-Caveat Lector- http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/news.asp?ArticleID=36263
WJPBR Email News List [EMAIL PROTECTED] Peace at any cost is a Prelude to War! U.S. troops prepare for cave raids Kabul/Washington |Reuters | 26-12-2001 Print friendly format | Email to Friend The U.S. President George W. Bush telephoned the troops yesterday as they prepared a new push into the caves and tunnels of the Tora Bora mountains. It was still unclear whether Osama bin Laden, the United States's prime suspect for those suicide hijack attacks on New York and Washington, had survived the intense U.S. bombing that finally routed his Taliban protectors in Afghanistan. But the threat that cells of the Saudi-born Islamist's Al Qaida network may still be operational had the world on edge, with holiday travellers having to get used to having even their footwear screened at airports after a man tried to blow up an American Airlines flight with explosives hidden in his shoes. The U.S. forces girded for a new push in the hunt for bin Laden as the country's new interim leader, Hamid Karzai, pressed on with the task of extending his authority across a nation shattered by war into armed fiefdoms. A spokesman for U.S. Central Command in Florida said plans were still in hand for a fresh thrust – described as "imminent" on Monday by another U.S. officials – into caves and tunnels in the eastern Tora Bora area, where Al Qaida fighters made a last stand and where bin Laden was last said to have been sighted. Lieutenant Colonel Martin Compton said "nothing extraordinary" was going on and there had been no air strikes on Monday. But the troops had been told to keep their guard up: "We're just doing our job, remaining vigilant." At Bagram Air Base outside Kabul soldiers tucked into traditional turkey dinners – a welcome change from army rations – and read messages from New York children acknowledging the troops' role in responding to the attack on their city. "Merry Christmas. Thank you for fighting for us," wrote Jose Fortuna, an eighth-grader at St Michael's school in New York. A B-52 heavy bomber hit a Taliban ammunition bunker north of Kandahar on Sunday, setting off secondary explosions, and a nearby suspected Taliban cave complex, Compton said. One option for the Tora Bora caves is to use "thermobaric" bombs to blast the air out of the underground mountain warrens, suffocating anyone holed up inside. The Pentagon said on Friday that it was sending 10 of the experimental bombs to Afghanistan. Other officials said late last week that about 500 Marines had been put on stand-by on the ground to help search the caves. In Kandahar, the former southern stronghold of the Taliban, eight wounded Arab Al Qaida fighters armed with guns and grenades were barricaded in a ward of a local hospital after a failed attempt by U.S.-backed Afghan forces to flush them out. Troops were also out in the United States homeland, patrolling airports. *COPYRIGHT NOTICE** In accordance with Title 17 U. S. C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for nonprofit research and educational purposes only.[Ref. http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ] Want to be on our lists? Write at [EMAIL PROTECTED] for a menu of our lists! Write to same address to be off lists! <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
