Financing Terror

March 16, 2012 Topic: BankingFinancial RegulationTerrorism

Financing Terror

A spotty record of inconsistent enforcement and few successes raises the question: Are laws targeting terrorists' bank accounts worthwhile?

Counterterror tools like the policing of financial flows may be limited and heavily politicized, but this does not imply the methods are wholly worthless. All tactics have their limits and can be abused. But more examination of these tools is in order: the flaws, negative side effects and social costs of terror-finance policing have not been adequately reckoned.

Chase Madar is a lawyer in New York. He reviews and reports for the London Review of Books, Le Monde Diplomatique, The American Conservative and CounterPunch.