????“有兩樣東西是伊斯蘭兄弟必須獻給圣戰組織的：自己和金錢”——基地組織一成員

????援引這個不言而喻的道理的——正是911事件調查委員會2004年發布的詳細報告。該報告最重要的一些章節分析了基地組織如何籌集現金，進而轉移至全球各地成員手中，編織出一張金融網。調查委員會認為正是這張金融網“使得基地組織能為自身、運轉以及成員提供支撐”。

????“沒有資金是沒辦法運轉起一個恐怖分子網絡的，因為成員培訓、運輸以及購買設備都需要錢，”前新澤西州州長、911事件調查委員會主席托馬斯?肯恩告訴《財富》(Fortune)，“如果切斷這些供應，運轉將變得非常困難。”

????和普遍觀點不一樣，本?拉登之死不會對基地組織的財務狀況造成打擊。“[奧薩馬?本?拉登]不是用個人財富或業務網絡來支撐基地組織，”該委員會在報告中寫道。

????“基地組織對911前募集資金的依賴程度遠遠超過了當時所想，”調查委員會寫道，“本?拉登沒有大筆的繼承財富和廣泛的業務資源。事實上，看上去基地組織基本上是現掙現吃。”

????但關于“本?拉登是基地組織財務支柱”的傳說依然存在。這可能是因為他是一個億萬富翁的兒子，20世紀80年利用部分繼承財產創立了基地組織，并將其打造成了“一個向全球輸出恐怖主義的跨國企業。”(《紐約時報》(New York Times)語)

????但報告稱，到了2004年，基地組織的募資對象是“知情和不知情的捐款人、清真寺、支持基地組織事業的伊瑪目以及慈善機構等非政府組織”。情報報告揭示了一個幾乎不可能追蹤的金融網——在這個由情報員組成的網絡中，資金的分散速度和募集速度一樣快。網絡中一旦出現資金，就會立刻被取下，分發出去。沒有活動基金可供發現，而且基地組織也不從銀行取錢。

????基地組織賴以生存的獨特方式，讓情報官員和特工很難領先一步。“911事件的一個教訓就是你不能照搬過去的經驗，”肯恩說，“我們未能預見到911事件，是因為恐怖分子的所作所為超出了我們的想象。他們籌錢的方式也一樣。”

????這種打地鼠游戲已改變了全球金融業。如今，銀行必須擔起責任，了解客戶身份，發現異常行為。

????肯恩表示，美國財政部(Treasury)已運用其力量干擾資金流向基地組織，包括跟蹤單筆金融交易。

????但這尚未阻止恐怖主義。

????“基地組織正在做的很多事情并不需要很多錢，比如通過互聯網招攬新成員，”肯恩說，“龐大的911計劃運作最多只花了500,000美元。”肯恩指出，911之后所需的經費金額似乎更小了。

????本?拉登的死對于基地組織是一個重大的精神打擊，但對基地組織的資金命脈打擊不大。

????"There are two things a brother must always have for jihad, the self and money." -- An al Qaeda operative

????This truism is cited by none other than the 9/11 Commission in the detailed report that it published in 2004. One of the first and most important chapters in that document looks at how al Qaeda raises cash and moves it to its operatives around the world, weaving a financial web that the Commission said "allows the organization to support itself, its operations, and its people."

????"You can't run a terror network without funding because it takes money to train operatives, transport them, and buy equipment," Thomas Kean, the former New Jersey governor who chaired the Commission, tells Fortune. "When you cut off those supplies, it becomes very difficult to operate."

????Contrary to popular opinion, the death of bin Laden does not strike a blow to the organization's financial health. "[Osama bin Laden] Does not support al Qaeda through a personal fortune or a network of businesses," the Commission wrote in its report.

????"Al Qaeda relied on fund-raising before 9/11 to a greater extent than thought at the time," the Commission wrote. "Bin Laden did not have large sums of inherited money or extensive business resources. Rather, it appears that al Qaeda lived essentially hand to mouth."

????And yet the myth has persisted that bin Laden has been the organization's financial pillar. This is likely because he was the son of a billionaire who used a portion of his inheritance to start al Qaeda in the 1980s and he nurtured it to become, in the words of the New York Times, "a multinational enterprise to export terror around the globe."

????But by 2004, al Qaeda financed itself by raising money from "witting and unwitting donors, mosques and sympathetic imams, and nongovernment organizations such as charities," says the report. Intelligence reports reveal a financial web that is nearly impossible to track, as the money is distributed as fast as it is raised by a network of couriers. Each strand in the web is taken down and distributed as fast as it is woven. There is no war chest to discover and no bank from which al Qaeda draws funds.

????The reality of how al Qaeda actually survives has kept intelligence officials and operatives in other countries fighting to stay one step ahead of the organization. "One lesson of 9/11 was that you can't fight the last war," says Kean. "We talk about a failure of imagination on 9/11 because the terrorists did something we never imagined they would do. The way they raise money is no different."

????This game of whack-a-mole has changed global finance. Banks now must take responsibility for knowing who their customers are and for sussing out unusual behavior.

????Kean says the Treasury has used its powers to disrupt the flow of money to al Qaeda, including tracking down individual financial deals.

????But it hasn't stopped terrorism.

????"A lot of what al Qaeda is doing now doesn't require a lot of money, like recruiting people over the Internet," says Kean, who notes that the amounts seem to have gotten smaller since 9/11. "That huge 9/11 operation only took $500,000 maximum."

????Bin Laden's death is an important moral blow to al Qaeda, but it is less of a blow to the organization's lifeline.