Elementary, my dear Abdullah...

Oh...this is so golden (via: Ghost of a Flea)

Small investors in Gaza face losses as tunnel industry collapses.

I'll forego the rimshot...and urge you to read the article. It is comedy gold wrapped up in what can only be the most incredible lack of deductive reasoning ever.

Abdullah is one of thousands of small investors in Gaza who were tempted to put their money into the tunnel business. The Hamas government turned a blind eye to the trend since it was making good use of the income toward tunnels.

But now, at least on the surface of things, Hamas is showing much determination in tackling the trend. In recent days, rumors spread throughout the Strip that local police arrested a broker who collected an almost fictional-sounding amount of money -$480 million dollars – in investments.

Official sources in the Strip provided no details on the arrest, but unofficial reports said the amount collected by the broker in question was much lower.

Hamas sends out their "fund raisers" to sell investment shares in the creation of a vast array of "smuggling" tunnels. The investors (Gazans) somehow don't associate these "fund raisers" with the party that benefits the most from the tunnels (Hamas). Every once in a while they tempt the populace with a get rich quick scheme by paying off dividends. This bags more investors. The tunnels expand/ multiply while Hamas takes the money that their bag men ("fund raisers") collect to purchase weapons. It was a ponzi scheme to some extent.

The weapons are smuggled back into Gaza through these magic tunnels along with various contraband (that also creates a minimal profit). In short, it's an underground version of the Wal-mart sportsman department without a waiting period where the consumer finances the stock in advance.

I don't know which is more astounding...Abdullah not understanding that Hamas was using him to finance and transport guns/rockets/ ammunition...or Hamas stating that they were looking into the matter.