Posted on 12/29/2001 2:10:03 AM PST by JohnHuang2
U.S. expecting more prisoners in Afghanistan
WASHINGTON -- American forces in Afghanistan are expecting to receive a growing stream of prisoners in the coming days from among the thousands captured by Afghan fighters. Some could face U.S. military tribunals.President Bush defended his plan to put terrorist suspects before a military tribunal, saying Friday that they will be treated more fairly than Americans were in the deadly attacks of Sept. 11.
The number of prisoners jailed at the makeshift detention center at Afghanistan's Kandahar Airport has risen steadily this week, and the Pentagon was expecting the addition of a couple dozen daily over the coming days, a defense official said.
At a news conference Friday at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, Bush pledged again that the United States would bring Osama bin Laden to justice, ``dead or alive.''
And though he expressed total confidence in how the war in Afghanistan is being waged, he emphasized that American troops will not be coming home soon.
``He is not escaping us,'' Bush said of bin Laden, whom he called a ``parasite.'' The president said he had seen only snippets of the terrorist leader's latest monologue on videotape. ``Who knows when it was made?'' he said.
While conceding that bin Laden's pursuers do not know where he is, or even whether he is alive, the president spoke of him as though he is on the run and still a danger to Americans. ``I hope 2002 is a year of peace,'' Bush said. ``I'm also realistic.''
BIN LADEN'S POSITION
Bush imagined the world from bin Laden's standpoint, assuming that he is alive. ``This is a guy who three months ago was in control of a country,'' the president said. ``Now he's in control of a cave.''
As of Friday afternoon, the number of captured al Qaeda and Taliban figures in U.S. custody was 70. Eight of these prisoners, including American John Walker, were being held on the Navy's amphibious assault ship USS Peleliu in the Arabian Sea, and the other 62 were in Kandahar.
Some U.S. Marines at the Kandahar base prepared to leave Friday, with Army and possibly Air Force personnel expected to arrive soon, defense officials said.
Afghan fighters hold thousands captured as they wrested control of the country from the former radical Islamic rulers and the al Qaeda terrorist network they harbored. Pakistan also holds hundreds of prisoners.
POOLED IN KANDAHAR
Now that a number of them have been determined to be of interest to the United States, they are being sent to Kandahar, the official said.
More of them can be accommodated in Kandahar, he said, because Marines have expanded the facility there to hold some 250. Afghan groups and U.S. officials have been sorting through prisoners for weeks to determine which might be useful for intelligence and which might be punished.
CIA and FBI agents are among Americans who have been interrogating prisoners to learn bin Laden's whereabouts, to determine which ones should be brought to trial and to try to get information about other terrorists or planned terrorist attacks.
Many of the prisoners will be sent to the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Thursday. Getting facilities at that base ready for the stream of detainees will take several weeks.
Bush has authorized the use of military tribunals to try terrorist suspects from other countries, and the administration is working to lay out rules for how such courts would operate. A draft of proposed rules for the tribunals states that a unanimous vote of a tribunal's military officers would be required to impose a death sentence on a foreign terror suspect, a U.S. official said Friday on condition of anonymity.
As a side note, the ASA shoulder patch has an eagles claw with part of the leg showing.
The leg part is black, like a crows.. The claw is holding 2 white lighnting bolts.
One of the nicknames given to ASA is hence "Old Crow & White Lightning."
There are several other nicknames, at least one of which is not suitable for posting.
The patch can be seen on my profile page as part of the NASAA emblem.
While I can't guarantee that OBL is dead, I do believe so based on
my analysis of the data made public.
I think it safe to say, that even if I'm wrong, he will be dead as soon as he's found.
There will be many more like him paying for the murder of your hero brother.
Thank you Maj. Steve Long for your service to our nation.
Bob
Sure that way they can become good little DemoncRATs.
This of course is just my opinion, and if he should surface I'll have to eat crow. (It wouldn't be the first time.)
Eventhough I hope you are right it seems to me if OBL were dead this information would seep out to his followers (and to our interrogators) and he would be a full fledged martyr. That in turn would further their cause. Since this hasn't happened I think he is alive, but I also think he is a dead man walking.
Last Sunday (8 days ago) I spoke with a Lt. Col in the Air Force. He says the Public knows very little of what's going on regarding the War. I asked him to elaborate, he said that he was not able to, but that the right people were in place, and were dealing with the problem effectively.
This is one reason I don't follow the "day-to-day" speculation in the media of were Osama is, whether he is alive, etc. They know nothing.
Which is exactly the reason for the "Elvis Bin Laden" award.
M.Thacher is one of FR's best information posters,
The "Elvis Bin Laden" posting award is aimed at the news source
and those that will believe it, not at the poster, who I admire and respect.
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