SAS troops clash with Taliban unit deep inside Afghanistan A Letter to the President Radar Data: Pentagon was Target of Flight 77 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ http://www.ctvnews.com/content/sitesections/1/810529.asp http://www.slip.net/~knabb/PS/gulfwar.htm http://www.theonion.com/onion3412/enemytryouts.html http://www.consortiumnews.com/Print/091701a.html http://www.iht.com/articles/33456.html http://www.securityfocus.com/news/257 In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
SAS troops clash with Taliban unit deep inside Afghanistan James Clark, Tony Allen-Mills and Stephen Grey, Washington http://www.sunday-times.co.uk/news/pages/sti/2001/09/23/stiusausa02036.html SAS troops in Afghanistan have been fired upon by Taliban soldiers in the first clash of the campaign against global terrorism. Nobody was hurt, military sources said, adding that the gunfire had been "more symbolic than directed". They suggested that the small SAS team had "spooked" Taliban soldiers near Kabul, who had fired indiscriminately before fleeing. However, the incident marks an escalation in what has so far been only an intelligence war. The Taliban are in a high state of alert for coalition forces waiting to enter their country. It is rare for Ministry of Defence insiders to confirm that their forces have been involved in skirmishes, but a source close to the SAS said there had been a clash late on Friday. SAS troopers, together with members of MI6 and the CIA, are working with the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance in the search for Osama Bin Laden, the Saudi-born millionaire believed to have masterminded the suicide hijacker attacks on America 12 days ago in which 6,818 are feared to have died. They are seeking intelligence about Bin Laden's whereabouts, the location of mines, routes he might take out of the country and the help of guides for later operations. Unlike their American counterparts, SAS troopers specialise in long-term operations behind enemy lines, making them ideal for intelligence-gathering missions in Afghanistan. The soldiers involved in the clash with the Taliban were believed to be from a four-man unit that had crossed the border, possibly from Tajikistan. The SAS men on the ground are communicating with commanders via RAF Nimrods from the secretive 51 Squadron, using state-of-the-art "squirt" radios to transmit large amounts of data in seconds, helping avoid either interception or pin-pointing by the enemy. American forces are also on the move. Advance units of two United States army divisions are on the Afghan border preparing for strikes against the Taliban regime. Units of the 82nd Airborne and 101st Air Assault Divisions arrived at bases in Pakistan, near the border towns of Quetta and Peshawar, as a huge build- up of ships, aircraft and troops ordered to the region by President George W Bush continued. A Pentagon official declared that the military was ready to respond "the second the president pushes the button". US military aircraft carrying reconnaissance equipment landed yesterday at a base near Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan. It also emerged that US attack helicopters are still stationed inside Uzbekistan after recent joint military exercises. Northern Alliance rebels were reported to be advancing towards Mazar-i-Sharif, a possible bridgehead into Afghanistan for American forces. The coalition operation inside Afghanistan coincided with intelligence reports that any further terrorist action would be radically different from the suicide hijackings that led to three passenger planes being crashed into the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon. "They've been there and done that," said one US government adviser. "The real fear now is chemical." It was revealed last night that crop-spraying planes had been grounded in America after police found evidence at a suspected terrorist hideout suggesting that plans were being made to disperse biological or chemical agents. In Britain, the security services believe the main threat could be the release of poisons into the air or the contamination of water. Proposals for emergency anti-terrorist legislation were presented to Tony Blair yesterday amid pressure from opposition MPs and some ministers for an early recall of parliament. Ministers and MI5 officials are concerned that any crackdown on terrorist suspects could fall foul of human rights legislation. They are pressing for a new "judge-proof" law to be rushed through parliament. David Blunkett, the home secretary, who has secured agreement for a European Union-wide arrest warrant and a faster extradition process, wants stronger powers to freeze or confiscate terrorist assets. American officials, who offered a $5m reward and protection for anyone providing information about the terrorist attacks, said yesterday that the threat of further assaults would not divert them from hitting Bin Laden's Afghan allies hard. "They are about to see what the wrath of God feels like," said one intelligence source. Military tension was heightened by reports in Pakistan that an unidentified reconnaissance drone had been shot down over Afghanistan. If the aircraft was American, the incident would indicate that US forces have launched scouting missions. The crisis was complicated by the arrival of Pope John Paul II in the Kazakh capital of Astana on a long-planned visit. Kazakhstan is close enough to Afghanistan for the Pope's security to be a concern should hostilities break out. At the presidential retreat in Camp David, Bush held a "council of war" with senior advisers. He was expected to sign an executive order identifying terrorist groups and