Posted on 11/17/2001 12:51:14 PM PST by t-shirt
Other countries could face US military action
Up to 50 states are on blacklist, says Cheney
Ewen MacAskill
Saturday November 17, 2001
The Guardian
The US vice-president, Dick Cheney, warned yesterday that after the Afghanistan campaign is over, America could use military action in a second wave of attacks directed against states which harbour terrorists.
Mr Cheney said that up to 50 states could be targeted for a range of action, from financial and diplomatic to military, on the grounds that they had al-Qaida networks operating there.
Somalia, the east African country which is a haven for al-Qaida supporters, would be high on any US list of targets, alongside Iraq.
Planners in Washington and London are considering the next steps. The ease with which Kabul has fallen has encouraged hawks within the US administration who are keen to extend military action, particularly against Iraq.
A Foreign Office source said: "Thinking is going on about a second phase but no decision has been taken yet and we would never speculate on it."
The British view is that direct military action against another state is unlikely and that action is more likely to be in partnership with other states against internal enemies.
Mr Cheney, in a rare public foray, said in an interview for the BBC's Pashtu service yesterday morning: "There are a great many places round the world where there are cells of the al-Qaida organisation. Maybe as many as 40 or 50.
"We're working with the services of other countries and other governments to try to wrap those organisations up."
This threat of military action serves a useful purpose for Washington, making governments more amenable to action against terrorism, either inside or outside their own boundaries.
The US defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, asked the Pentagon to come up with post-Afghanistan options in which they were to think the unthinkable. The resulting general command papers were reported to have been dismissed by Mr Rumsfeld for not being radical enough.
As yet, no specific military target outside Afghanistan has been agreed. That would change overnight if Osama bin Laden were to turn up in a country with close ties to al-Qaida, such as Somalia.
Somalia Somalia would be an easy target as it is a "failed" state that is even more run-down than Afghanistan.
Dominic Simpson, an analyst with the Kroll Middle East Monitor, said he thought the next phase of the military campaign might involve Somalia. "The sense of violation would be less than if the US was moving against a government that was functioning. It could be the next base for Bin Laden if he is not caught in the meantime."
Action in Somalia would offer an opportunity to settle an old score: 18 US soldiers were brutally killed there in 1993 and since then the US has been wary of committing ground troops anywhere.
Neighbouring African countries claim al-Qaida has been active in Somalia since 1993. They say it was the base for bombings of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania five years later and still has camps there.
If Bin Laden was to escape from Afghanistan, Somalia is one of the few countries left that might provide him succour, though it is a harder place to hide in.
German forces have served in Somalia before and the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung recently reported a plan for a joint US-German operation in which German troops would take Berbera, with the US taking the harbour and airport.
The US-German force could operate in alliance with one of the Somali factions or with the neighbouring Ethiopia.
The main Somali group identified by Washington as close to al-Qaida is al-Itihaad al-Islamiya (Islamic Unity), which is trying to take over a north-eastern region.
Yemen Yemen is home to several militant groups linked to al-Qaida. The remit of the government does not extend into tribal areas where such groups have their camps.
The danger was reinforced last year when al-Qaida operatives successfully launched an attack on the USS Cole from a dinghy.
The Yemeni president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, has been invited to the White House this month, suggesting the US wants to work in conjunction with the existing government.
Iraq Mr Rumsfeld has described as significant meetings in Prague between Mohammed Atta, a suspected leader of the September 11 hijackers, and an Iraqi intelligence official. However, a firm connection between al-Qaida and Iraq has proved elusive. Indeed, Bin Laden's people have fewer footholds in Iraq than they do in Britain.
However, Saddam Hussein, is regarded by Washington as one of the most dangerous leaders in the world, with potential access to weapons of mass destruction, and that is increasingly being regarded as sufficient justification for war. For many in the US administration, it is unfinished business.
Britain, though cooperating with the US in bombing Iraq in southern and northern no-fly zones in the past decade, is opposed to extending the war to Iraq because of the lack of a firm link.
The test of US intentions could come next month when the UN security council discusses sanctions against Iraq. Saddam's refusal to allow in UN weapons inspectors could turn out to be a casus belli.
Asia
Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia, which all have problems with al-Qaida groups within their borders and with Muslim militants in general, have agreed to combined operations.
The US, which has a good relationship with these countries, yesterday expressed a desire to participate in any such operations.
It is especially close to the Philippines, and has offered it a generous military package, with an emphasis on counter-terrorism.
