NEWS UPDATES/STORIES

This is compilation of stories in the press from both American and foreign news sources, from mainstream and alternative media. We are not responsible for, nor necessarily in agreement with, any of the stories here. Our aim is to present relatively unseen or unusual stories from generally respected media. We ask you to consider the source and its possible bias while keeping an open mind for verifiable facts and previously unknown information.

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All news stories are posted in reverse order, that is, with more recent news posted at the top.

NEW 10-23-01 U.S. bombings strike at Taliban frontline positions; once Northern Alliance captures strategic town, U.S. ready to move in from Uzbekistan. Reports of five U.S. commandos wounded; Britain says its soldiers may join ground troops.

Pakistani border guards open fire on Afghan refugees - hundreds of the waiting 15,000 refugees try to storm Pakistan border crossing. U.N. set to issue unprecedented appeal to halt Afghan war for winter for humanitarian reaso ns.

In related news, Saudis say they will side with any Arab target of U.S. anti-terror campaign, and Italian covert tapes point to Chinese link with Bin Laden. Indonesia's central bank is refusing US demands to freeze Bin Laden-linked assets, and 20,000 Yemenis add to world protest against U.S. continued bombing of Afghanistan (see headlines above for more on protests).

The U.S. buys rights to private satellite images of Afghanistan.

NEW A Taliban foreign minister defects to Pakistan.

NEW Taliban moderates secretly say they'll try to negotiate the turnover of Bin Laden to U.S. if the U.S. ceases bombing for a few days.

NEW The Taliban may lose a key city to opponents the Northern Alliance.

NYC ma yor Giuliani rejects $10 million from Saudi prince when Prince also asks U.S. to re-evaluate its foreign policy, specifically to "adopt a more b alanced stance" toward the Palestinian problem. The prince's comment, "`Our Palestinian brethren continue to be slaughtered at the hands of Israelis while the world turns the other cheek,'' was considered "part of th e problem" by Giuliani.

Democrats say Republicans playing politics in war on terrorism - Accuse GOP of using war for political purposes

10-10-01: Refugees becoming major problem in U.S.-led coalition against terrorism

10-09-01: Food drops are declared woefully insufficient to Afghan refugees; main aid agencies rej ect U.S. air drops. "...the US is prepared to drop, at its own best estimate, bare ly one quarter of one day's needs."

10-10-01: U .S. Senator Debates Anti-Terrorist Bill "...crucial that civil liberties in this country be preserved"

10-09-01: British say Islamic group taught combat classes in U.S.

The United States and the United Kingdom have begun air strikes

Latest - Attack on Afghanistan Begins

G-7 vows to smash terrorist financial networks - CNN

FAV Protecting the United States - "Is America ready, and more important, is it structured to deal with the long-term war against global terror?"

Islamic Republics : The future of the "Stans" - "Oil, Islamic fundamentalism, kidnap and ransom, alongside leaders who see their vast countries as personal fiefdoms, are just the surface issues"

Ayman Al-Zawahiri: attention turns to the other prime suspect

The New Gold Mines of Central Asia by Dr. Walid Majid, Institue for Afghan Studies

China-Israel ties worry US by Harvey Morris

Why Middle Eastern Terrorists Hate the United States

With us or against us -In America the "war against terror" sanctions some surprising alliances but covers a multitude of sins

Risks are seen in eased curbs on arms sales in South Asia
U.S. set to sell high-tech weapons to Pakistan.. could this destablize the Pakistan/India relationship?

FAV Tracking Terrorist Money -- Too Hot For U.S. to Handle? - by Lucy Komisar
7500 "non-published" - no record - accounts at European banks may be used by terrorists as well as multinationals at European Clearstream Bank-- called one of the "black boxes of financial globalization"

Some in G.O.P. Balk at Growing Federal Role By Alison Mitchell and Richard L. Berke
Apparently it's not unpatriotic for Republicans to disagree with the President.

Blasts from the past - The weaponry the Taliban could turn on us may be our own, the relics of a $7 billion Cold War campaign. - by By Ken Silverstein,

Florida's continued alert status criticized - By Peter Wallsten and Leslie Clark
"The order allows the state to, among other things, ``seize and utilize any and all real or personal property,'' order evacuations and ``regulate the movement of any or all persons to or from any location in the state.''"

Dallas lawyer confirmed as envoy to Saudi Arabia Lawyer with no diplomatic experience defended Dubya against insider trading charges

House panel passes anti-terror package - By JULIE MASON

FAV Republicans push for 'energy security bill'

Friends like these - by Eric Boehlert
Why did so many of the Sept. 11 hijackers have ties to Saudi Arabia? Why can't the U.S. use Saudi bases to fight the war on terrorism? What Americans don't know about their best Muslim ally.

How the plotters slipped US net - Duncan Campbell, The Guardian

Mainstreaming the Anti-War Movement -- Geov Parrish, AlterNet
" Almost immediately, there was a significant, and broad, counter-current to America's impulse for revenge."

US 'planned attack on Taleban' - By the BBC's George Arney

Threat of US strikes passed to Taliban weeks before NY attack - Jonathan Steele, Ewen MacAskill, Richard Norton-Taylor and Ed Harriman

Why? An attempt to explain the unexplainable --By Rahul Bedi

1998 meeting between bin Laden and Iraqi intelligence getting new look in attack investigation -- by John J. Lumpkin

Taliban invites Jesse Jackson to lead 'peace delegation' to Pakistan

US Government & Corporate Media Prepare for War; Anti-War Sentiment Growing - "There's anti-American economic sentiment -- the United States (as) the engine of globalization, which is seen as oppressive to people and to the environment. That's why the World Trade Center was hit."

