I’ve always thought it was a mistake for the Bush administration to emphasize state-sponsorship of terrorism over recognition of a broader insurgency throughout the Middle East. Going after networks like Al Queda is not, as Spencer Ackerman recently explained, “state-centric.”
But as it turns out, Bush can’t even get his mistake right.
Despite the Bush administration’s pledge to battle terrorist financing, the government’s average penalty against companies doing business with countries listed as terrorist-sponsoring states fell sharply after the Sept. 11 attacks, an Associated Press analysis of federal records shows.
The average penalty for a company doing business with Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Sudan or Libya dropped nearly threefold, from more than $50,000 in the five years before the 2001 attacks to about $18,700 afterward, according to a computer-assisted analysis of federal records.
Yep, penalties were worse before 9/11 than after.
In some ways, this makes sense considering the administration’s leadership. Dick Cheney, for example, opposed economic penalties against countries like Iran before he became VP because he wanted to help Halliburton make more money.
Making matter worse:
Nineteen executives or directors of companies fined by [the Office of Foreign Assets Control] for dealing with state sponsors of terrorism were top campaign fund-raisers for Bush.
Who could have seen that one coming? Oh right, everyone.