AndrewSullivan.com
THE TALIBAN'S METHODS: A former Taliban secret policeman debriefs London's Sunday Telegraph. What he describes is beyond belief. "As we drove around at night with our guns, local people would come to us and say there's someone watching a video in this house or some men playing cards in that house," he said. "Basically any form of pleasure was outlawed," Mr. Hassani said, "and if we found people doing any of these things we would beat them with staves soaked in water - like a knife cutting through meat - until the room ran with their blood or their spines snapped. Then we would leave them with no food or water in rooms filled with insects until they died. We always tried to do different things: we would put some of them standing on their heads to sleep, hang others upside down with their legs tied together. We would stretch the arms out of others and nail them to posts like crucifixions. Sometimes we would throw bread to them to make them crawl. Then I would write the report to our commanding officer so he could see how innovative we had been." Ah, but compared to the sins of America's genocidal leaders, these are piddling offenses.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/30/2001 ||
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Washington Times
Afghanistan's former king Mohammed Zahir Shah is expected to urge the Afghan people to rise up against their Taliban rulers in a message to be released within the next 48 hours, his grandson Prince Musatapha Zahir Shah indicated to ABC television Sunday. The king expects to return to the country he left 27 years ago as a constitutional monarch with the help of the United States and anti-Taliban rebels, his grandson said. "The king will be making a very important statement in the next 48 hours," said Shah when asked if the deposed monarch was to make a formal declaration that the Afghan people should rise up and remove the Taliban from power. King Zahir, who ruled Afghanistan for 40 years, has been living outside Rome since 1973 when his cousin Mohammed Dawood ousted him. In a brief message in Afghanistan's Dari language, the former king said "disunity has caused a lot of problems in Afghanistan and we have to unite and cooperate with each other in order to take our country forward."
This article starring:
king Mohammed Zahir Shah
Mohammed Dawood
Prince Musatapha Zahir Shah
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/30/2001 08:42 pm ||
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Lida Isamova Associated Press Writer
Afghanistan's opposition claimed Sunday that hundreds of Taliban soldiers had defected during three days of firece fighting in the country's northern mountains that have seen the opposition score major territorial gains. Fighting is raging on several fronts and "20 percent of the Afghan territory is now controlled by the northern alliance," an opposition spokesman, who goes by the single name Abdullah, told a news conference in the Tajik capital Dushanbe. The opposition alliance was estimated to have controlled about five percent of Afghanistan before the recent offensive and many are skeptical of their claim to now control 20 percent of the country. The rebel alliance claimed it had captured the Taliban-controlled Qadis district in the northeast. Alliance spokesman Mohammed Habil, reached by telephone, said 30 Taliban soldiers and their commander were captured, and another 120 Taliban troops had defected to the rebels. In Tajikistan, Abdullah said that more than 1,000 Taliban soldiers had defected to the opposition alliance over the past three days. The claims could not be independently confirmed.
This article starring:
Mohammed Habil
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/30/2001 08:44 pm ||
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BBC World South Asia
The trial of eight westerners accused in Afghanistan of preaching Christianity has been further delayed. Proceedings, which had been due to resume on Saturday, will now begin again on Sunday, Taleban officials say. This is to allow for legal procedures needed to arrange for the eight accused to be represented by a Pakistani lawyer, Atif Ali Khan, now in Kabul.
This article starring:
Atif Ali Khan
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/30/2001 08:48 pm ||
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Washington Times
A bipartisan delegation from Congress will meet former Afghan King Mohammed Zahir Shah today to demonstrate Washington's support for efforts to build a post-Taliban government. The delegation of 11 members includes Reps. Dana Rohrabacher, California Republican and vice chairman of the House International Relations Committee's East Asia and Pacific subcommittee; Curt Weldon, Pennsylvania Republican and chairman of the Armed Services military readiness subcommittee; the subcommittee's ranking Democrat, Solomon Ortiz of Texas; Silvestre Reyes, Texas Democrat; and Republicans Nick Smith of Michigan and Roscoe G. Bartlett of Maryland. "Ultimately our goal is to show support for the unity of the Afghan people. It's not a matter of eliminating [Osama] bin Laden. It's a matter of [eliminating] the whole terrorist network in Afghanistan. And the foundation of that network is the Taliban," said Al Santoli, national security adviser to Congress.
