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We cannot deal with terror. It will not end in a treaty. There will be no peaceful coexistence, no negotiations, no summit, no joint communique with the terrorists. The struggle can only end with their complete and permanent destruction...
(APPLAUSE)
... and in victory for the United States and the cause of freedom.
(APPLAUSE)
--VP Dick Cheney (Waldorf-Astoria 10/18/2001).
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This mighty rhetoric of destruction cannot be good for us. We must stop it
quickly, for the world is round, and the things we shout today will echo
behind us soon enough. The logic of "their complete and permanent
destruction" is a logic that respects no speaker. The leaders of the USA
have an obligation to adopt a rhetoric that will contribute to global
community, not global chaos.
--gmoses (email 10/19/2001).
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When Cheney gave a speech Thursday night in New York City, he noticed a sea change. As his motorcade went through Manhattan, people stopped their cars, got out and applauded.
During his short speech before the 56th Annual Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner, he was interrupted by applause 15 times.
On Friday morning, while sitting in his comfortable, well-lit West Wing office, he said with a smile, "There wasn't a dove in the room."
--Bob Woodward (Washington Post 10/21/2001).
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“None of the terrorist operations of al-Qaida could have been decided after May 2001 except with the accord of the Taliban and their chief, Mullah [Mohammed] Omar,” Beghal said....
Beghal, 36, a French-Algerian, was arrested in late July in Dubai with a false passport and extradited to France after the Sept. 11 attacks. In Paris, he has been under investigation for alleged participation in a plot to blow up the U.S. Embassy in Paris and other targets.
--MSNBC (10/19/2001). See Page G for background on Algerian GIA.
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The current spate of anthrax attacks on media and government buildings in the United States has heightened the undercurrent of concern since September 11 about the possibility of links between the perpetrators and the Iraqi regime. However, fears that the hidden hand of Saddam Hussein lies behind these attacks are based on rumour and speculation that, under closer scrutiny, fail to support the weight of the charge.
--Scott Ritter (Guardian 10/19/2001).
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The Pentagon has spent millions of dollars to prevent western media from seeing highly accurate civilian satellite pictures of the effects of bombing in Afghanistan, it was revealed yesterday.
--Duncan Campbell-UK (Guardian 10/17/2001).
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Very little of this background on bin Ladin as a creation of the United States has been brought to public attention during the past two weeks. Most of what we have seen and heard is related to the "solution", which is war. How much have we read or heard about those voices calling for alternative solutions to the problem of international terrorism? How much reporting have we seen on analyses of what has driven these people to such desperation that they carried out those attacks on September 11th?
--Philip Agee, author of Inside the Company (Stockholm 9/24/2001).
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The continuation of US attacks and the increase in the number of innocent civilian victims not only gives an excuse to the Taliban, but also will cause the empowering of the fundamentalist forces in the region and even in the world....
Only an overall uprising can prevent the repetition and recurrence of the catastrophe that has befallen our country before and with or even without the presence of the UN peace-keeping force this uprising can pave the way for the establishment of an interim government and preparation for elections. We believe that once there is no foreign interference, especially of a fundamentalist type, all ethnic groups of all religions, with no regard to the devilish designs of the fundamentalists, will, prove their solidarity for achieving the most sacred national interests for the sake of a proud and free Afghanistan.
--RAWA (10/11/2001).
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Given the apparent quality of the anthrax mailed to the Senate, the candidate list for an answer to the second question is small. High-quality anthrax was made by the United States, Russia, Britain and a few other cold war participants. The consequence of this is that there is a pool of scientists out there who have the know-how.
--Richard Butler (NYTimes 10/18/2001).
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The Taliban Foreign Minister, Mullah Abdul Wakil Muttawakil, has asked the Americans to slow down the bombing campaign so that moderates in the Afghan leadership can reconsider their refusal to hand over Osama bin Laden, according to a Western diplomatic source. And on the war front, Iranian state radio said U.S. troops landed from helicopters today near Kandahar in south-west Afghanistan, stronghold of the Taliban leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, and Osama.
