Posted on 10/24/2001 2:25:45 AM PDT by JohnHuang2
ISLAMABAD, Oct 24 (Reuters) - The sole foreign envoy of the isolated hardline Taliban vowed on Wednesday that the movement would not hand over Osama bin Laden, even at the cost of every life in Afghanistan.
Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef said Afghanistan was ready to attack the United States -- if only it had the resources -- and vowed to kill Americans in revenge for their killing of Afghans.
"We are not going to hand over Osama bin Laden to them," he told Reuters in an interview.
"If they were to kill all of the nation of Afghanistan, we will not hand over Osama bin Laden because we have law, we have respect for the honour of Afghanistan, we have the culture of Afghanistan and this is against the culture of Afghanistan."
He did not rule out the possibility of negotiation to solve the crisis, but insisted that Afghanistan was ready to fight to the last drop of its blood in defence of honour.
The concept of honour is an ancient one among Afghanistan's ethnic Pashtuns, who live by a code called Pakhtunwali under which a family -- or a tribe -- can be damned for generations for an act that brings dishonour.
"We hope for our honour, and they should respect our honour and we are fighting for that, we are defending that," Zaeef said.
He was speaking on the 18th day of U.S. strikes on Afghanistan to punish the fundamentalist Taliban militia for providing a haven to the man suspected of masterminding the September 11 suicide plane attacks that destroyed the World Trade Center and sliced into the Pentagon.
The 34-year-old ambassador, who has become known worldwide for the almost daily news conferences that he conducts on the porch of his embassy, clad in white robes and a black turban wound around his head, showed little sign that he had been unnerved by the attacks.
LAUGHTER AND DEFIANCE
His remarks peppered by the bursts of laughter that have become a trademark of his public statements, Zaeef was firm and fiery about the determination of his movement that runs one of the most impoverished countries on earth to resist the might of the world's most modern army.
"If we are able to attack on America we should do that, but at the moment we don't know what we will do," he said.
"If we are able to kill the Americans, we want to do that. There is no question, no question, because they are killing us," he fumed.
"We must kill them, we must encourage the people to kill the American soldiers," he said.
"We don't want to, it is not our desire to kill American civilians...unfortunately the American people encourage their soldiers to kill the civilians of Afghanistan, this is their responsibility."
Zaeef predicted a protracted war that would damage all involved.
"I think this is not in favour of the Americans, nor in favour of the Islamic Emirates of Afghanistan (Taliban). This is damage for both sides," he said.
Zaeef held out little hope of finding a solution with the Taliban refusing to hand over bin Laden, and U.S. President George W. Bush saying the surrender of the Saudi-born millionaire militant was a non-negotiable aspect of his declared global war on terrorism.
"They have killed more than 1,000 people of Afghanistan and they have the responsibility on their shoulders for this," Zaeef said.
He dismissed U.S. reports that an air raid on the western city of Herat had mistakenly hit a home for the elderly, repeating that the stray bomb had destroyed a hospital and a nearby mosque.
NO OLD PEOPLE'S HOMES
"Afghans are different. In Afghanistan, if a father becomes old, then he keeps praying and fasting and he is kept at home and his children serve him. The Americans say it was an old people's home. This is not the Afghan habit," he said.
"They are telling lies and in Afghanistan there is no separate place for old people. Everyone keeps his mother and father at home," he said.
Washington has disputed a Taliban report that U.S. bombing had killed more than 100 people in a Herat hospital.
The United Nations said a military hospital had been destroyed in the western city of Herat on Monday, although it was unable to give casualty figures.
"This is a very, very hard and complicated issue," Zaeef said.
"I think there is no way to find a solution. This will continue for some time and this will be the cause and reason for the breaking of America, Inshallah (God Willing)," he said.
Zaeef pulled out the Taliban's oft-repeated criticisms of the U.S. approach to the crisis.
"America is cruel and they are using their power and arrogance against weak and poor people and I think this is not the way," he said.
He warned the United States that its persistent strikes would only harden the resolve of the Afghans -- known for centuries for their warlike defence of their land -- and breed yet more hatred.
