Notre Dame Law Review Volume 80 Issue 2 Competing and Complimentary Rule Systems: Article 9 Civil Procedure and ADR 1-1-2005 Preventing Terrorism by Prosecuting Material Support Brian P. Comerford Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarship.law.nd.edu/ndlr Recommended Citation Brian P. Comerford, Preventing Terrorism by Prosecuting Material Support, 80 Notre Dame L. Rev. 723 (2005). Available at: http://scholarship.law.nd.edu/ndlr/vol80/iss2/9 This Note is brought to you for free and open access by NDLScholarship. It has been accepted for inclusion in Notre Dame Law Review by an authorized administrator of NDLScholarship. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. NOTES PREVENTING TERRORISM BY PROSECUTING MATERIAL SUPPORT Brian P. Comerford* The most important aspect of the war on terror is the application of the rule of law to break the backs of terrorist organizations.' INTRODUCTION In the years since September 11, federal prosecutors have intensi- fied their efforts to bring criminal prosecutions as part of the war on terror. An essential tool in these efforts is the material support stat- ute, 18 U.S.C. § 2339B, which prohibits the provision of material sup- port to designated foreign terrorist organizations. Using the material support statute, the government has charged a number of defendants in the war on terror, including John Walker Lindh and the "Lackawanna Six" defendants. Although often de- scribed as a terrorist financing law, 2 recent cases illustrate the impor- tance of the material support statute not just to restrict terrorist fundraising, but to combat all types of support to terrorist organiza- tions.