Deconstructing the war of words - "Each side in this conflict has striven to lend legitimacy to its cause by employing loaded terms, which carry significant implications and specific connotations on both political and religious levels."

News agency receives purported bin Laden message

Taliban Threaten to Kill Remaining U.N. Workers in Afghanistan
The Taliban have threatened to execute any U.N. worker who uses computers and communications equipment in Afghanistan, forcing a near halt to the remaining relief work in the country, U.N. officials said Monday.

10-20-01 U.S. elite troops clash with Taliban - 100 Army Rangers battle over a Kandahar airport for hours before being airlifted out. A helicopter supporting a commando raid crashes, killing two Americans. The U.S. is counting on Taliban defector to break rule of Taliban head mullah, while also coordinating with anti-Taliban forces in the North. Taliban dismisses reports of ceasefire plan, says it's preparing for long ground war with U.S., but offers Northern Alliance truce, which is rejected.

Afghanis are panicking, fleeing the fighting. Aid agencies plead for pause in raids to deliver humanitarian aid, but British PM Blair dismisses calls for pause. The Taliban seizes 7000 tons of food from storehouses; U.S. has dropped 400,000 food packets total, serving one-tenth of Afghan refugee population for a day.

10-18-01
Heavy damage reported in bombed Afghan cities; U.S. apologizes for bombing of Red Cross warehouses . In the U.S., 'bioterrorism' (as yet unconnected to Bin Laden) threatens Senate building, media offices.

'US had specific information on Laden' U.S. took no action on March 2001 info

10-10-01:Bin Laden Played Down; Bush Pictured as Focused

10-10-01: Powell headed for Pakistan - Powell to cement support, defuse region's rivalry

10-10-01: Cruise Missile Kills Several in Kabul - Taliban

10-10-01: Terror suspects arrested in Milan

10-9-01: Third round of attacks on Afghanistan(BBC).

The Shameful Exploitation of a national tragedy - "it will be a handsome gift to the oil and gas industry, but a cruel hoax on the American people." - BuzzFlash debunks misrepresentations by oil interests

Senators Warn Americans on Attacks AP

Statement By Peace Action And The Peace Action Education Fund On Today's Military Strikes By The United States Against Afghanistan

NEW NATO to deploy AWACS in U.S. - Surveillance aircraft for anti-terrorism to operate in the United States

NEW Afghan Women Speak from Behind the Media Veil - by Laura Flanders
Women who know the Taliban talk about how the U.S. should respond to the September 11 attacks.

NEW The Wartime Opportunists - by Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman While Americans are distracted, corporate interests seek to ram through self-serving legislation

Afghan women fight for rights

National ID cards would be the dragnet we need - By Nicholas G. Jenkins and Amit Rind
National ID cards suggested as a prudent measure - despite fact that real bad guys could easily get around them (!?!?! - Eds)

As security measure, ID card is a phony

New Ripples in an Evil Story by - Sister Laetitia Bordes, s.h.
Bush UN appointee accused of serious human rights violations

The alert the US press failed to follow up
HOMELAND SECURITY: The men who warned the nation of impending attacks as early as one year ago were then and are now dumbfounded that no one listened

Afghans Ask bin Laden to Leave

Hike in US defence spending to benefit Osama's family: Report from the Wall Street Journal - by T V Parasuram, Hindustan Times
"If the United States boosts defence spending in its quest to stop Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden's alleged terrorist activities, his family may be the unexpected beneficiary of that"

Quick passage of Bush anti-terrorist package unlikely; Liberal, conservative lawmakers fear loss of civil liberties

Media Pundits Advocate Civilian Targets
"...prominent journalists have been advocating military strategies that violate the laws of war and mirror the strategies of terrorists. "

Who did it? Foreign Report presents an alternative view
Israelis suspect not Bin Laden, but Iraq, sponsored the WTC

U.S. drug war pays Afghans who aid terrorists who attack U.S. by John Smith
Is the War on Drugs clouding our judgement of who our real friends and foes are?

U.S. May Dump 'Infinite Justice' Name

Associates of bin Laden may have profited from terrorist attacks
NBC News has learned that investigators in Europe and the United States are examining whether Islamic fanatic Osama bin Laden may have financed Tuesday's terror assault on America by stock trades in European exchanges in the days before the attacks.

Key points in Taliban's supreme leader's statement Taliban leader claims accusation is American pretext, asks for evidence

Bush's Faustian Deal with the Taliban
Colin Powell announces a $43 million 'gift' to the Taliban last May


Participant Comments follow below
Get educated
For those hungry to learn more about the
crisis facing the U.S., a reading list.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
By Salon's staff

http://www.salon.com:80/books/feature/2001/09/28/booklist/index.html


Mariposa
10/15/01 14:26:53 MDT
Connecting


Not sure where to post this but this is seems like a great way
to share and connect and take an active part in the gathering
and dissimation of news. Morpheus is one of the more popular
alternatives to napster. You can share all kinds of files and
not just mp3's.

This is taken from the Morpheus program:

Have you realized that most of the world's Visual News is filtered, and provided from only a few sources? Many important pictorial as well as audio and video news events are never allowed to reach television or print media. With Morpheus, you can create and share the REAL news as you see it around the world.

Never before in history have individuals had an opportunity to record video, audio, and images and then report the news and create stories that relate to world news events...

Now not only is this possible, it is happening across the Morpheus User Network. As part of the Morpheus News Network, you can Be the Media and be able to publish your news and stories to a worldwide audience.
~~~


you can get this program from here:
http://www.musiccity.com

Mariposa
10/15/01 12:35:52 MDT