Islamic clerics hold the fate of their people in their hands today as they consider what is worth more their long-time guest, terrorist Osama bin Laden, or the lives of the Afghan people. A Pakistani delegation carried the ultimatum to the Taliban and warned Afghanistan to be ready for a strike by the weekend if they did not hand over the terrorist, who is now the prime suspect in masterminding the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. For the Taliban, the Pakistani message serves as an urgent warning after many chances the United States has already given Afghanistan, which has harbored bin Laden through other events he is suspected of masterminding, such as the bombing of two U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania and the bombing of the USS Cole. For Pakistan, this is an historic opportunity to prove its support of the United States.
The Taliban's leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, gave no indication that he would hand over bin Laden yesterday, and the Pakistani delegation decided to stay for an additional day. This is an appropriate response, considering the alternative action they could face from the United States should they fail to cooperate. Pakistan has worked closely with the Taliban and is one of only three countries to recognize the Taliban as the legitimate government.
(Washington Times editorial)
This article starring:
MULLAH MOHAMAD OMAR
Taliban
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/18/2001 ||
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"If America attacks our homes, it is necessary for all Muslims, especially for Afghans, to wage a holy war," Mullah Mohammed Hasan Akhund,
"God is on our side, and if the world's people try to set fire to Afghanistan, God will protect us and help us."
the deputy Taliban leader, said Monday, according to the state-run Radio Shariat. "God is on our side, and if the world's people try to set fire to Afghanistan, God will protect us and help us."
The Taliban's Akhund said it was unimaginable that the Taliban or bin Laden could have played a role in the attacks, which left more than 5,000 dead or missing. "But the U.S.A. and all imperialists in the world, Jews and Christians and their supporters, are intending to destroy the Islamic order which has been established at the cost of your blood under this pretext," Akhund said. (MSNBC)
This article starring:
MOHAMED HASAN AKHUND
Taliban
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/18/2001 ||
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FoxNews.com
Many Pakistanis living near the border with Afghanistan say they are ready to join a holy war against America if the U.S. attacks Afghanistan. Religious leaders are calling for a general strike and street protests Friday to oppose military action.
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09/18/2001 ||
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Steven Morris The Guardian
The plane spotters clearly believed the rumours that the B-52s were on their way. Kitted out with reference books, notepads and cameras they had arrived early to grab the best vantage points at the perimeter fence of RAF Fairford, the Gloucestershire air base from which US bombing raids could be launched in retaliation for last week's terrorist attacks.
Immediately after the attacks, RAF Fairford was put on alert state Delta, one stage down from a full war footing, and US personnel and their families were told to consider themselves potential targets. Work was halted on a £55m refurbishment and upgrading at the base and 250 civilian workers were sent home. Fortunately for the military planners, work on the 10,000ft runway, one of the largest in Europe, was done and the airstrip is ready for use again. Yesterday the workers were back and understood to be putting the finishing touches to the "bomber loop", a holding area for bombers.
In the town yesterday the stars and stripes flew alongside union flags. Local people seemed resigned to the idea of American action being launched so close to home. Back at the base the spotters went on waiting for a glimpse of the B-52s. One of them, John, said: "All the signs are that they will be coming. There's a lot more activity than normal on the base and they are working flat out on the bomber loop. They'll be here."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/18/2001 ||
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CNSNews.com
Two U.S. Navy warships that have been patrolling the waters off New York City since the September 11 attack on the World Trade Center are headed overseas with part of an aircraft carrier battle group sailing Wednesday from Norfolk, Va. Two cruisers, the USS Leyte Gulf and the USS Vella Gulf, were called back from New York to join the battle group headed up by the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt. The deployment coincides with last week's terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C., and was previously scheduled, said Navy Lt. John Sharpe, a public affairs officer for the U.S. Atlantic Fleet headquarters in Norfolk.