--The Hindu (10/18/2001).
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The four terrorists convicted of bombing United States embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 were sentenced today by a federal judge to life in prison without the possibility of parole....
Mr. bin Laden, the leader of the Al Qaeda terrorist network, was also indicted for his role in the 1998 embassy attacks, in which 224 people were killed. He is being harbored in Afghanistan by the ruling Taliban and is the target of American military action against that country.
--(NYTimes 10/18/2001).
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Stunned and outraged by the killing of a far-right leader, the Israeli government issued the Palestinian Authority an ultimatum early today: immediately hand over the gunmen blamed for the killing, or Israel will treat the Authority as a terrorist organization and "act accordingly."...
In a statement, the Popular Front's armed wing said that "after a long surveillance operation," the attack was carried out by a "special squad." It said "the entire Zionist political echelon" was now its target.
--(NYTimes 10/18/2001).
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The search for foreign scapegoats in the "war on terrorism," when the money trail is followed, keeps turning back to the United States banks and financial institutions. Yesterday, the daily El Tiempo of Bogotá, Colombia, reported that 20 checks -- totalling $897,666 U.S. dollars -- were found at a paramilitary headquarters, and were used to buy arms and uniforms by the right-wing narco-terror group of Carlos Castaño and Salvatore Mancuso. The financial support for the group's massacres of civilians came from... the United States, specifically, through a bank or banks in Miami.
This underscores our point made in a Narco News editorial this week on White Collar Terrorists: We can point the finger abroad, but until United States banks and financial institutions are included in the search for guilty parties, future terrorist acts will continue, and inevitably include U.S. soil. Narco News is investigating which Miami bank or banks were used to fund the AUC, and will report any evidence that we find.
--Commentary (NarcoNews 10/18/2001).
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The bombing raids, which have been going on since Oct. 7, have been criticized by some of the nations participating in the summit, particularly the predominantly Islamic states Indonesia and Malaysia.
--ABC (10/17/2001).
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According to the findings of a recent poll conducted by Gallup Pakistan the Pakistani public is undergoing a set of complex emotions. Around half of them, 51%, say they favour General Musharaf’s policy on the current crisis, which is substantially higher compared to three weeks ago when the level of support was only 32%. Furthermore, 37% think that he has handled his job on this issue in a very good or good way. But having said that 83% of Pakistanis say that in the conflict between America and Taliban, their sympathies are with the Taliban. 82% of them believe Osama Bin Laden is a “Mjuahid” and not a terrorist and only 12% believe that he was responsible for the attacks on USA. Quite importantly only 16% favour that Americans should be allowed to use air bases in Pakistan, 75% are opposed.
--Gallup (10/15/2001).
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Pakistani officials met Monday with representatives of the former Afghan king as part of diplomatic efforts to shape a new government for Afghanistan if its Taliban rulers fall....
King Mohammad Zaher Shah held talks Monday at his Rome residence with French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine and Italian Foreign Minister Renato Ruggiero, but no details of the discussions were released.
--Amir Zia (AP 10/15/2001).
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Saba and the other RAWA activists favor the return of Mohammad Zaher Shah, the former Afghan monarch who was deposed in 1973. Through the agency of the ex-king, she says, Afghanistan could have a new leadership tainted neither by the abuses of the warlords nor by the restrictions imposed on women by the Taliban.
--via RAWA email (LATimes 10/15/2001).
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The Declaration of the Essential Rights of Afghan Women has been created for the future constitution of Afghanistan. No political groups (which in the current situation are tantamount to political parties) have had a hand in it. Planners, writers, drafters and signatories of this declaration have only been Afghan women from all over Afghanistan.
