The old reporters' exhortation: "Follow the money" has taken on a new urgency in the international fight against terrorism.

The ability of Al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations to function as fighters is directly dependent on their ability to raise money and to distribute it surreptitiously.

From the ancient bazaars of the Silk Road through the money changing capitals of the Middle East to the international money centers of the West, the terrorist money trails run swiftly and silently. Money raised in the United States quickly finds its way through offshore banks to accounts in Dubai and other United Arab Emirates states and into the black markets of Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Middle East.

Moving money through old-fashioned hawala money-changers who have adopted modern transaction methods, it takes little more than a phone call or an E-mail for terrorists to move millions of dollars in a split-second. In Pakistan - home to dozens of terrorist groups - the hundi system of black market money-changing and smuggling is so ingrained that some financial experts estimate it is at least as large as the conventional banking system.

The money-launders have vast advantages over the law enforcement forces arrayed against them since their transactions can be easily concealed in the flood of billions of dollars moved around the globe daily on behalf of anonymous customers. The problems are particularly acute with terrorists who have added new dimensions to the fronts favored by traditional drug smugglers and arms dealers.

The U.S. Treasury says al Qaeda, Hamas and other terrorist groups often operate through Muslim charities, charities that also perform some legitimate humanitarian work in areas of conflict where terrorists find fertile ground.

Those good deeds -- combined with the high social standing and political importance enjoyed by some Middle Eastern benefactors of those charities --sometimes have put the enforcement folks at the US Treasury in a quandary. Osama bin Ladin's large and wealthy family is one of the most influential in Saudi Arabia and disavows any connection with him. Yet, one Arab investment company, operating from the Bahamas and Switzerland, identified as a terrorist funding organization by the U.S. Treasury, claims a half dozen bin Laden family members as investors.

One of the charities the U.S. government feels it has overwhelming evidence about is the Holyland Foundation of Richardson Texas. U.S. government intelligence released by the FBI says money from the charity has been used to support the families of Arab suicide bombers on the West Bank affiliated with Hamas.

Over the last decade, Holyland has sent millions of dollars to Palestinian operatives on the West Bank and in Israel. And much of the money - says the U.S. government - has been used to set up benefits that help Hamas entice and recruit more suicide bombers. Still, the U.S. bureaucrats tracking the money trail sometimes have to wait to react to public events. For instance, it was not until a group calling itself the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades began taking public credit for the recent terrorist attacks in Israel, that the U.S. State and Treasury Departments moved to put that group on the lists of terrorists whose assets are to be blocked.

Aside from the difficulties inherent in tracking determined terrorists, politics often restrain U. S. law enforcement officials when they deal with reluctant allies. In many cases, the U.S. wants to show progress but fears angering allies whose appetites for cracking down on illicit financing arrangements can be fairly questioned.

So while the U.S. government publicly asserts that Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Pakistan and other countries are co-operating closely, the hard- to -discern facts suggest otherwise.

In March, in the first public announcement of a joint operation, the U.S. government said the Saudi government had jointly moved to close down terrorist funding being supplied by two branch offices of a large Saudi-based charity, al Haramain Islamic Foundation.

The two al Haramain offices closed are in Bosnia-Herzgovina and in Somalia, listed as lower priorities on the charity's website in terms of funding. The top two countries on the Al Haramain list outside Saudi Arabia: Yemen and the Philippines- two hotbeds of al Qaeda support. And while a top ranking U.S. Treasury official declines to characterize the two closed offices as rogue operations, he is unable to offer any explanation about why the Saudi charity continues most of its operations unhindered.

For news organizations then, the challenge is clear. Move beyond government pronouncements -- and keep following the money.