Paul Wolfowitz, the US deputy defence secretary, recently told the Hong Kong-based Far Eastern Economic Review that he saw a clear need to confront al-Qaida in Indonesia: "Going after al- Qaida in Indonesia is not something that should wait until after al-Qaida has been uprooted from Afghanistan."
(2)Still virtually nothing is being done to deport and/or millions of illegal immigrants and terror linked foriegn individuals.
(3) Our government claims they have no living suspects involved in the September 11, 2001 attacks.
(4)Our government claims they have no suspects or arrests in the fatal anthrax attacks, despite the evidence against some middle Easterners.
(5)Yet our government seems sure without any evidence at all that whoever did the anthrax attacks had to be a lone American, possibly a right-winger.
(6) And let us not forget that those (who are dead) involved in the attacks on September 11th were mostly from Saudi Arabia(including the ring laeder Atta & bin Laden himself), yet the government never suggests Saudi Arabia as a target.
(7) Also let us not forget that many of the men were trained in the USA to be pilots with government loans and assistence, and were long on FBI, CIA, INS and State Department watch lists and should have been deported long before the 9-11 attcks occured!
(8)Yet before we bother securing America and thus preventing more attcks we talk about attacking other countries for "harboring terrorists", while our government is defacto harboring them here!
It is incredible to imagine that our government, under Clinton, decided to erase the fourth amendment, and to snatch Elian, breaking all laws, but turns a blind eye to these terrorist threats. The day of 9-11, all borders should have been closed. Don't you think it is time to stop saying we are a country ruled by law, but everyday, turn our backs on our laws?
My only hope here, is they are watching many, phones tapped, e-mails traced, and they are trying to catch the ring leaders and gather evidence before deportation...I hope that is their plan...
Why would we when we still allow our southern border to operate like an open door to a bank vault? This is in light of the fact that we know Mexican nationals are not the only ones coming over.
We know of nearly 100 Iraqis that were detained at the border, even though we swear to know that Iraq is training people to be terrorists on our soil. Still we allow the border to remain open. You will find no troops there, now or in the future!
There is an extreme need to tarnish constitutionalists in this nation. The goal is to make it completely impossible for anyone to champion the constitution and the rights it guarantees. We live in a time when everything our nation has every stood for could be destroyed in months time.
Correct! That is the exact premise behind the new bill for aiport security. We are getting rid of the security service here in Sky Harbor, Phoenix, AFTER Thanksgiving...it never ends!
As far as I know, when a person screws up on the job, they are fired! Oh! That doesn't make sense because we have so many laws to protect employees. Let's just make more laws to continue what is ineffective, and make us pay for it with our dollars. Why doesn't anyone see this part?
If you wonder why such dangerous characters were not denied visas prior to Sept. Look to the 1990 Immigration Act, sponsored by Sen. Ted kennedy (D-Mass.). Under that law, advocating terrorism, or even belonging to a group that engages in terrorism could not be used as grounds for denying a U.S. Visa.
With idiots like Ted (what a guy) Kennedy in government, we'll never be a safe nation. President Bush now wants to name the Justice Department after Ted's brother, Robert F. Kennedy. Folks this compassionate bullsh** can just go so far.
I like to hope that it's because they are really more useful to us here and that all their communications with the others back home are being closely monitored. I'm not sure it's really all that easy for the Arabs to move through Mexico without being noticed. There was a report here that the Mexican government has told the people over there to be on the lookout for Arabs, and if they see strangers traveling to try and talk to them and find out about them and report anything suspicious, which is more than they can tell us to do because we still have those politically correct types. Even if an Arab could look enough like a Mexican, they can't sound like one and I hear they're being caught over there and turned over to our INS.
I've believed all along that Somalia would be our next target. The Rangers must be 'biting at the bits' to go back. (No Clinton incompetents to deal with)
The enemies foriegn have always been there. So have the enemies domestic been here - and they're gaining a wider spectrum of operations.
Thanks for the post.
Well, that covers them all from Alaska to Wyoming. Grab your checkbooks and head for the bomb shelter folks ;-)
Far be it for me to tell the US what their policy should be. But I have noticed that a few too many individuals in these terrorist organisations are trained in the US.
Furthermore, I have educated friends who would love to live in the US. But they say at the embassy here its hard to get into the US and we are a friendly country (ignorant Prime Minister aside)! How it is these terrorists can get into the US is beyond me.
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