Is there a connection between conflict diamonds and terrorism?

It appears that there is a very strong link between conflict diamonds and terrorism. In fact, according to the FBI, al-Qaeda funds were invested in blood diamonds prior to the devastating attack on the World Trade Center in New York on September 11, 2001. Apparently, terrorists knew that their bank accounts would be frozen after the attack so they put their money in conflict diamonds. Al-Qaeda is among the terrorist groups that have a relationship with the rebels in charge of diamond trading in Sierra Leone, West Africa. These connections are often exploited to sell conflict diamonds that finance terrorist activities, as well as hide their funds and launder their money. Bin Laden's conflict diamond deals in the months preceding 9/11 were worth even more than the whopping sum of twenty million dollars. The attacks on the United States cost no more than half a million dollars, so the rest of their cash was in the conflict diamond trade. It is absolutely terrifying just how easy it is for terrorist organizations to take advantage of the conflict diamond trade to fund their operations and launder their money. They just cross borders with conflict diamonds and have them exchanged for currency whenever they need the cash. Many global newspapers have written about the millions of dollars worth of untraceable diamonds converted by al-Qaeda. Hence, even though there was an international agreement to seize bank accounts suspected of terrorist involvement, al-Qaeda still had a way to go on with its terrorist activities. It is terribly unfortunate that the conflict diamond trade exists at all, but when terrorism is involved the danger of conflict diamonds is raised to a whole new level. There's no question about it – the whole world should care about the issue of conflict diamonds because it truly is an international affair that opens a gateway to the end of the world as we know it.

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