U.S. forces secured two compounds Wednesday in Bamiyan taking al Qaeda suspects into custody and questioning a group of Taliban prisoners. Ummm... Actually, it doesn't say if they were al-Qaeda...
CNN Correspondent Nic Robertson reports the following from Bamiyan: Go to it, Nic!
ROBERTSON: It all began unfolding here about seven hours ago [midnight EST]. About 12 or perhaps a few more U.S. Special Forces operatives came to a compound in the city of Bamiyan here. They were accompanied by perhaps about two dozen U.S. service personnel in regular Army uniforms. They went into a compound; they secured the compound area. They left and then a few hours later came back to the same compound. That's kind of a confused account, Nic. After they secured the compound area, did they all leave, or did some stay behind to make sure it stayed secured?
They took out two men from that compound. Both men had plastic bags over their heads. Both men were shuffling along and had their hands apparently tied behind their backs. Ummm... Judging from the descriptions, I'd say they were prisoners. What do you think, Nic?
We are told, according to local Afghan officials here, that both men were Pakistanis -- they were non-Afghans. It is not known yet how senior they were, either in the Taliban or the al Qaeda organization. Hmmm. Pakkos, are they? Well, they could be jihadis. Could be Talibs, for that matter, since a lot of them came from Pakland. Could be al-Qaeda, since they recruit world-wide, though the Paks don't appear to be at the very top of the list of their smart boys. Or they could be Qazi's provocateurs, meeting with the locals, which might constitute an unwarranted fiddling with the internal affairs of a sovreign nation. Or they could be ISI guys, which would really fire up the Afghan powers that now be. Bamiyan's Hazara country, and if they were Paks the Hazaras probably turned them in as soon as it was safe. They'll also probably disapprove of any breathing holes in those head bags.
But as part of the operation here in Bamiyan, the U.S. Special Forces and Army operatives also went to another compound. This was a prison compound where there's approximately 30 Taliban Afghan prisoners being held there. They went through this compound, they photographed every one of the prisoners, and they also took a hair sample. Ahah! They're operating on some sort of concrete information and they're looking for specific people. Who do you think they are, Nic?
The prisoners we've talked to said they took a hair sample from the side of their head. The hell you say?
They were all questioned about their names, about where they were captured, about how long they had been in detention. Approximately half of those prisoners were taken away, and just a couple of hours ago they were all loaded onto Chinook and Blackhawk helicopters and taken away out of Bamiyan, we are told, to Bagram air base, which is the main operational base of part of the U.S. forces here in Afghanistan. Hmmm... Took over a dozen of them with them? WHO THE HELL WERE THEY, NIC?
CNN: Give us the latest about what you're hearing about any potential sightings of Osama bin Laden and any other key al Qaeda leaders. Well, I don't think it was him they took away. Do you? Really, now?
ROBERTSON: We asked some of the detainees in the prison, had they got any information about Osama bin Laden? They said, "Look, no, we shouldn't be here, we're just poor Taliban fighters, we were forced to fight, we have no information, we don't even know about the nationality of these other people who were arrested." What'd you expect them to say, Nic? "I'm a big-time bloodthirsty terrorist? I'm a Taliban Founding Father?" If you're actually in jug, it becomes tough to get information, so maybe they should be asking you.
Sheesh. Thanks for the information, Nic.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
03/27/2002 ||
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The first major and sweeping policy changes since Sept. 11 will hit the Immigration and Naturalization Service in the next couple weeks as the embattled INS commissioner attempts to come out from under criticism that his organization is in massive disarray.
