June 24,
2008: Most Arab nations have agreed on a
new set of regulations to crack down on terrorist fund raising and money
laundering in their countries. Until the recent defeat of al Qaeda in Iraq, it was
considered too politically risky to go after wealthy donors to Islamic radical
groups. Money laundering was another untouchable area, because corruption was
so common, and money laundering was part of that. But "reform" has become
increasingly popular in the Arab world over the past few years, and these new
counter-terrorism efforts are part of it.
It's no
longer fashionable to rejoice whenever a Islamic terrorist bomb goes off in the
West, or anywhere else for that matter. Since 2003, most of the al Qaeda
violence has been against Arabs, and after a few years of this, public opinion
turned on the Islamic terrorists. Public opinion wants these butchers shut
down. This means that those who support Islamic radicalism are no longer as
tolerated as they used to be.
Another
aspect of the crack down on money laundering is the growing popularity of
honesty is business and government. Lots of corruption is still tolerated, and
many Arabs insist that corruption is "part of the culture." But the money
laundering is seen as primarily criminal, a tool largely for gangsters and
terrorists.
How
successful these new agreements will be remains to be seen. It will be at least
a year before one can tell with any certainty.