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09/18/2001 ||
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Reuters
A hardline British-based Muslim leader has said that his group has issued a death threat against Pakistan's president for backing the United States following the attacks on New York and Washington. Sheikh Omar Bakhri Mohammed said his Al-Muhajiroun organisation had issued a fatwa, or religious edict, threatening Pakistan's military ruler, General Pervez Musharraf, whose backing for the United States has angered Afghanistan's ruling Taliban movement.
"The fatwa declares General Musharraf apostate and therefore Muslims in the army should not support him. They should punish him for his crimes."
Bakhri said: "The fatwa is calling on Muslims to stand together and support Muslims in Afghanistan and to reject the authority of Musharraf." Asked in a BBC radio interview if this amounted to a death threat, he said: "The fatwa itself, yes, declares General Musharraf apostate and therefore Muslims in the army should not support him. They should punish him for his crimes."
British Foreign Office minister Peter Hain said authorities would study Bakhri's comments to see whether they contravened Britain's recently strengthened laws against terrorism.
This article starring:
OMAR BAKHRI MOHAMED
Al-Muhajiroun
Peter Hain
Al-Muhajiroun
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/18/2001 ||
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Jim Memmott Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
For three days, Bill and Elma Sugra had been holding out hope for news of their son, Bill, 30, who had been in One World Trade Center when the plane hit last Tuesday. At 12:39 p.m. Friday, the phone rang in the Sugras' Allentown, Pa., home and a woman on the other end said she was a nurse at New York General Hospital. "My daughter handed the phone to my husband and then the woman said Bill was at the hospital with two broken arms, two broken legs, crushed ribs and a blood clot, and he is in critical condition and in surgery," said his mother. "She said to rush to the hospital. We were jumping up and down and saying our miracle had happened, and we were laughing and crying and hugging ourselves."
But before they started off for New York City, which is about an hour away, the Sugras tried to call the hospital. There was no listing for any New York General. Suspicious, they checked "call return" on their phone and figured out that the call had come from the 610 area code, their area code, and not from New York City. It was then they realized that the call had been a hoax.
"Words can't describe what we went through when we learned that," said Elma Sugra. "We had been sitting around since Tuesday waiting to get that call." The Sugras have notified local police and have been reassured that every effort will be made to locate the caller.
Their son works for eSpeed, the electronic trading unit of the U.S. brokerage firm Cantor Fitzgerald. His office was on the 103rd floor of the north tower, which was hit at 8:48 a.m. last Tuesday. About 700 Cantor Fitzgerald employees are missing.
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09/18/2001 ||
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The Herald-Sun gronberg@herald-sun.com
CHAPEL HILL -- Zoning inspectors made a Franklin Street restaurant take down a banner proclaiming "God Bless America, Woe to Our Enemies" after it spurred complaints from a citizen and at least three Town Council members. The weekend action against Top of the Hill restaurant invoked a provision of Chapel Hill's sign ordinance that allows downtown business to post temporary placards only if they measure 6 square feet or less.
Top of the Hill's banner exceeded the size limit, Town Manager Cal Horton and Inspections Director Lance Norris said. Horton added that administrators weren't trying to suppress the banner's message, which they assume expressed the reaction of Top of the Hill's owner, Scott Maitland, to last Tuesday's terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, D.C. "We don't care what the message is," Horton said. "What we were regulating was the size. A sign of 6 square feet or less would not be a violation of the ordinance, therefore we would not have issue with it."
But the Town Council members involved did object to the banner's message and were urging Mayor Rosemary Waldorf to relay their sentiments to Maitland even as administrators made their ruling Friday.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/18/2001 ||
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Robert Fisk, The Independent (UK)
Even if the Americans penetrated Afghanistan, their shells would only plough over the ruins. The Russians tried to destroy the Taliban's predecessors with 10 years of bombing, destroying whole villages, with their people, farm animals, fields, trees and mud huts. And still they could not get rid of the mujahedin, still they could not -- to use Mr Bush's inappropriately folksy phrase -- "smoke them out of their holes''.
