Al-Qaida able to strike again, U.N. report says

? The al-Qaida terror network has the money and recruits to strike again whenever and wherever it wants because a global campaign and U.N. sanctions have failed to stop the financing and support for Osama bin Laden’s backers, a U.N. draft report said Thursday.

Nearly a year after bin Laden’s al-Qaida supporters struck the United States on Sept. 11, the report said the measures adopted by the international community “have had a marked impact on al-Qaida, causing it to go to ground, to reposition its assets and resources and to seek new recruits.”

But the global campaign against terrorism has not stopped al-Qaida from developing operational links with militant Islamic groups in Europe, North America, North Africa, the Middle East and Asia or from gaining new recruits and continuing to have access to millions of dollars and a wide variety of weapons, it said.

“Al-Qaida, despite the successful inroads made against it over recent months is, by all accounts ‘alive and well’ and poised to strike again how, when and where it chooses,” the draft report said.

Al-Qaida supporters have indicated the likely targets are the United States, its allies and Israel, it noted.

“Given the opportunity they will have no compunction in killing as many people as they can from those nations who do not conform to their religious and ideological beliefs and who they perceive as their enemies,” the draft report said.

As a result, it said, all 189 U.N. member states need to redouble their efforts, both individually and collectively, “to bring to bare every legal means possible to fight this scourge to international peace and security.”

The draft report was prepared by an expert group authorized by the U.N. Security Council to monitor U.N. sanctions. Under a council resolution adopted unanimously in January, all nations are required to freeze the finances and impose arms embargoes and travel bans on individuals and groups associated with bin Laden, al-Qaida, and the Taliban wherever they are in the world.

A total of 234 individuals and groups are currently on the U.N. list of those whose assets should be frozen. The United States and Italy said Thursday they want 11 individuals and 14 organizations with alleged ties to al-Qaida added to the list.

After the Sept. 11 attacks, the draft report noted that hundreds of al-Qaida and Taliban operatives were detained and many more were sought and identified, but only a few were included on the U.N. list.

Despite initial successes after Sept. 11 in locating and freezing some $112 million in assets belonging to al-Qaida and its associates, it said only about $10 million has been frozen since January.

“Al-Qaida continues to have access to considerable financial and other economic resources,” it said.

Citing information from government officials and other sources, the experts said al-Qaida is continuing to receive financial support from bin Laden’s personal inheritance and investments, from its own members and supporters, and from contributions from charitable organizations.

Estimates of the value of the portfolio managed on behalf of bin Laden and al-Qaida by unidentified intermediaries range from $30 million to $300 million, the draft report said.