INS Commissioner James Ziglar is expected to unveil changes that include:
⢠shortening the length of visitors' visas from six months to one;
⢠implementing an Internet-based system to track foreign students;
⢠requiring schools to tell the INS about student attendance and dropouts;
⢠requiring foreign students to declare their intentions to attend U.S. schools before they reach the United States, rather than arriving and then seeking status changes;
⢠prohibiting foreign students from beginning classes until they are granted visas; and
⢠developing a system to monitor all who enter and exit the United States. Seems like the bottom of the list should be at the top of the list. It also seems like INS should be broken into pieces, with the State Department handling the visas and a police-powered intel service tracking all foreigners.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
03/27/2002 ||
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The Rev. Jesse Jackson is contemplating involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian dispute and has had "private conversations" with both sides about the possibility, according to Jackson's Rainbow Push Coalition office. Jackson initiated the idea and the telephone conversations with the two sides, according to sources familiar with the conversations. State Department officials said the department has not been informed about Jackson's offer and reacted skeptically about whether it would really happen. Hmmm... How much money's involved here?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
03/27/2002 ||
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Pakistan's government said Wednesday it was confident that fugitives Osama bin Laden and Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar were not in the country, and it would not allow U.S. troops to look for them here. Interior Minister Moinuddin Haider told Reuters in an interview that Pakistan had good control of its western border with Afghanistan and good cooperation with the semi-autonomous tribesman living there. As a result, neither Saudi-born dissident bin Laden nor Mullah Omar could have found refuge in Pakistan, he said, rebutting suggestions U.S. troops might need to cross into Pakistan to look for them or their supporters. "Nope. Not here. We'll let you know if we see them, though."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
03/27/2002 ||
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Defence Minister George Fernandes has said the possibility of a war with Pakistan cannot be overlooked and ruled out any reduction in troop deployment on the border till Islamabad gives a "positive response" in halting of cross-border terrorism. In an interview, he also said the U S will have to demonstrate its responsibility towards wiping out terrorism and not remain content by just making statements of intent. Got a little dig in at the US, did he? Well, I guess none of us is perfect, and if Gujarat was Rhode Island we'd have egg on our faces, too. He's referring to the State Department dithering after coming to the conclusion that Pakland's a total loss with no insurance. We'll get it sorted out. There are probably still a few people in the Halls of Power trying to convince themselves that the Paks aren't really perfidious murdering orifices and that they're not really already at war with us. The fact remains that the natural alignment is Indo-US, not Pak-US, if only because the Paks want to kill both of us. When war does come, it's quite likely to be an Indo-US effort.
"Our forces are facing each other eyeball to eyeball. In a situation like this, one should not overlook any possibility," Fernandes said when asked whether there was any threat of an armed conflict between the two countries. He, however, said, "we would like to resolve all the problems peacefully. We will continue to emphasise on this." I'd like to have my hair back, too, and be 30 again, if only for a day or two. We don't always get what we want.
Asked whether there was any change on the ground situation in Jammu and Kashmir to indicate Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf's implementing his pledges to end cross border terrorism, he said "there is nothing that can be interpreted as a desire on their part to end terrorism. There is no tangible change." Not only is there no desire to end it, they're reorganizing and putting more resources into it. Bad Paks!
To a query on how long the massive deployment of Indian troops along the Indo-Pak would continue, he said, "I do not think you can fix a time frame. It is difficult to say. Unless there is a positive response and Pakistan puts an end to cross border terrorism, one will have to keep them (troops) there." Everybody hates that "as long as it takes" time frame. It's so hard to make plans.
"There is enough evidence that Al Qaeda and Taliban have found shelter in Pakistan. One need have no doubt that there could be incursions into Indian territory by these elements. One has to take this factor into consideration to decide on how long one has to wait (regarding continuing troop deployment)," the Defence Minister said. All of Pakland's detritus that was thrown out of Afghanistan now has to be employed somewhere. There aren't enough chicken joints in the country to provide jobs for them, and the fundos are screaming against Perv, so might as well send them to Kashmir for a nice "war of liberation." That way they'll still be in harness and in fighting trim as soon as it's time to go back to Afghanistan.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
03/27/2002 ||
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Lebanese President Emile Lahoud, hosting an Arab summit that is supposed to showcase a Saudi plan for Middle East peace, sought to rescue it from collapse Wednesday after a Palestinian walkout. The Palestinians quit the morning session in fury over what they said was Lahoud's refusal to let their leader Yasser Arafat address the summit by satellite from his West Bank base.