With Pakistan as its only, broken ally among Afghanistan's neighbours, with no friends inside the country and 10 million hidden land mines lying across its mountains and fields and cities, Mr Bush's "crusade'' looks more than dangerous. We are now being told that the United States is no longer afraid to take casualties. America, the President says, will have to accept losses. He'd better be right.
This article starring:
Robert Fisk
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09/18/2001 ||
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Michael Moore
The amazing thing is that you can even still get a Wall Street Journal--anywhere and everywhere. As I write this late Sunday night, the captains of
The vast majority of the dead are those who labored to bring them that wealth, and it dishonors them and their families to so callously crank up the greed machine within days of this tragedy.
Capitalism are declaring that the stock exchange will re-open on Monday, even if they don't have running water and phones, just to show its enemies that NOTHING can stop the forward accumulation of wealth.
The vast majority of the dead are those who labored to bring them that wealth, and it dishonors them and their families to so callously crank up the greed machine within days of this tragedy. Their bodies--thousands of them--are still buried under the rubble down the street, but, hey, why wait to give them a proper burial--let's get busy making some money! I can only hope that the stench from the rotting corpses of their former employees will haunt them for the rest of the day and remain in their consciences for the days to come . . .
This article starring:
Michael Moore
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/18/2001 ||
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Jerry Falwell
I apologize that, during a week when everyone appropriately dropped all labels and no one was seen as liberal or conservative, Democrat or Republican, religious or secular, I singled out for blame certain groups of Americans.
This was insensitive, uncalled for at the time, and unnecessary as part of the commentary on this destruction. The only label any of us needs in such a terrible time of crisis is that of 'American.' . . .
I do not know if the horrific events of September 11 are the judgment of God, but if they are, that judgment is on all of America--including me and all fellow sinners--and not on any particular group.
This article starring:
Jerry Falwell
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/18/2001 ||
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Sources say relatives of Osama bin Laden are leaving Boston this week. The niece and nephew of bin Laden, Tamara bin Laden and Sultan bin Laden, both students at local colleges, have been ordered home to Saudi Arabia by their parents. The rest of the family - many of whom are living in Charlestown and Cambridge - are also preparing to go home. "The kids don't want to go but they have no choice,'' said one source close to some of the bin Laden family. "They go to school here, they are all smart kids and they have nothing to do with their uncle. But the bin Ladens don't think it's safe for them here.'' (Boston Herald)
This article starring:
Sultan bin Laden
Tamara bin Laden
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09/18/2001 ||
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Jennifer Harper THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Many habitual Bush-bashers are mending their ways this week. Journalists and news organizations once eager to pounce upon President Bush now step to the patriotic beat, unfurling banners of approval and applause. Seven days after the attack, print and broadcast outlets are awash in red, white and blue and are showing a healthy preoccupation with the public good. Celebrity journalists wear flag pins on camera, headlines reinforce national unity, news weeklies offer a more manageable dose of endless information.
In the past few days, outraged viewers railed against ABC's Peter Jennings after he said the president was "hiding behind the CIA" and questioned the legality of Mr. Bush's decision to muster troops, implying the president had not been properly elected. ABC correspondent Ann Compton also infuriated viewers when she said "you can run, but you can't hide" after Air Force One was diverted last Tuesday for security reasons.
Yesterday, readers' letters in the Los Angeles Times called for the resignation or an apology from TV critic Howard Rosenberg, who took potshots at Mr. Bush in a Sept. 14 column, calling him stiff and boyish, suggesting the president should function as a "national anchorman."
Last week, Newsweek's Howard Fineman wrote that Mr. Bush "has yet to find a note of eloquence in his own voice." Mr. Fineman changed his tune, noting the president had become the man voters hoped for, and that "Bush passed his first tests, but like the medieval knight, he's only begun his quest -- and ours -- for security and a new architecture to preserve it." Newsweek's cover yesterday proclaimed "God bless America."
