Times of India
KABUL/WASHINGTON: US warplanes launched a 12th day of airstrikes on Afghanistan Thursday as US President George W. Bush signalled the focus of the campaign was about to shift to the balance of power on the ground. "The enemy's air force and air defenses are being demolished," Bush said at a California air force base on his way to China for talks with other Pacific rim leaders. "We're paving the way for friendly troops on the ground to slowly but surely tighten the net to bring them to justice," he said.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
10/18/2001 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11128 views]
Top|| File under:
Chicago Sun-Times, by Robert Novak
With government service dating back 43 years, Donald Rumsfeld is accustomed to news stories that he does not like. But seldom does the secretary of defense get as exercised as he has been this week over accounts that the U.S. military had the Taliban's supreme commander in their sights Oct. 6, and did not pull the trigger. On the contrary, he says privately, a missile was fired at Mullah Mohammed Omar with undetermined results. Omar might have been hit by a missile fired by an unmanned CIA Predator reconnaissance aircraft, according to Rumsfeld's account (though this outcome would seem unlikely). His main message is that no rules of engagement prevent the U.S. military from eliminating the head of Afghanistan's rogue state. If U.S. forces locate the mullah, his days could be numbered. With President Bush ruling out negotiation, refusal to turn over Osama bin Laden could cost Omar his life. The 1976 order against U.S. assassination of foreign leaders has been interpreted by the Bush administration as not applying to the Taliban, which is viewed as a criminal gang without diplomatic status. To rid Afghanistan of the al-Qaida terrorist organization, the strategy is to form a government replacing the Taliban regime.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
10/18/2001 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11123 views]
Top|| File under:
An aide to Saudi-born militant Osama bin Laden was killed in Afghanistan when a grenade exploded in his hands, and did not die in a U.S. bomb attack, Afghan Islamic Press said. Abu Baseer al-Masri, an Egyptian, died in a Jalalabad hospital on October 13, two days after a grenade he was holding exploded, causing extensive arm and chest injuries, AIP said. Earlier reports had said the aide to bin Laden was killed by U.S. bombing around Jalalabad. The veteran fighter was a group commander for bin Laden's al Qaeda (the Base) network when he died in Jalalabad, one of the main targets of 13 days of withering U.S. air strikes. The London-based Islamic Observation Centre said this week that two of Abu Baseer al-Masri's comrades, a Chinese Muslim and a Yemeni, were also injured, although no details were given. Abu Baseer al-Masri was reported to have been in Afghanistan for the last decade and was a member of the Egyptian radical group, al-Gamaa al-Islamiya. Scratch that one off the list.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
10/18/2001 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11127 views]
Top|| File under:
(AP)
A leading suspect in a plot to attack the U.S. Embassy in Paris has told a French judge that Afghanistan's Taliban regime made a "pact" with al-Qaida and would have had to approve terrorist acts like the Sept. 11 suicide hijackings. Djamel Beghal, who French authorities believe is linked to bin Laden, told anti-terror Judge Jean-Louis Bruguiere of the pact during questioning in Paris on Oct. 1. The case file, which is sealed to the public, was shown to The Associated Press today. In his first interrogation in the United Arab Emirates, Beghal spoke in detail about being recruited and meeting at bin Laden's Afghanistan home with Abu Zubaydah, one of the suspected terrorist mastermind's top aides. Beghal also said he spent time at training camps in Afghanistan.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
10/18/2001 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11125 views]
Top|| File under:
(CNN)
British Defense Ministry sources said Wednesday that while the strike of a Red Cross warehouse in the Afghan capital, Kabul, was "regrettable," the compound that was hit housed Taliban guards and military equipment. And, the ministry sources questioned reports that there were symbols on top of the building that identified it as a Red Cross facility.