placing a freeze on their assets. Today he will preside over a flag-raising ceremony when the Stars and Stripes will formally be hoisted back to full mast, signalling the end of official mourning for the victims of the attacks on September 11. US officials said the military campaign would fall into two phases: an opening salvo of missiles and aerial bombing restricted to targets inside Afghanistan, followed by a potentially protracted ground campaign spearheaded by American and British special forces. Early targets are expected to include the airport at Kabul, communications towers and power supplies. Terrorist targets in other countries might be considered once all US forces heading for the region are in place, the sources said. In the latest deployments, the US amphibious ship Essex left the Sasebo naval base in Japan, followed by the nuclear-powered submarine, Bremerton. The two vessels departed a day after the USS Kitty Hawk's aircraft carrier battle group left its home port near Tokyo. More than 100 warplanes, among them B-1 and B-52 bombers, are also believed to be ready to begin flying missions. Concern that Saudi Arabia was reluctant to let American commanders run an air assault from the Prince Sultan airbase near Riyadh receded when the US said its operation was "up and running". At home, Americans struggled to resume normal lives. A full programme of American football games was under way, with F-15 fighters ready to enforce no-fly zones over stadiums. Documents left behind by the hijackers had indicated some kind of follow-up action on September 22 - yesterday. The sense of unease was heightened by last week's economic free-fall on Wall Street, which suffered the worst one-week losses since the Depression of the 1930s. Israeli tanks entered a Palestinian-controlled part of the Gaza Strip last night and exchanged fire with Palestinian gunmen, a Palestinian official said. The exchange was apparently in response to mortar bombs fired at a nearby Israeli settlement, and is the most serious breach of the Middle East ceasefire insisted upon by Bush in the wake of the terrorist attacks. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit [This (very mild) letter was received from somewhere in Connecticut. It was written by someone calling him/herself Moll Cutpurse, who says s/he is adopting a nom de plume "with reluctance" -- an indication of just how fascistic people believe the United States has become.] September 22, 2001 Dear President Bush, I wish I could join you, Congress, and the major media in your advocacy of a military solution to terrorism. I wish I could share your vision of good combatting evil, freedom obliterating totalitarianism; I wish I could stand tall and feel the wind of national self-righteousness at my back, as you do. Nothing is more invigorating than a moral crusade in which the enemy is clear and heinous and deserving of annihilation. Nothing is more invigorating, in short, than black-and-white thinking. I know you joked, when you were at Yale this past May, about not having been a very good student. But surely you remember a little basic logic. Surely you remember that black-and-white thinking is so intellectually irresponsible that it has no place in educated discourse. You know what I'm talking about: the either/or fallacy. I heard an instant classic last night: "Every nation in every region now has a decision to make. Either you are with us or you are with the terrorists." The illogic of that statement is exceeded only by its arrogance. How dare we reduce complex political responses to simple binary code? How dare we imply that there will be a military price to pay for governments not willing to lobotomize themselves using our crude tools? Mr. President, if you truly can't imagine a legitimate political response that is neither "with us" nor "with the terrorists," then Yale has failed you, and you will surely fail us. I know you are walking tall these days--rising, as the media keep telling us, to the occasion. Moral certainty always adds a few inches, especially on television. But if, to preserve that certainty, you have to ignore U.S. culpability in making Afghanistan a haven for terrorists; if you have to pretend not to know why we are hated in countries we have attacked and exploited; if you have to banish from consciousness the blameless lives that will be consumed in America's revenge, then your certainty is as evil as the terrorists it condemns. Since you like simplicity, let me state my view simply. I abhor terrorism and grieve for its victims, yet I strongly oppose the military response you have announced. Though that response may promise to assuage our national hurt and outrage, it will likely just worsen the conditions that spawn terrorists. By all means, enjoy the ratings boost that bellicose rhetoric delivers, but please, when the time comes, don't back up the rhetoric with troops or high-tech weapons. Instead, why not use the current outpouring of world sympathy to to implement the anti-terrorist resources which already exist in international law and in world court jurisdiction? Sincerely, Moll Cutpurse Connecticut ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] =================================================================