Scripps Howard op-ed writer Dan Thomasson, who also initially criticized the president, came clean all together, writing: "I was wrong. Not only has this young president gotten his legs under him, he has convinced even his harshest critics that he has the stuff to lead the nation."
This article starring:
Ann Compton
Dan Thomasson
Howard Fineman
Howard Rosenberg
Peter Jennings
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/18/2001 ||
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AFP
Cyprus authorities hit back Tuesday at allegations by a former CIA director that the island was a haven for the ill-gotten gains of Osama bin Laden, wanted by the United States for last week's devastating terrorist attacks. James Woolsey told Italian newspaper La Repubblica that Cyprus was a refuge for bin Laden's dirty money. "Now the pressure on financial havens begins. We are asking them to coordinate their activities with us, but there are some countries that are reluctant to cooperate, and the worst of all is Cyprus," he alleged.
"If Mr Woolsey believes bin Laden's treasure is here, then the problem of international terrorism is solved," Cyprus Foreign Minister Yiannakis Cassoulides told state television Tuesday. He added: "He (Woolsey) should come here himself, tell me where it is and I will personally hand it over to him."
The minister accused the ex-CIA man of "negligence" for not offering information about where bin Laden's money was. "Who is this Woolsey? ... He should be punished with a 400-year prison term," said an irate Cassoulides. "Accusations are made against Cyprus without any specific evidence," senior central Bank of Cyprus official Spyros Stavrinakis said. "There are no bank accounts or Cyprus companies in the name of bin Laden but then his name wouldn't appear if he didn't want to be found."
The central bank official said Washington had approached the Cypriot authorities two months ago and asked for information about bin Laden's money. "They did not have specifics about accounts or transactions. So it's like looking for a needle in a haystack."
Cyprus has long been branded a money-laundering centre despite repeated denials of the government, but it has managed to stay off tax haven blacklists.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/18/2001 ||
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FoxNews.com
Iran has sent a message to the United States via Canada saying it will not oppose targeted military strikes against those believed responsible for last week's terror attacks, a Canadian newspaper said Tuesday. Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei Monday officially condemned the attacks but said punishing Afghanistan which seems an increasingly likely possibility might cause a human catastrophe.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/18/2001 ||
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FoxNews.com
Iraqi President Saddam Hussein on Tuesday condemned U.S. threats of war to avenge last week's suicide attacks, saying Washington did not have enough evidence to identify those who carried them out. "The United States has made the accusation before possessing the minimum evidence," he said, adding that America is using the attacks as a pretext to settle old scores with Islamic countries.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/18/2001 ||
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AP
Vigilantes broke up a candlelit vigil for the terror victims in America on Tuesday, kicking and arresting people gathered in sympathy for those who perished in New York and Washington. Onlookers said the vigilantes waded into the crowd of 4,000 mostly young men and women in Madar Square in Tehran, pulled out more than 10 people and handed them over to uniformed police, who looked on without interfering. "We were beaten up by vigilantes, but still it was worth expressing sympathy for the victims of the terrorist attacks in America," student Shokufeh Sadeqi, still holding a lit candle, told The Associated Press.
"We are here tonight to tell the American people that 'we are with you,'" said 20-year-old Mehrdad Hasani.
The crowd marched through the square shouting "America, condolences" and "Death to terrorists," when the attackers struck. The vigilantes seemingly operate outside Iranian law and against opponents of the country's hard-line Islamic leaders who hold most of the power.
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09/18/2001 ||
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THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat said Tuesday he ordered his forces to prevent any attacks on Israeli soldiers and to hold back even if fired upon. Israel responded by promising not to launch attacks on Palestinians. Israel also said it would withdraw troops from Palestinian areas it seized in recent days. Later Tuesday, dozens of tanks pulled back from the outskirts of the West Bank town of Jenin, witnesses said. Several hours after Arafat's announcement, two shooting incidents were reported in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. It was unclear what provoked them.
