U.N. Report Warns of al-Qaida WMD Risk

UNITED NATIONS (AP) - 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.

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.

``The risk of al-Qaida acquiring and using weapons of mass destruction also continues to grow,'' the experts said. ``

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This is obvious and well known, and this is why we can't back down from the WoT.

Only people who don't want to recognize these dangers for political reasons (the Dems) claim otherwise, because to admit to this, would show that they are deliberately undermining Bush's efforts to protect the American people.

Then there are a few other people who live in denial for whatever reason.

The reality is that AQ may already have WMD -- we have found some evidence of that in Afghanistan. Remember those videos of the poor dog dying of poison gas?

Bin Laden British cell planned gas attack on European Parliament (Originally published in the UK Telegraph)

9/16/2001
A six-strong terror cell funded by the Saudi fugitive planned to kill all 625 Euro-MPs, and scores of officials, by releasing sarin gas into the parliament building.

The attack was scheduled to take place during the session of parliament from February 11 to 14 this year and was to be the first in a series of assaults against prominent buildings across Europe. Algerian terrorists based in London and funded directly by bin Laden worked with counterparts in Milan and Frankfurt.

The plot was foiled after German police smashed the Frankfurt operation in a series of raids. The British-based six men were arrested and charged with offences under the Prevention of Terrorism Act.

Between October 2002 and March 2003, huge convoys of 18-wheelers were streaming from Baghdad into Syria, loaded with undisclosed cargo, delivered to undisclosed destinations. The UN was wrangling about whether Saddam had violated the terms of various UN resolutions, and the response that should be made. As of the first of March, the warehouses and storage areas in and around Baghdad, Tikrit, Basra and Mosul had been stripped of all but a sizable amount of relatively conventional weapons, laboratories and manufacturing facilities had been scrubbed clean of all traces of biological or chemical weaponry, and various extraction and concentration devices for radioactive materials were dispersed into various hiding places.

One of the great sleight-of-hands of history. Now look, al-Qaeda has access to these hidden armories and munitions depots, ready to smuggle them to whatever other part of the world they believe will be vulnerable next. "Moderate" Muslims are not immune to their outright assaults, as observe what has happened in Saudi Arabia.

There is no sanctuary from the reach of al-Qaeda. The best that may be done is blunt the effects, and have sufficient knowledge of their locations to retaliate, or if the opportunity presents itself, a pre-emptory strike. Like hunting rattlesnakes into extinction.

Unfortunately, the technical difficulties are not that great if you have a competent bio-chemist at your disposal. All the equipment needed to make chemical and biological weapons is readily available and untraceable because it is all dual-use. The same equipment used for making fertilizer, animal feed, milk processing, or a hundred other legimate products will also make WMDs.

Remember the "baby milk" factory we bombed in gulf war one? U.N. inspectors later confirmed that when it wasn't making baby formulae, it was making bio weapons.

Bio-Chemical Weapons & Saddam: A History.

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