people hand over cash to charities, knowing full well the intended destination, many do not. If you’ve donated to Noraid, you’ve funded bombings, shootings and beatings. Other charities are less upfront, with names like ‘Religious Freedom Worldwide’. They deliberately prey on liberal sensibilities, knowing that Western citizens will support religious expression, then use the money against the people who fund them.

How can I avoid this trap? Carefully research any charitable donation. Insist on a receipt and a tax deduction form. Never give money in the street. If in doubt, save your money and give to a trusted charity such as the Red Cross.

Drugs

The ‘stans’ produce huge quantities of heroin. They do not consume huge quantities of heroin. The US and Western Europe produce negligible quantities of heroin. They consume huge quantities of heroin. You do the math.

Flooding Western markets with high grade low cost drugs does two things. It raises large quantities of untraceable money, sucked out of Western economies. It also does untold damage to the users of the drugs, further undermining the fighting strength and economic power of the countries who consume the drugs. Right now there is believed to be a large stockpile of heroin stored in eastern Eur
ope, ready for marketing on a street corner near you.

The terror organizations that control heroin traffic have no qualms whatsoever in securing the safe manufacture and transit of cannabis, cocaine and laboratory produced narcotics in exchange for weaponry.

How can I avoid this trap? Without wishing to subscribe to the whole Reagan philosophy, the only sure fire way to ensure your drug dollar doesn’t get converted into terror money is to ‘just say no’. Stick to booze.

Cheap alcohol and cigarettes

I’m not trying to take all the pleasure out of your life, but if you are ever tempted to buy ‘knock off’ cigarettes or spirits cheap because there’s no tax to pay, you may find yourself paying a larger tax in the long run. More common in Europe where tax rates vary wildly between neighboring states the trafficking of tobacco is such a big earner for tobacco manufacturers that they have been known to turn a blind eye to what happens to their product when it leaves their manufacturing plants.

How can I avoid this trap? Sorry folks, but the only way around this is to buy your vices from legitimate sources.

Movies, clothes, trainers, video games and software

Is there no end to my chipping away at the pleasures in your life. Contrary to popular opinion I’m not going to decry all producers as international terrorists. Bill Gates can’t be held responsible for this. There’s nothing sinister in the products.

Where terrorist organizations make their money is in counterfeiting. You may save a few bucks with a rip off copy of Tomb Raider you bought at a market. The back to school budget can stretch a little further if those swooshes cost a little less. You can easily justify buying counterfeit goodies to yourself, after all Steven Spielberg is hardly short of a few quid. However, counterfeiting isn’t done by naughty schoolboys looking to ear
n enough money for their first beat up car. It is an international trade funded and protected by terror money.

How can I avoid this trap? Sorry, but you’re going to have to side with the lesser evil of Wal Mart, or opt for no logo.

Up until now we may have viewed terrorists as crazies operating on the fringes of society, riding camels and living in tents, or holed up in Michigan cabins, but with £60,000,000 in terrorist funds frozen this week in London alone we need to all do our bit to cut off funding. It’s patriotic to pay taxes, it’s morally right to obey the law, and its’ vital to our way of life that we spend time checking where our personal spending ends up.

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