Organizers of the Dushanbe Conference that created the Declaration were only members and woman friends of Negar-Support of Women of Afghanistan. No political group of Afghanistan was or is involved in any aspects of organizing or financing of the conference or the Declaration.
--Nasrine Abou-Bakre Gross, Author of Steps of Peace and Our Responsibility as Afghans (kabultec 6/28/2000).
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Quoting unnamed sources, Mr. Asadollah Kuhzad, an Afghan journalist in Peshavar who covers the Afghan conflict for the Persian service of Radio France Internationale said America also supports the formation of a provisional government by Zahir Shah and plans to give aid of 350m dollars to this cause.
Former Afghan Prime minister Golbodin Hekmatyar [see RAWA commentary below], the leader of the Hezb Eslami, stating that the Afghan crisis could not be solved by outsiders and must be dealt among all warring parties, rejected both the meeting and the plan.
He said CIA was behind the project of forming an Afghan provisory government in exile.
Meanwhile, representatives from 42 different Afghan refugees organisations in Europe ended Monday their first gathering that was held in Holland to work out better co-ordination of their activities.
--Iranian Press Service (4/3/2001).
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The ignorant, democracy-fearing and woman-hating Taliban should understand that they cannot silence Afghan women's cry for national emancipation and human rights through religio-fascist terrorism. In the past their now-chastised brother-in-creed, Golbodin Hekmatyar, had perfected the use of terror to cow intellectuals and women. But his was a criminal exercise in frustration, as he not only miserably failed to "subdue" women but further strengthened the resolve of RAWA and other anti-fundamentalist women to fight this monstrous anachronism. To Afghan women, democratic forces, and entities supporting and advocating women's rights, such fundamentalist acts of terrorism further reveal the odious essence of these alien-dependent enemies of liberty and democracy, and serve to further strengthen their resolve to tirelessly and determinedly carry on the fight against fundamentalism.
--RAWA (10/10/1998).
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Sources from the Afghan Northern Alliance have confirmed that Afghanistan's hard-line Islamic warriors, the Taliban started demolishing Buddha statues in Bamiyan today. And they plan to destroy Buddha images all over the country.
--ABC (3/2/2001).
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Sonali Kolhatkar, vice-president and secretary of the Afghan Women.s Mission (AWM), said Afghan women had been leading normal lives prior to the United States. nurturing of the mujahideen to help battle the Russians.
--via RAWA email (The Star 10/15/2001).
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Secretary Powell, who met with General Musharraf this evening, plans to hold a news conference here on Tuesday before departing for New Dehli. He then will proceed to China, where he is to join President Bush at the summit meeting of Asian and Pacific leaders.
The secretary of state has conferred twice in the last three days with the United Nations secretary general, Kofi Annan, whose special envoy in Pakistan, Lakhdar Brahimi, will travel to Washington this week to share ideas with Mr. [Richard N.] Haass.
--(NYTimes 10/16/2001).
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A presidential order from 1976 bars political assassinations. The president can waive the order, as has been done for Osama bin Laden. But for the mullah, the Bush administration has invoked an old principle of warfare to overcome that restriction. It holds that the commander of an enemy army is fair game and that strikes against him are not an assassination, but an attack on the adversary's command and control....
At a briefing with Gen. Richard B. Myers of the Air Force, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mr. Rumsfeld declined to comment on the article in The New Yorker, saying the United States had a chance to kill mullah. The secretary, however, did discuss the problem of pinpointing the Taliban leaders and stressed that the effort would sometimes need to be based on imperfect information.
--(NYTimes 10/16/2001).
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At 8:53, after Flight 175 had screamed south over the Hudson Valley at about 500 miles per hour — more than double the legal speed — the reality was becoming clear to the controller on the ground on Long Island. "We may have a hijack," he said. "We have some problems over here right now."
--(NYTimes 10/16/2001).
