Sanctions aren't working

UNITED NATIONS -- The al Qaeda 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.\nNearly a year after bin Laden's al Qaeda 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 Qaeda, causing it to go to ground, to reposition its assets and resources and to seek new recruits."\nBut the global campaign against terrorism has not stopped al Qaeda 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.\n"Al Qaeda, 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.\nAl Qaeda supporters have indicated the likely targets are the United States, its allies and Israel, it noted.\n"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.\nAs 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."\nThe 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 Qaeda, and the Taliban-- wherever they are in the world.\nA 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 Qaeda added to the list.\nAfter the Sept. 11 attacks, the draft report noted that hundreds of al Qaeda and Taliban operatives were detained and many more were sought and identified, but only a few were included on the U.N. list.\nDespite initial successes after Sept. 11 in locating and freezing some $112 million in assets belonging to al Qaeda and its associates, it said only about $10 million has been frozen since January.\n"Al Qaeda continues to have access to considerable financial and other economic resources," it said.\nCiting information from government officials and other sources, the experts said al Qaeda 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.\nEstimates of the value of the portfolio managed on behalf of bin Laden and al Qaeda by unidentified intermediaries range from $30 million to $300 million, the draft report said.\n"The funds collected and disbursed by a number of Islamic based charities is proving particularly difficult for governments to monitor and regulate," it said.\nThe draft report called on states to exercise greater surveillance over the operation of charities and to make greater efforts to track down and close businesses and organizations supporting al Qaeda.\nMany countries in Europe, North America and elsewhere have taken steps to tighten banking regulations and to trace and block financial transactions which has led al Qaeda to transfer much of its financial activities to Africa, the Middle East and Asia, the draft report said.\n"Al Qaeda is believed to rely now even more heavily on hawala or other alternative remittance systems," it said, calling for increased vigilance of such transactions. Hawala refers to an informal network for transferring funds outside normal banking and government controls.\nThe draft report also calls for the U.N. list to be treated by all states as the authoritative list. It noted a reluctance by some countries to submit names of individuals and groups believed to be associated with al Qaeda.\nThe expert team said it was particularly concerned that five key individuals were not on the list: former Afghan prime minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar; Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the suspected chief organizer of the Sept. 11 attacks; Ramzi bin al-Shibh and Said Bahaji who are sought by Germany for complicity in the terror attacks and bin Laden's spokesman Suleiman Abu Gheith.