Both sides have been under pressure from the United States to work out a truce. Washington is trying to bring Arab and Muslim countries into an international anti-terror coalition it is forming in response to the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.
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09/18/2001 ||
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(AFP)
Prime Minister Tony Blair warned Afghanistan's ruling Taliban militia Tuesday to cease giving shelter to Saudi-born extremist Osama bin Laden or be treated as terrorists themselves. "The Taliban have a very clear choice, they either cease to help or harbour those that are fomenting terrorism or they will be treated as part of the terrorist apparatus themselves," he told the BBC in an interview. "They should consider very, very carefully the consequences" of not cooperating, said Blair, adding it is "important that the whole network of training people for terrorist attacks be closed down."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/18/2001 ||
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MSNBC
Unbeknownst to me, a lowly American reporter, the world press is in a lather about last week's terrorist attack on New York and Washington. All across the world, credible newspapers and columnists are unleashing a second attack on America, claiming that we are to blame for world terrorism and, for that matter, all the other problems in the world today. From almost the second I was introduced, other members of the panel went on the attack, putting me in the difficult position of having to defend decades' worth of American foreign policy rather than giving me a chance to explain what my country is going through right now.
"Isn't it true that America bears the blame for Tuesday's attacks?" asked one of the reporters.
"Isn't it true that America bears the blame for Tuesday's attacks?" asked one of the reporters. (I didn't get his name because I was busy translating the British.)
Another journalist, from an Arabic paper in Egypt, made it clear that he thought we deserved it. "It is your CIA and your FBI that caused this attack," he said. He even went so far as to claim that the American government is trying to foment "anti-Islamic" sentiment by releasing the names of the hijackers. "They released these names because they are Arabic-sounding," he argued. "Yet they have arrested no one!" I tried to point out that there was no one to arrestthey died on the planes, remember?but the host shifted us to another topic.
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09/18/2001 ||
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Charles Babington Washingtonpost.com
The Justice Department has detained 75 immigrants for questioning in last week's terrorist attacks, and it has expanded the amount of time it can hold alleged immigration violators without charging them, Attorney General John Ashcroft announced today.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/18/2001 ||
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TIM GOLDEN with JUDITH MILLER NY TIMES
Federal investigators are examining a possible link between the hijackers who crashed into the World Trade Center and operatives for Osama bin Laden who plotted to kill hundreds of Americans and other tourists in Jordan on Jan. 1, 2000, officials said yesterday. Two of the suspected hijackers, Ahmed al-Ghamdi and Satam al-Suqami, have been identified by federal agents as being tied to a former Boston cab driver who is now on trial as a suspected ringleader of the millennium bomb plot, which was foiled by the Jordanian authorities. Federal officials would not discuss the nature of the ties between the hijackers and Raed Hijazi, other than to say that all three of them shared a relationship with a suspected operative for Mr. bin Laden who also lived for a time in the Boston area. That man, Nabil al Marabh, 34, had been linked to Mr. al-Ghamdi and Mr. al-Suqami as part of an earlier investigation by the United States Customs Service.
This article starring:
AHMED AL GHAMDI
al-Qaeda
NABIL AL MARABH
al-Qaeda
RAED HIJAZI
al-Qaeda
Satam al-Suqami
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/18/2001 ||
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CBS News
CBS News has learned the United States received an intelligence report that Mohammed Atta, the hijacker who is named as the pilot of the first plane to strike the World Trade Center, met early this year somewhere in Europe with the head of the Iraqi intelligence service. U.S. intelligence officials believe the report to be accurate, but do not know if it is "smoking gun" evidence of Iraqi involvement. It is, however, the first solid indicator that a foreign state may have aided, abetted or had prior knowledge of Tuesday's attacks.
This article starring:
MOHAMED ATTA
al-Qaeda
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/18/2001 ||
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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.