Afghan elders and military commanders met the former king of Afghanistan yesterday. King Zahir Shah, 86, who has lived in exile in Italy since 1973, has become the focal point of diplomatic activity to find an alternative to the Taliban regime in Kabul following the terrorist attacks on the United States. The former king wants to convene a grand council of elders, a so-called Loya Jirga, to try to rally Afghanistan's fractious tribes behind a government of national unity.
This article starring:
Al Santoli, national security adviser to Congress
Curt Weldon
Dana Rohrabacher
King Mohammed Zahir Shah
Nick Smith
Roscoe G. Bartlett
Silvestre Reyes
Solomon Ortiz
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/30/2001 08:56 pm ||
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Telegraph.uk
SPECIAL forces units are preparing to launch underground attacks on the network of tunnels and caves that conceal Osama bin Laden and his guerrilla fighters. The SAS and American elite troops will attempt to penetrate the fortified subterranean hideouts to kill or capture terrorists under plans being drawn up by military strategists for a "warning shot" in the war against terror.
Commanders know, however, that such close-quarter combat under the mountains of southern Afghanistan could lead to heavy casualties. Historically, Afghan fighters have used their detailed knowledge of the caves and hidden trails through the mountains to defeat invaders. Their ability to strike with surprise, then vanish, was the key to their success against the Soviet Army in the 1980s. Bin Laden's forces have burrowed a complex web of tunnels and caves beneath the mountains. Each base is defended by gun emplacements and anti-aircraft missiles launchers. The networks have dozens of escape tunnels and are linked to observation posts on mountain sides. An assault on one or more of the caves would need a substantial force of aircraft, artillery and airborne troops to support it. Air strikes with deep penetration weapons would begin the attack, to knock out defences and to blast holes into the caves.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/30/2001 08:59 pm ||
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KATHY GANNON : Associated Press Writer
A Taliban envoy said Sunday the Afghan militia has Osama bin Laden under its control at an unspecified location and is willing to negotiate with the United States if Washington provides evidence bin Laden was involved in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The offer to negotiate was rejected by Washington. The Taliban ambassador to Pakistan, Abdul Salam Zaeef said bin Laden was in an undisclosed place for "his safety and security."
"He's under the control of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan and only security people know where he is," Zaeef said. The Taliban envoy criticized the United States for failing to provide evidence linking bin Laden to the attacks that destroyed the World Trade Center and damaged the Pentagon. "The position of the two countries is very different," he said. "They are thinking of direct attacks. We are thinking of negotiation. They have provided no evidence but they want the man."
White House chief of staff Andrew Card quickly rejected any negotiations. "The president has said we're not negotiating," Card said on Fox News Sunday. "We've told the Taliban government what they should be doing. They've got to turn not only Osama bin Laden over but all of the operatives of the al-Qaida organization. They've got to stop being a haven where terrorists can train."
This article starring:
ABDUL SALAM ZAIF
Taliban
White House chief of staff Andrew Card
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/30/2001 09:08 pm ||
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The Globe and Mail
The leader of Afghanistan's hardline Taliban told his people Sunday not to worry about U.S. attacks on their country because Americans are cowards. "Americans don't have the courage to come here," Mullah Mohammed Omar said in an interview broadcast by Taliban-controlled Kabul Radio. He urged Afghans to remain calm and go about their business without trying to flee cities that might be targets of U.S. air strikes. Omar instead blamed the Sept. 11 attacks on American policies without stating which ones. "Whatever the Americans are facing is the result of their policies," he said, "and the U.S. authorities should review their policies and should not unnecessarily create problems for Muslims."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/30/2001 09:24 pm ||
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Manny Fernandez and Petula Dvorak The Washington Post
Anarchists in black bandannas, peace activists with banners and signs, and police in riot gear took over the streets of downtown Washington yesterday during the first major national anti-war protest since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
Young protesters, who beat drums and the bottoms of plastic tubs, shouted chants at stone-faced police in a tense standoff on one Pennsylvania Avenue block, while area activists and those who had come in caravans from California, New York, Ohio and Oregon called on thousands at Freedom Plaza to raise their voices for peace.
