Terrorism: My Anti-Diamond
There have been suspicions for a long time that Al Qaeda used the African diamond trade to launder money for its terrorist operations. Douglas Farah, 19-year veteran reporter for the Washington Post and author of Blood from Stones, has been convinced of this for years, but the following quote on page 171 of the 9/11 Commission Report (emphasis mine) shows that they didn’t reach the same conclusions:
Al Qaeda has been alleged to have used a variety of illegitimate means, particularly drug trafficking and conflict diamonds, to finance itself. While the drug trade was a source of income for the Taliban, it did not serve the same purpose for Al Qaeda, and there is no reliable evidence that Bin Ladin was involved in or made his money through drug trafficking. Similarly, we have seen no persuasive evidence that Al Qaeda funded itself by trading in African conflict diamonds.
News reports are showing up now, though, that seem to support Farah’s views on the matter. While they still say there’s no direct proof, the growing mountain of evidence seems to indicate that this may change in the near future.
I’ve always thought that diamonds were kind of a racket (and, due to uncertainties about tracking conflict diamonds, possibly contributing to tens of thousands of deaths). This sort of news is all the excuse I need to avoid buying them in the future. I doubt we’ll be seeing government-sponsored anti-diamond commercials on the air any time soon, though.
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Even if al-Qaeda isn’t involved, blood diamonds have been used to fund some of the most brutal civil wars in Africa. Sierra Leone, Liberia, DR Congo, Angola… just to name from the last 5 years. I have a friend who fled the war in Sierra Leone, so I swore off diamonds along time ago.
I’ve been a bit of an anti-diamond spokesperson among my friends for years…to no effect.
There’s got to be a beter way to get the word out to people about what these shiny rocks are
truely costing them.
Most of my friends and all of the people I work with just think I’m some loon when I talk about being anti-diamond. I get the same results as you Sara, scary that everyone likes to turn a deaf ear to it.
I’m researching the “anti-diamond” discussion, and I’m cusrious as to what kind of wedding bands are suggested in liu of diamonds.
Allysha,
My wife and I wear plain gold wedding bands, and so do a lot of people. Other precious gems are certainly pretty, too. If you must have a diamond, you could buy from dealers who only use Canadian diamonds, which are guaranteed conflict-free. Just Google “Canadian diamonds” and you’ll find lots of sites selling them.
problem with buying a Canadian or other “bloodless” diamond is that it still contributes to the overall demand for diamonds. I won’t have a diamond; a woman who NEEDS a diamond, or any other display on her body to make sure everyone knows what HE thinks she’s worth; well, she isn’t worth much, for one thing, and isn’t really in love, for another.
to follow up on Ryan Freebern’s comment, even “canadian diamonds” are not necessarily “conflict-free”. there was a recent CBC article about how some canadian diamonds extracted from northern ontario actually create many problems and conflict with First Nations communities.
see the actual article here: http://www.cbc.ca/consumer/story/2006/12/08/conflict-diamond.html.