Lahoud reconvened the meeting after a lengthy delay, saying there had been a "misunderstanding" over Arafat's speech. "I say we are all determined that his speech reach the summit and through it the world," he said. "We agreed with the Palestinians that it should be recorded and then broadcast to the summit because direct transmission would have given Israel the chance to interfere with the speech." But Palestinian delegates stayed out of the conference hall and one of them said they were waiting for Arafat, prevented by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon from attending the summit, to tell them whether they should resume their seats or leave. How do you say "laughingstock" in Arabic?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
03/27/2002 ||
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Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Abdullah asked an Arab summit Wednesday to back his plan for "normal ties" with Israel in return for an Israeli withdrawal from all occupied Arab land and creation of a Palestinian state. It should be based on "normal relations and security for Israel in exchange for full withdrawal from all occupied territories, recognition of an independent Palestinian state with al-Quds al-Sharif (east Jerusalem) as its capital and the return of (Palestinian) refugees." The Saudi leader appealed to the world to support "this noble humanitarian proposal which seeks to remove the danger of destructive wars and the establishment of peace for all the inhabitants of the region, without exception."
"I would further say to the Israeli people that, if their government abandons the policy of force and oppression and embraces true peace, we will not hesitate to accept the right of the Israeli people to live in security with the people of the region," Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler declared.
The Palestinian Authority immediately welcomed Prince Abdullah's plan and urged the Jewish state to respond. "The Palestinian leadership...asserts that this initiative represents a wise basis for a just and comprehensive solution and just peace between Arab states and Israel," said Khaled Salam, a senior aide to Palestinian President Yasser Arafat.
But Syrian Hereditary President Bashar al-Assad countered with a call for Arab states to back the Palestinian uprising by severing any ties with Israel -- a dig at Egypt and Jordan, the only Arab countries to sign peace treaties with the Jewish state. Well, there it is, after all this fanfare, on the table. $5 sez they bring up something similar five years and about 5000 dead from now. But in the meantime, the Syrians have reached a backdoor deal with Yasser to supply up to 500,000 barrels of vitriol a day at below-market rates.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
03/27/2002 ||
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Pakistan said three men suspected of killing U.S. reporter Daniel Pearl were still on the run within the country, despite last month's arrest of suspected mastermind British-born Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh. Interior Minister Moinuddin Haider also raised the possibility of Indian involvement in the kidnap and murder of the Wall Street Journal reporter in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi on Jan. 23. Omar and three other men were charged in a Pakistani court last week with Pearl's kidnap and murder and with terrorism. Haider said Omar remained the prime suspect, but said other people may have been involved in holding and killing Pearl. "Those people who abducted him, who kept him in a safe house or a hideout and those who killed him -- those three persons -- we are very much interested to apprehend them, to piece the real story together, to establish the real motives," Haider said. "Nope. Ain't seen 'em. You seen 'em? We'll letcha know soon's we catch 'em. Yup. Inspector Fatty Arbuckle's on the case, with the full backing of the Kops."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
03/27/2002 ||
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Tuesday night, a Palestinian gunman in a police uniform shot dead two international monitors near the West Bank city of Hebron in an ambush of their car, a monitor who survived the shooting and the Israeli army said. The Palestinian Authority denied Palestinians were involved. "Nope. Wudn't us. Musta been somebody looks like us. Saaaaay! You don't suppose some o' them Jews wuz around here, do ya?"
Israeli troops shot dead two Palestinian gunmen who tried to infiltrate a kibbutz in southern Israel overnight, the army said Wednesday. It said the gunmen threw grenades at soldiers who confronted them near Kibbutz Kissufim, near the Gaza border. The troops killed one gunman in an initial exchange of fire and shot dead the other after a chase. Two soldiers, including a colonel, were slightly hurt in the exchange of fire with the gunmen who belonged to the militant Islamic Jihad group. No Palestinians were involved in that, either. They were... Uh... Eskimos! Yeah. Damn them!
In Nablus, an Eskimo a Palestinian was killed while preparing a bomb in his apartment. Residents said the dead man, a 27-year-old activist in the Marxist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, often prepared bombs in the building. Palestinian police cordoned off the area after the explosion to defuse other bombs in the apartment, which witnesses said was frequently used by militants. Another man in the apartment was wounded in the blast and two boys playing in the street outside were moderately hurt, witnesses said. "Abdul, the boys across the hall are making bombs day in and day out. I think we oughta move."
"Don't be silly, Fatima. It's perfectly safe. They haven't had a single accident yet, have they?"
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
03/27/2002 ||
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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.