Such scenes had been anticipated for months by police, organizers and District residents, but the terrorist attacks softened what had been expected to be a clash between unprecedented law enforcement might and as many as 100,000 anti-globalization protesters. Yesterday's rallies, instead, developed into a largely peaceful display against military retaliation, marred by a few scuffles and three arrests during one of the day's two downtown marches. Eight more were arrested at the now-closed D.C. General Hospital in a related protest.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/30/2001 09:26 pm ||
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Reuters Attorney General John Ashcroft said on Sunday fresh terror attacks were likely and the risk of such strikes could increase following any military action in the U.S. war on terrorism. ``We believe there is the likelihood of additional terrorist activity,'' Ashcroft told CBS' Face The Nation. He added that the ``very serious threat'' of fresh strikes ''may escalate'' if the U.S. military retaliates for attacks on Sept. 11 in New York and Washington that left more than 6,000 people dead or missing.
This article starring:
Attorney General John Ashcroft
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/30/2001 08:46 pm ||
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LA Times
Former President Clinton, who has maintained a low-key public role since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Saturday praised the Bush administration's "measured" response to the crisis. Appearing with former Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole to announce a campaign to raise $100 million for a scholarship fund for children and spouses of the victims, Clinton said he is "very impressed" with President Bush's candor in preparing the American public for a long struggle. Dole, the former Senate majority leader who ran against Clinton in 1996 and lost, also commended the administration's "prudence and patience." He said Bush did the right thing in ignoring recommendations--most notably from prominent conservatives--for an immediate, "feel-good" counterattack. "We should not intentionally bring violence to innocent civilians living in Afghanistan, but it's obvious that the president and the national security team are trying to avoid that," Clinton said. "I think I can speak for all Americans in saying that I have been very impressed by the fact that [the Bush administration] told us the truth--that these are difficult decisions; the tactical decisions are difficult," Clinton said.
Clinton also said he "particularly appreciates" Bush's denouncing hate crimes and discrimination against Muslims and Arab Americans in the aftermath of the attacks.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/30/2001 08:54 pm ||
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Reuters
An Iranian navy commander said 41 U.S. and British warships had arrived in the Gulf and the Sea of Oman and Iran was watching closely for any sign of an attack on Afghanistan, the official IRNA news agency said Sunday. Admiral Hamid Valamanesh, whose country has campaigned against any U.S. military retaliation against Afghanistan for attacks on New York and Washington, said his forces were watching the U.S. and British ships ``day and night.''
This article starring:
Admiral Hamid Valamanesh
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/30/2001 09:15 pm ||
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AFP
The spiritual leader of the Islamic militant Hamas movement, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, accused Israel and the Jews Sunday of masterminding this month's deadly terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
We should worry about Israel because they say all Muslims are the enemy. They are behind what happened in America, the crippled preacher roared to a crowd of more than 3,000 at the Islamic University in Gaza City. The Jews are behind the events in September and maybe they used Islamic militants for these attacks, but they are behind it because they feel the Islamic world is dangerous. So they did they this to kill Islam.
Yassin, whose group has unleashed the majority of the suicide bomb attacks on Israel, was hitting out at the US manhunt for Saudi-born Islamic militant Osama bin Laden, the alleged plotter of the September 11 suicide jet attacks in New York and Washington. The fiery religious leader also vowed to forge ahead with the year-old initifada or uprising, which marked its first anniversary on Friday with blood-soaked demonstrations. "It is necessary to continue the intifada to reach Palestinian aims," Yassin said.
This article starring:
SHEIKH AHMED YASIN
Hamas
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/30/2001 09:05 pm ||
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www.abs-cbnnews.com
A little more than one year to the day terrorists attacked key symbols of America's economy and defense, then-US President Bill Clinton had stayed the hand of Philippine officials even after a decision was made for a full-blown military offensive on the Abu Sayyaf. "The military officials had prepared well for that assault. They were sure it would once and for all crush the backbone of the Abu Sayyaf. All they waited for was the release of the Sipadan hostages. But all of a sudden came this letter from President Clinton," deposed President Joseph Estrada recalled in an interview Saturday night.
