Posted on 12/14/2001 2:14:25 PM PST by butter pecan fan
(CNN) -- Al Qaeda fighters trapped between the caves and the canyons around Tora Bora in eastern Afghanistan are battling Friday as if they're protecting something valuable, according to U.S. officials who openly speculated that they may be protecting Osama bin Laden.
Farther south, U.S. Marines didn't fire a shot as they took over the Kandahar airstrip and set to work preparing it for use. Military officials told CNN that the 1,500 Marines stationed at Camp Rhino southwest of Kandahar would eventually move to the airfield.
"My mission here is to secure the airport ... get the runway in better condition and open it up," said U.S. Marine Corps Gen. Jim Mattis, who leads the mission at the airstrip. "The Marines found enough explosives out there to have a big Fourth of July celebration."
Mattis said Soviet-era minefields dotted the area, and scattered groups of Taliban and al Qaeda fighters remained, but he added that he had no "big concerns" about the mission. The general said Marines expected to have all the unexploded ordnance off the runway later Friday evening. "In a day or two we'll have (the airstrip) wide open for use," he said.
At Tora Bora, U.S. bombs and Eastern Alliance ground fire hammered at al Qaeda positions in the snow-covered mountains. Afghan commander Hazrat Ali said Eastern Alliance forces are narrowing the locale in which the al Qaeda network can operate, telling CNN's Ben Wedeman that al Qaeda has suffered heavy casualties and is essentially finished.
In the midst of the airstrikes, alliance and al Qaeda forces traded heavy machine-gun fire. Alliance tanks also pounded al Qaeda positions. (Full story)
• John Walker, the American citizen captured with Taliban fighters in Mazar-e Sharif, has been transferred from a U.S. Marines base inside Afghanistan to the USS Pelileu in the Arabian Sea, Gen. Tommy Franks said Friday.
• President Bush said Friday he wanted bin Laden captured "dead or alive. It doesn't matter to me." Talking to reporters during a brief photo opportunity with the prime minister of Thailand, he said of bin Laden: "He may hide for awhile, but we'll get him." Bush also said it was "preposterous" to suggest the videotape of bin Laden released Thursday was doctored. "That's just a feeble excuse to provide weak support for an incredibly evil man."
• The Pentagon released a videotape showing bin Laden talking with associates about the planning and details of the attacks on New York and Washington. (Full story)
• There was heavy skepticism in some Arab and Muslim communities around the world about the veracity of the bin Laden videotape, with some calling it U.S. propaganda. (Full story)
• Texas officials on Friday withdrew their warning about a possible attack against Texas schools, saying the FBI has concluded the threat was "not credible." Wednesday, Gov. Rick Perry said the FBI had warned Texas of a "vague" and "unsubstantiated" threat that had been issued against the state's schools.
• All 15 European Union nations agreed Friday to participate in a peacekeeping mission to Afghanistan, pending the authority of the United Nations. Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel, whose country holds the EU's rotating presidency, and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana confirmed the agreement, which will mark the first time all members of the European Union are involved in a military operation.
• Anti-Taliban and U.S. forces continued to hunt for Taliban ruler Mullah Mohammed Omar and his supporters. The best U.S. intelligence indicated Omar was in Helmond province, to the west of Kandahar, a senior military official said.
• The British government on Friday passed its emergency antiterrorist legislation, but only after being forced to ditch a key element of the bill -- a controversial attempt to make a new criminal offense of inciting religious hatred. (Full story)
• The United States will reopen its embassy in Kabul this weekend and could re-establish diplomatic relations with Afghanistan's new government "relatively quickly," U.S. officials said Wednesday.
• Following a meeting with Director of Homeland Security Tom Ridge, California Gov. Gray Davis said the Bush administration is considering a national terrorism alert system similar to the one the governor proposed for California. Davis said he suggested a national, uniform four-stage alert system "so that everybody would be on the same page."
• Federal Judge Barbara Jones Thursday ordered Zacarias Moussaoui, a 33-year-old French citizen of Moroccan descent, moved from New York to Virginia to stand trial on conspiracy charges in the September 11 attacks. Moussaoui was arrested on immigration charges in Minnesota a month before the attacks after he aroused suspicion by trying to buy time on a jumbo jet flight simulator at a flight school. (Full story)
• Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said U.S. forces were conducting their last airdrop of humanitarian supplies over Afghanistan on Thursday. Myers said the airdrops had been rendered unnecessary by the increased flow of humanitarian relief supplies on the ground.
Oh yes, quite brilliant. Much better, than say, rounding up these a&&holes and kicking them out of our country and not letting any more back in...
That's cuz we blowed it up real good first! I saw another thread about the airport where it mentioned 200 to 300 dead arabs laying all around that (according to an anonymous NA guy), were buried with a bulldozer.
I never liked the use of that word. But since the president has chosen it in this event, it would be preposterous to not use it at every opportunity for the next week or so.
Oddly, this is my one real paraoid fear about this war. Our boys are now concentrated into a single geographic area. What happens if there is one, and they set the damned thing off in a last act of defiance? 9-11 would look like a stubbed toe in comparison.
What Clymer suggested it was doctored?
FReegards,
I'm sure the brig on the Pelileu is every so much more comportable than that shipping container. The interrogaters are probably better trained too.
Their goats, horses, and camels?
That's cuz we blowed it up real good first!
He only said not a shot was fired. Didn't say anything about bombs! ;)
Maybe it's the Al-Qaeda version of Area 51... ;)
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