"Hate is increasing," he said. "This is not a very good thing for them... And also for the Islamic Emirates of Afghanistan this is damaging because we are losing the economy, we are losing the people, we are losing other things and this is no benefit for any side.
"Only this is increasing enmity between the two nations. I think this is very bad," he said.
It's not the *impact*, dummy, it's the heat. Mountains do not burn for weeks. The rubble is still smoldering downtown. What substance could you record data on that will never melt when subjected to days and weeks of intense heat, regardless of the strength of the box it's contained in?
And don't tell me to "do a googlesearch". If you have sufficient facts to come to this ridiculous conclusion (SURELY you do, yes?), YOU post them. Let's hear the specs. Including all the physics proving that "the impact on the WTC was less than hitting a mountain". That's like saying the impact of hitting a parked car is less than the impact of hitting a brick wall at the same speed.
Right.
I have to assume that you are saying that America had to suffer the WTC attacks in order to not expose these same entities!
You assume 100% incorrectly. Would you care to try again? On second thought, don't bother.
How many times do I have to tell you this before it sinks in?
Just as soon as you start making sense, that's when.
Stopping an attack (presuming you have managed to gather enough information in advance to know it's coming) doesn't require giving away the particulars of what you knew, when, and how.
Showing your evidence to the public does.
You seem to have overlooked the additional problem of HAVING A SKYSCRAPER COLLAPSE ON THEM.
In any case, the blackboxes from the PA crash have been recovered and are readable, but don't add much to the evidence against bin Laden -- what did you expect, that the hijackers would start spewing the details of their conspiracy to each other in the cockpit, like some witless villain from a James Bond movie who feels a compunction to describe every detail of his nefarious plan to Bond just before he (tries to) kill him? Did you expect the hijackers to start naming their co-conspirators at that time, just for the heck of it? Did you expect the black box to record them making a cell phone call, saying, "Yo, Osama baby, just a quick call to see how you were doing before we slam into the building"?
If you trust everything that the authorities tell you, then there is no reason to even discuss these things.
Your hat is ready...
Oh please...since when did the Taliban ever care about their people? Gimme a break. That's like saying Saydamn Insane is up for Nobel Peace Prize.
Well... okay then, if that's your best offer.
I heard the leaders of diverse political nations attest to the fact that bin Laden is one of the culprits but most of all I heard my President and CIC tell me that bin LAden did it. End of story.
As for me voting for Clinton, buy a few clues! :-}
Thanks for telling me what everyone already knows. That was not my question.
Both can withstand 3400G's/6.5ms Impact ( Hint, much higher than when you fall off the barstool), and have fire resistance of 1100c/ 30minutes.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. They also have to survive a pressure test of 5000 lbs and submersion for 30 days in salt water. So what? None of the required tests, good as they are, apply in the case of the Pentagn and the WTC.
That is 100c higher than what the estimated temperatures in the towers were. Added to that, inside each is a CSMU, ( crash survivable memory unit) that is coustructed out of stainless steel , titanium alloys. It can withstand temperatures of 2000c for one hour.
But they've never tested to see how long-term exposure to intense heat LOWER than 2000c would affect the contents have they? You don't have that information because it doesn't exist. The tests attempt to duplicate conditions reasonably expected in a normal crash situation on land and in water. The Pentagon and WTC could not be described as normal.
You're also not making any distinction between the newer solid-state recorders and the older ones, which use magnetic recording tape. Many planes still use the older recorders. But I imagine either could melt under the right circumstances (the tape would simply melt faster). Insulation isn't a "forever" thing.
These have been used when the 'black box ' has been damaged and are referred to as virtually indestructible.
Except when they're destroyed by heat:
" Lopatkiewicz said there have been cases where recorders were rendered useless by fire after a crash, but he knew of no case where a recorder was destroyed by impact."
They'll be found eventually, but they may not have anything left inside them to read. There is no substance on earth than cannot be destroyed under the right circumstances.
Then "do a googlesearch", Clint. Jeez.
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