TODAY obtained a copy of the September 14, 2000, letter from Clinton to Estrada, appealing for a halt in the planned military rescue operation and citing the great "risk to Mr. [Jeffrey] Schillingas well as innocent civilians and your own forces." Clinton cited the assessment of the US experts who "believe that a rescue attempt by your forces would be too dangerous at this time." Estrada lamented that the well-planned offensive, supposed to be mounted just after the Sipadan hostages were freed on the intervention of Libya, went to naughtand all because of someone he describes as "very likely a voluntary hostage," referring to Schilling.
This article starring:
Jeffrey Schilling
JOSEPH ESTRADA
Abu Sayyaf
President Bill Clinton
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/30/2001 08:53 pm ||
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ROBERT D. KAPLAN, LA Times
The democratically elected civilian government that Musharraf had overthrown--that of Punjabi businessman Nawaz Sharif--was notoriously corrupt, as was that of the previous democratic leader Benazir Bhutto. Indeed, Sharif amassed so much money while in office that it was feared he could buy off enough members of the National Assembly to erect a virtual dictatorship under the guise of parliamentary rule. Musharraf's military coup was initially greeted with relief by many Pakistani intellectuals and human rights campaigners.
But the Clinton administration apparently had no time for such nuances. So, it publicly humiliated Pakistan's ruler, even though he was the most westernized, pro-American officer likely to gain power in the strategically located country. Musharraf is a Turkophile. He spent part of his youth in Turkey. He idolizes the founder of secular modern Turkey, Kemal Ataturk, and has a dream of turning Pakistan into a South Asian version of Ataturk's republic.
But he is probably too late. Pakistan today is a poverty-wracked Yugoslavia-in-the making--with the added complication of nuclear capability. Islam has failed to provide the binding glue of national identity and, as a consequence, tribal identity has triumphed. Had Musharraf seized power sooner, or had someone like him ruled Pakistan in the 1980s in lieu of military dictator Gen. Mohammed Zia ul-Haq, Pakistan's situation would have been much better. Zia, politically weak and personally insecure at first, made an early alliance with fundamentalists that has been critical to Pakistan's institutional decline.
While television may now show Pakistanis as a united group of Muslims demonstrating against Musharraf's willingness to help America in its struggle against Osama bin Laden, Pakistan is far from united. The current unrest will likely lead to a weakened state, in which Sind in the south, Baluchistan in the southwest, Punjab in the center and the Pashtoon-dominated Northwest Frontier could assert separate identities, with each of those areas weakened by its own clan rivalries and large ethnic minorities. A drought that went on for years has left water and electricity shortages, further inflaming a population that boasts a high percentage of jobless young males.
Bush can pressure Musharraf as much as he likes privately. But, publicly, care has to be taken so that we don't seem to be bullying the Pakistanis, for that will surely lead to more unrest. Even if Bush combines subtle diplomacy with blunt military force, Pakistan could unravel.
This article starring:
Benazir Bhutto
Gen. Mohammed Zia ul-Haq
Kemal Ataturk
Nawaz Sharif
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/30/2001 09:10 pm ||
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Washington Times
Pakistan's military ruler Gen. Pervez Musharraf indicated Sunday that his government would allow U.S. ground troops to use Pakistani bases for operations into Afghanistan if Washington asked him to do so. However, Musharraf, during an interview on CNN, ruled out the possibility of Pakistani troops entering Afghanistan. Military action against Afghanistan's Taliban rulers is widely expected following American claims that they are harboring the men behind the recent terror attacks against New York and Washington.
"We have been asked for intelligence and information, airspace and logistic support and we will cooperate in all three areas," Musharraf told CNN's Christiane Amanpour, referring to American efforts to build a global military coalition to wage what U.S. officials have repeatedly called a war on terrorism.
This article starring:
Christiane Amanpour
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/30/2001 09:19 pm ||
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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.
