Al-Qaida determined to use chemical and biological weapons, U.N. panel says

11/15/03 | EDITH M. LEDERER

[kattracks]

UNITED NATIONS, Nov 15, 2003 (AP WorldStream via COMTEX) -- The al-Qaida terror network is determined to use chemical and biological weapons and is restrained only by the technical difficulties of doing so, a U.N. expert panel said in a confidential report. Sanctions on supporters of al-Qaida and Afghanistan's former Taliban rulers appear to be too limited to prevent them from obtaining weapons and explosives, said the report, obtained Friday by The Associated Press.

"The risk of al-Qaida acquiring and using weapons of mass destruction also continues to grow," the experts said. "Undoubtedly al-Qaida is still considering the use of chemical or bio-weapons to perpetrate its terrorist actions."

The only thing holding al-Qaida back from using chemical and biological weapons "is the technical complexity to operate them properly and effectively," the report said.

The five-member expert group led by Michael Chandler of Britain said it believes this is the main reason why al-Qaida is still trying to develop new conventional explosive devices, such as bombs that can evade scanning machines.

"In the same pattern, al-Qaida is also adopting new suicide bombing tactics, similar to those used by other terrorist groups, which involve the use of explosive belts," it said, citing a report that such belts were found in recent raids on religious extremists in Saudi Arabia.

The report is the second by the expert group established in January by the U.N. Security Council to monitor implementation of sanctions against 272 individuals and entities linked to al-Qaida and Afghanistan's ousted Taliban regime. The sanctions include freezing assets, a travel ban, and an arms embargo.

The experts said the bans were failing to stop Osama bin Laden's supporters, primarily because governments weren't enforcing sanctions and al-Qaida and the Taliban had found ways to circumvent them.

Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Yemen reported the arrest of individuals linked to al-Qaida and the Taliban, yet in most cases they didn't submit the names to be put on the sanctions list, the report said.

The report cited an investigation of two men on the U.N. list of terrorist financiers, Ahmed Idris Nasreddin and Youssef Nada, whose bank accounts have been frozen but whose other assets including residential or commercial property in Campione d'Italia and Lugano, Switzerland, and Milan, Italy, have not been touched.

On Jan. 28, it said, Nada traveled from Campione d'Italia to Vaduz, Liechtenstein, in violation of the travel ban and applied to change the name of two of his companies that were on the sanctions list.

While "important progress has been made toward cutting off al-Qaida financing," the report said serious loopholes remain that enable the terrorist network to funnel money to operatives.

"Al-Qaida continues to receive funds it needs from charities, deep pocket donors, and business and criminal activities, including the drug trade," it said.

It said al-Qaida has shifted much of its financial activities to areas in Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia that lack the resources or the resolve to closely regulate such activity."

The experts said they participated in a series of international and European discussions on efforts to curb trafficking in weapons of mass destruction.

By EDITH M. LEDERER Associated Press Writer

[prairiebreeze]

"Al-Qaida continues to receive funds it needs from charities, deep pocket donors,

[Cobra64]

"The risk of al-Qaida acquiring and using weapons of mass destruction also continues to grow," the experts said. "Undoubtedly al-Qaida is still considering the use of chemical or bio-weapons to perpetrate its terrorist actions."

This can't be. George Bush is a fraud and this whole Gulf War was cooked up in Crawford, TX.

Swimmer-Ted told me so.

[bjcintennessee]

Weapons of mass destruction?

What weapons of mass destruction? There were no weapons of mass destruction found in Iraq. Surely you aren't implying that Suddam gave these non-existent weapons to Al Queda with whom he had no ties. <sarcasm

[Cindy]

FT.com - FINANCIAL TIMES: "UN SAYS LACK OF WILL ALLOWS FUNDS TO AL-QAEDA" (November 13, 2003) (Read More...)

[ErnBatavia]

Mirroring Ann Coulter....this is all OK, if the Mohammedans are stupid enough to target "The Old Gray Whore"; such a thing might bitchslap the NYT back into reality.

[ExSoldier]

I have always said this....the main source for chemical weapons is the former soviet union. Warehouses FULL of artillery shells and chemical landmines that are lightly guarded if at all in a land that is cash poor and hardware rich. Binary munitions and chemical landmines are safe to handle and easy to detonate. Sheeesh the mines even have a manual done in easy to understand pictures so the average private from anybody's army can use them. You want to know how easy it would be to rig up a chemical minefield someplace it would really strike terror on the country....like a high school ball park? The chemical mines even look like baseball plates! Almost the same size. An attack like this in say South Florida or Atlanta sometime in the springtime, when weather conditions offer maximum persistency and lethality for the agent used is just a matter of time and proximity.

[MHGinTN]

The connections between Saddam and Osama, reaching all the way back to the early 1990's, the need for a country in which to train and hide ... these details seem to escape the democRATs plying their seditions. Look for Al Qaeda to increae their activities in the Balknas, in their effrot to obtain that which they cannot now produce while hiding in Afghanistan or Salman Pak, Iraq. If someone needs bitchslapped, it's the democrat party leadership. We cannot afford to allow those seditious bastards to regain power, and it is vital that more of them be voted out of office in 2004! Our nation's survival may just depend on it.