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By Charles Aldinger WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In a possible long-range link to al Qaeda, U.S. troops searching an icy Afghan cave this week found a global positioning receiver taken from a decorated U.S. soldier killed in Somalia in 1993, the Pentagon said on Wednesday. The name of Master Sgt. Gary Gordon, one of 18 Army special forces troops killed in a firefight with rebels in Mogadishu nine years ago, was found on both the satellite receiver and a pouch that it was in, defense officials told reporters. Pentagon officials have long suspected that the deaths of the Americans in Somalia, detailed in the recent movie "Black Hawk Down", was planned by supporters of fugitive al Qaeda guerrilla leader Osama bin Laden. Gordon, of Lincoln, Maine, was one of two U.S. soldiers posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor -- the nation's highest military award -- after the Mogadishu action. He was 33 when he died. Air Force Brig. Gen. John Rosa told reporters at a Pentagon briefing that the name "G. Gordon" was on the hand-held global positioning device, which allows the person holding it to determine his exact position within yards. The device was found in a cave high in Afghanistan's eastern mountains near Gardez, where U.S.-led forces this month attacked what were believed to be hundreds of regrouping al Qaeda and Taliban fighters in the 5-month-old Afghan war. "That's a good question -- one we've been doing some thought about," Rosa replied when asked if the device could establish a link between al Qaeda in Somalia and in Afghanistan. AN OBVIOUS TIE? "We've said all along that we suspected Al Qaeda of being a worldwide network," he said. "In fact, this piece we currently think originated from Somalia will obviously tie -- could obviously tie -- al Qaeda to Somalia." But he also said that the device could have been stolen in Somalia, sold on the black market and then somehow ended up in Afghanistan, where thousands of anti-Western al Qaeda fighters were trained in guerrilla camps. Rosa, a senior operations officer on the U.S. military's Joint Staff, said the receiver was a "civilianized" version of such devices that are now commonly carried by U.S. troops. On Oct. 3, 1993, when Gordon was killed, the military did not have many such devices. But those used at the time by hunters and boaters to determine their positions were often bought by American troops. "Back in '93, the units were a little bit bigger and more cumbersome," the general said. "And I remember a lot of our special forces folks would buy the off-the-shelf ones, the small ones." He said he thought the device found in Afghanistan was turned on but did not know if it was working. "It would help in command-and-control," Rosa said. "It gives your exact elevation and location. So for command and control, it would be able to help them." Rosa and Pentagon spokeswoman Victoria Clarke said that Gordon's family had been notified that the device was found. Gordon and Army Sgt. First Class Randall Shughart, 35, of Lincoln, Nebraska, were posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for bravery in connection with the Mogadishu action, one of the worst military incidents involving U.S. troops since the Vietnam War. |
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