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| Afghanistan |
| Al-Qaeda finance guy nabbed... |
| 2002-09-11 |
| Exactly one year after the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, U.S. forces in Afghanistan say they have captured at least two suspected al Qaeda members during their latest sweep. The two, including one man suspected of being a key financier for the terrorist network, were among nine detainees captured during Operation Champion Strike. Bingo! Wanna hear me ululate? Also seized were around 150 AK-47 rifles, 200 explosive booby traps, a mortar, several cases of hand grenades, rocket launchers, rockets, heavy machine guns and military communications equipment. "I mean, the elk were just gettin' out of hand. We hadda do something...!" Journalists covering the operation, which ended Wednesday, were barred from reporting the name of the al Qaeda suspects. The sweep began Saturday in eastern Afghanistan, about 175 miles south of Kabul, and involved nearly 1,000 soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division and the 1st Battalion of the 504th Regiment. Not a very long operation. Guess they got what they were looking for... Eight of the detainees were captured Saturday when troops raided a suspected al Qaeda and Taliban recruitment center near Afghanistan's border with Pakistan. Among the eight were two suspected al Qaeda members, including the financier, and one man identified by the soldiers as a "high-value target." One of the muckety-mucks... A U.S. soldier said he overheard one of the two men transmit a radio message before he was captured during which he said, "I'm surrounded by the Americans, I've got no way out." Tough, ain't it? The troops confiscated what one soldier described as a "bucketful of satellite phones, passports, a poster of Osama bin Laden, and Taliban and al Qaeda documents." They sure do like those posters. What's that the Koran says about making images and worshipping them? Guess I shouldn't ask, huh? In the second search, CNN's Ryan Chilcote accompanied the 1st Batallion — also known as the "Red Devils" — to the village of Sharip Khail, not far from the first targeted area. There, members of the Afghan Militia Force were fired on by unidentified gunmen as they detained a man in a residential compound. Whoops! Bad thing to do. Important safety tip: when surrounded by indignant armed Merkins, hide your gun in a haystack and look friendly... A U.S. Army sergeant told the village elder, "We are here to search your village ... we are not hear to take your things ... you have 10 minutes to get all the men, women and children here, don't leave anyone behind." After the village was emptied, the soldiers found AK-47 rounds in a mound of hay and, noticing a portion of newly mud-plastered wall, dug through to find 17 rockets and documents inside, including a postcard with Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar's name written on it and a document from the Pakistani Foreign Service. Yow. That one's gonna hurt somebody. I wonder if Powell's been on the phone with Perv yet? They also found rosters of names, Korans, English learning manuals, hand grenades and an anti-tank mine. "It's the intel mother lode!" The invaluable Steve tipped me to this one, too... |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |
| #2 A postcard to Omar? "Hey Mohammad - wish you were here - you should see the sights - oops, forgot about that eye thing - nevermind" |
| Posted by: Brian M. 2002-09-11 19:28:21 |
| #1 WOW, good news! I LOVE his last transmission: "I'm surrounded by the Americans, I've got no way out." That should've been captured on tape and now broadcast every 15 minutes on Voice of America broadcasts to Saudi, Syria, Iraq, |
| Posted by: Frank G 2002-09-11 16:49:36 |