An International Committee of the Red Cross statement said the compound was 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) from the Kabul airport and "clearly distinguishable from the air" because its roof was painted with a large red cross on a white background. Tuesday, a Pentagon statement said 1,000-pound precision-guided bombs "inadvertently struck one or more warehouses used by the International Committee of the Red Cross." The statement said the bombs came from a U.S. Navy F/A-18 Hornet.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
10/18/2001 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11124 views]
Top|| File under:
Sydney Morning Herald
Scottish MP George Galloway was one of six Labour backbenchers who broke ranks to condemn the military action as "morally grotesque". A long-standing critic of Western policy in the Middle East, Mr Galloway warned that the bombing could develop into an "international catastrophe", even a world war.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
10/18/2001 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11125 views]
Top|| File under:
CBSNews.com
CBS News says an employee in Dan Rather's office has tested positive for the skin form of anthrax. The employee is being treated with antibiotics and is expected to make a full recovery. It's the same form of anthrax, the cutaneous form, that infected an aide to NBC's Tom Brokaw, after she handled a letter that was addressed to him. In Washington, the Senate was open for business Thursday, continuing work despite the anthrax scare that convinced House leaders to shut down operations through the weekend to allow for extensive environmental testing.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
10/18/2001 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11124 views]
Top|| File under:
Arab Press
Saudi ambassador Prince Bandar bin Sultan, delivered a letter of protest against "excessive behavior by American security agencies in relation to Saudis." The FBI has arrested and questioned 173 Saudis living or studying in the United States and fifty-four are still under investigation. Ahmed Qattan, director of bin Sultanâs office, said that the suspect Saudis are "generally in a satisfactory condition, despite individual cases of excessive interrogation and maltreatment by U.S. authorities." Since the attacks in New York and Washington, the Saudi embassy has assisted more than 395 Saudis return to the Kingdom and has appointed lawyers to defend all Saudis detained since then. Bin Sultan informed U.S. officials that a number of the Saudis appearing on a published FBI list of suspects âwere either alive in the Kingdom or had died long ago.â Saudi Interior Minister Prince Nayef said that it was not at all clear if Saudis were actually involved in the attacks, as the presence of Saudi nationals among âmore than 600 passengers on the four hijacked planesâ is not proof of anything.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
10/18/2001 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11127 views]
Top|| File under:
Ambrose Evans-Pritchard news.telegraph.uk
BELGIUM is refusing to co-operate fully in the fight against terrorism and has denied FBI investigators access to crucial witnesses. More than a month after the attacks in America, the FBI is still trying to obtain telephone records and contact addresses needed to track down the al-Qa'eda network in Europe.
American officials scoffed at Belgian claims yesterday that the dispute was because of the FBI's failure to follow "proper procedure" or that they had been given the material wanted. An official said: "Belgium signed an agreement to co-operate with America but we're certainly not seeing that kind of partnership yet."
Christian de Valkeneer, the Belgian judge in charge of terrorist investigations, has been "working to rule" to prevent FBI agents gaining access to his files. The delays may have allowed crucial leads to dry up. The Americans are itching to talk to Nizar Trabelsi, a Tunisian arrested by the Belgians two days after the September 11 attacks, but Judge de Valkeneer refused to hand over information about his network of contacts. According to the confession of Djamel Beghal, an Algerian terrorist now in the hands of the French, Trabelsi was preparing to carry out a suicide bombing mission against the American embassy in Paris.
In contrast Holland, Germany and Spain are working in a "joined-up" operation with the FBI, in some cases allowing Americans to take part in suspect interviews.
On Friday a Belgian court ordered the release of two terrorist suspects with al-Qa'eda ties who were caught with car bomb chemicals. Belgium is a leading centre of Islamic extremists, especially the Algerian GIA Armed Islamic Group, which is linked to al-Qa'eda. Judge de Valkeneer is no stranger to controversy. He has been accused of dragging his feet in an inquiry into foreign ministry corruption.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
10/18/2001 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11123 views]
Top|| File under:
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