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For many security experts, the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon are proof that we missed important lessons from Air France Flight 8969 and failed to make proper changes in aviation security. “As a nation, we just did not want to listen to the clues that were being presented to us, and the people who were saying ‘this is gonna happen, it’s just a matter of when and where,’” says retired Col. John Alexander.
--MSNBC (9/30/2001). For more info, see also Page G.
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JAMMU, India (AP) -- A senior army official said Indian forces shelled Pakistani military posts across the cease-fire line Monday in Kashmir, destroying nearly a dozen posts in the heaviest fighting along the disputed border in 10 months. Pakistan said a woman was killed and 25 people injured in the assault.
--(NYTimes Online 10/15/2001).
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1. With almost 700 suspects picked up in the U.S. and more in Europe, is anybody singing in jail? Have they been assigned wired Arabic-speaking cellmates? Are Muslim clerics being asked to help de-program any fanatics? Are we recruiting those we release for double-agent work?
--William Saffire (NYTimes 10/15/2001).
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The use of military force for self-defense is legitimate under international law. Military retaliation is not.
--Stephen Zunes (San Jose Mercury News 10/12/2001).
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Thus, to pursue a legal approach means assembling evidence of culpability and presenting it to the UN or the World Court. It means those agencies undertaking to apprehend and prosecute culprits. It does not involve victims overseeing retaliation without even demonstrating guilt, much less having legal sanction, much less in a manner that increases the sum total of terrorism people are suffering and the conditions that breed potential future terrorism
--Michael Albert & Stephen R. Shalom (ZNet 10/14/2001).
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For the American people, I would suggest that we do everything we can to restore our calm and our lucidity before responding to the situation. To respond too quickly before we have much understanding of the situation may be very dangerous. The first thing we can do is to cool the flames of anger and hatred that are so strong in us. As mentioned before, it is crucial to look at the way we feed the hatred and violence within us and to take immediate steps to cut off the nourishment for our hatred and violence.
--Thich Nhat Hanh (beliefnet.com).
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What can we do as individuals? I set this thought to prayer, and was reminded of some of the things that Algonquin Indian people remembered to practice in times of crisis. The Way of the Heron, the ancient Algonquin path of mediation, is a path to wisdom, that leads to greater understanding and peace. It is one of four paths to fearlessness and freedom that I have encountered while learning of the spirituality of the Algonquins.
--Evan Pritchard, Seven Tough Steps to World Peace (Marist College Teach-In 10/10/2001).
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Activist and academic experts will provide an update on threats from biological, toxic, and nuclear weapons and existing international agreements intended to minimize these threats. Discussions will cover the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC), the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty, the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). The United States government is sabotaging all four treaties: by rejecting a Compliance Protocol on the BTWC that is to be finalized in November in Geneva, by beginning to build a missile defense facility in Alaska, by refusing to ratify the CTBT, and by
developing low-yield bunker-busting weapons.
--Press Release (Oct. 26, 2001, Symposium on Weapons & War, Lutheran Church of the Reformation, 212 East Capitol Street, D.C.: cvazquez@iatp.org).
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The performance of the United
Nations in this area will not improve unless Member
States, and particularly those possessing the greatest
capacity and means to do so, are ready to participate
with soldiers, police officers and civilian experts, to
support cooperation between countries of the South and
of the North, including with equipment and training,
and to pay their fair share of the costs in full and on
time.
--Kofi Anan (Report on Implementation 10/20/2000).
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The Panel recommends a doctrinal shift in the use of civilian police, other rule of law elements and human rights experts in complex peace operations to reflect an increased focus on strengthening rule of law institutions and improving respect for human rights in post-conflict environments;
--Lakhdar Brahimi, etal. (Panel on UN Peace Operations 8/23/2000).
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Reaffirming that, as declared in article 28 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the rights and freedoms set forth in the Universal Declaration can be fully realized and that, as declared in article 25, paragraph 1, everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the full realization of economic, social and cultural rights,
--UN Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights (@WTOwatch 8/15/2001).
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