Radar Data: Pentagon was Target of Flight 77 Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit [Contradicting eyewitness accounts and White House statements immediately following the attack on the Pentagon, radar data on the plane used to attack the Pentagon apparently show that it did make a sharp turn, but that the pilot's turn was executed deliberately and skillfully, long before Flight 77 approached restricted airspace around the Capitol. Early reports said Flight 77 made a dramatic turn away from the White House and toward the Pentagon, as if a group of disciplined terrorists had only just noticed that in addition to an empty political target, there was a viable military target in the region. The White House continues to dispute the radar data in these reports, through its resident aviation expert, Ari Fleischer.] AP via the New York Times - Sept 21, 2001 http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Attacks-Flight-77.html Radar Shows Plane Headed for Pentagon by the associated press WASHINGTON (AP) -- The hijacked plane that smashed into the Pentagon changed course without threatening the White House or Capitol, according to a radar track of its flight path. Though the White House and Capitol were evacuated, and some lawmakers speculated that one of those buildings was the eventual target of American Airlines Flight 77, the radar track shows the plane veering away from Washington before making a sharp turn and crashing into the Pentagon, a government source said. The plane, with 64 people on board, had taken off from Dulles International Airport en route to Los Angeles. It was hijacked in mid-flight and turned back east. The transponder, which allows air traffic controllers to follow the flight, was turned off. But a radar track shows the plane continuing to head toward Washington but veering away before entering the restricted air space in the nation's capital. The plane's average speed was an unusually fast 460 miles an hour. At the White House, spokesman Ari Fleischer saw it a different way. "That is not the radar data that we have seen," Fleischer said, adding, "The plane was headed toward the White House." Details of the radar track were first reported Friday in The Washington Post. (see article below) * Washington Post - September 21, 2001; Page A10 <www.washingtonpost.com> Hijackers Targeted Pentagon, Data Show By Don Phillips The primary target of terrorists who hijacked an American Airlines flight from Dulles International Airport appears to have been the Pentagon, not the White House or Capitol, sources close to the investigation said yesterday. Aviation officials have developed this theory after reviewing radar tapes showing that Flight 77 made a rapid, descending turn over Northern Virginia, nearly completing a full circle before it slammed into the Pentagon on Sept. 11, officials said. The plane never approached restricted airspace around the White House or Capitol and turned off a course toward the White House when it was about 10 miles away, according to radar tracks of the aircraft's movements obtained by The Washington Post. Vice President Cheney has said that Secret Service agents hustled him to the White House basement when they learned from the Federal Aviation Administration that Flight 77 "was headed on a track into" the executive mansion. Some members of Congress have also speculated that the White House or Capitol may have been targets of the attackers. Although it may never be possible to determine what the terrorists intended, the track flown by the Boeing 757 indicates that the hijacker pilot intended to hit the Pentagon and did so skillfully, officials now believe. "He made a nice coordinated turn," said one top aviation source, referring to a smoothly executed maneuver that would be made by a skilled pilot. According to a radar track taken from a long-range radar installation at Dulles, the aircraft was headed due east, generally toward the White House, but began gradually turning toward the southeast more than 10 miles away from the restricted airspace that surrounds the White House. At that point the plane was headed directly toward the Pentagon. The radar track shows that the 757 roared about 10 miles south of Dulles at 9:27:53 a.m., traveling at the unusually fast average speed of about 460 mph. By then, the pilot had turned off the plane's transponder, which reports an aircraft's identity, speed, altitude and other information. While the FAA could determine the aircraft's average speed, it could not determine its altitude. But investigators speculate that the pilot may have seen that he was too high to ram directly into the Pentagon from the northwest, and made a tight right-hand turn, losing altitude rapidly to approach the building from the west-southwest. The final radar signal from the plane came at 9:37:35 a.m., about a mile from the Pentagon, when the plane dropped below radar level. Radar tracks of the other three planes involved in the attack on New York and Washington show that all traveled at high speeds after they were hijacked - 400 mph to 550 mph ground speed.. The track of United Flight 93, the Newark to San Francisco flight that crashed in Pennsylvania after passengers apparently tried to overpower hijackers and regain control of the plane, shows unusual altitude changes before the Boeing 757's transponder suddenly stopped working. As it headed west at 35,000 feet, apparently in normal flight, the aircraft began climbing without authorization from air traffic controllers in the Cleveland "en-route center." Two minutes later, at 37,200 feet, the plane began making an unauthorized turn toward the southeast. Two minutes later it was at 40,700 feet. It descended to 39,700 feet before its transponder ceased functioning. Investigators are puzzled about whether the altitude changes indicate a struggle in the cockpit between the hijackers and the crew, because it seems unlikely that the turn would have been smooth if there were a fight. (c) 2001 The Washington Post Company ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] =================================================================
