HOMELAND SECURITY locates Terror Org in USA

I sure could use some help tying to figure this out. After all I'm just a big dumb carnivore. I was reading this.

Terror Financing Fines Fall After 9/11

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.
etc.......
www.homelandsecurity.org...

The entire clip is a little way down in the narrow column on the right. Now I realize you do not have to necessarily be over intelligent to work for the government, I mean look at our President. But I clicked on the source and was moved to this!

"Vice President Dick Cheney was a vocal critic of trade embargoes while he headed Halliburton, a Houston-based oil services conglomerate, from 1995 to 2000. Under Cheney, Halliburton expanded its trade with Iran through an offshore subsidiary. That arrangement is now being investigated by a federal grand jury.

Nineteen executives or directors of companies fined by OFAC for dealing with state sponsors of terrorism were top campaign fund-raisers for Bush.
etc...

The AP used publicly available OFAC records to compile a database of penalties paid by companies for doing business with terrorists or their state sponsors. The database includes entries for more than 500 such cases since 1996.

Analysis of the database showed average penalties for violating the embargoes fell for every terrorism-sponsoring country after the attacks:

The average corporate penalty for doing business with Cuba was four times higher before the attacks. The pre-attack average penalty was nearly $98,000; the post-attack average was about $23,500. The State Department accuses Cuba of bankrolling some terrorist groups and sheltering members of Basque and Colombian terrorist organizations
etc....

abcnews.go.com...

Now, it seems to me that the editor of the Homeland Security Newsletter is doing her job by pointing out that the largest threat to Homeland Security is the Government
Now I am just a dumb Bear, so help me figure this out and put it in perspective.


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Jennifer Crook

This would have been an oppertunity to put some money into the treasury, but the problem is since these are the same companies that support terrorist that we as supposedly paying to reduce terrorism. Since reagan or earler, they are passing money back and forth with these companies and foriegn interests, but each time it changes hands, some gets shaved off the top and ends up in cronies pockets. This is how we get 500 dollar commode seats. The people in charge are the same ones that ran companies into the ground. I wouldn't be surprised to find a truth/dare game put him up to his actions in the WH.

Now he wants co-operation after he dismissed it days before 911, go figure

Homeland Security - George W. Bush news
AFTER BEING ELECTED FOR A SECOND TERM PRESIDENT BUSH STRESSES THE IMPORTANCE OF CO-OPERATION WITH EUROPE IN FIGHTING TERRORISM AND REALIZING A PEACEFUL SOLUTION. THE PRESIDENTS OF SYRIA AND LEBANON CONGRATULATE BUSH AND EXPRESS THEIR HOPES FOR A SERIOUS D 12 Nov 2004 19:09 GMT
... BEING ELECTED FOR A SECOND TERM PRESIDENT BUSH STRESSES THE IMPORTANCE OF CO-OPERATION WITH EUROPE ... UNDER INCREASING PRESSURE FROM THE U.S. President George W. Bush said last Thursday he earned ... outside the US Congress, the department of homeland security said. The high profile January 20 event ...
www.uspoliticstoday.com...

Is this newsletter offiicially affiliated with the Office of Homeland Security? From the front page of the newsletter:

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The OHS was officially established on October 8, 2001.
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As far as putting some money in the treasury,

A Treasury Department spokeswoman said that despite the smaller average fines, the administration was doing a good job of enforcing economic penalties against nations considered sponsors of terrorism. Molly Millerwise said the department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, or OFAC, "is committed to ensuring that U.S. entities abide by U.S. sanction laws. We are not in the business of making money."

Finally, it could just be that OFAC is doing a good job.

The smaller average fines could indicate that companies are making fewer large deals with terrorist countries, said Adam Pener, who advises businesses on how to avoid dealing with terrorist nations.

"I would argue this is a good sign OFAC is doing its job," said Pener, chief operating officer of the Conflict Securities Advisory Group. "OFAC in a lot of ways is a deterrent. Especially in the post-9-11 era, companies are policing themselves a lot more."

This would indicate that the amount of the fine is set by the size of the infraction, which would account for the lower average fine.

Am I missing something here?