[Peace] Fwd: War within 48 hours?

[Laura Haber]

--- Jerise  Fogel <jf23 at columbia.edu> wrote:
> Date: Sun, 30 Sep 2001 21:13:45 -0400 (EDT)
> From: Jerise  Fogel <jf23 at columbia.edu>
> To: Wilfred H Small Jr <whs5 at columbia.edu>, McQueenF at aol.com,
>    Cathy Kit-Ting Leung <ckl34 at columbia.edu>, gmurchi at tcs.tulane.edu,
>    kmilnor at barnard.edu, "Wood, Abbi -- Abbi Wood" <acw24 at hermes.cam.ac.uk>,
>    acw24 at cam.ac.uk, amasong-singers at prairienet.org
> Subject: War within 48 hours
> 
> 
> This is an article from the London *Observer*.  It looks as though we are
> going to war.  Write and call your representatives... I tacked my own
> (doubtless futile) letter to the President & VP on to the end of this.
> 
> Love,
> Jeri
> 
> *********
> US and Britain to strike terror camps within days 
> 
> Attacks limited to targets found by special forces
> War on Terrorism - Observer special 
> 
> Ed Vulliamy, Washington, Jason Burke, Peshawar, Peter Beaumont and Paul
> Beaver
> 
> Sunday, September 30, 2001
> The Observer 
> 
> Devastating attacks on bases controlled by Osama bin Laden are set to be
> launched in the next 48 hours as part of a tightly focused military
> operation approved by US President George Bush and backed by Britain. 
> 
> The strategy, which is a victory for pragmatists in both Britain and
> America, is designed to kill bin Laden and his forces, and will be
> launched in tandem with strikes against air and ground forces of the
> Taliban regime supporting him. 
> 
> The operation, which British and US sources say could be launched as early
> as today, would begin with air and missile strikes to destroy the
> Taliban's 20-aircraft air force, remove anti-aircraft missile batteries,
> and destroy Taliban tanks and other armour. 
> 
> In a clear sign that strikes were imminent, Bush declared last night,
> after a meeting with military advisers at Camp David: 'America will act
> deliberately and decisively, and the cause of freedom will prevail.' 
> 
> In a live radio address, he added: 'We did not seek this conflict, but we
> will end it. This war will be fought wherever terrorists hide, or run, or
> plan. Other victories will be clear to all.' 
> 
> The aim of the first phase, likely to be launched from aircraft with US
> and British ships in the Arabian Sea, would be to remove any threat from
> the Taliban for the substantial incursion that would follow. 
> 
> Sources say this would be in the form of a so-called desant operation - an
> airborne assault deep into Taliban-held territory - led by
> helicopter-carried troops of the US 82nd Airborne Division. Sources said
> that the 101st Air Assault Division has also been ordered to be ready for
> action.
> 
> Also fully mobilised was the 10th Mountain Division, which would be the
> main ground force in what Bush called an upcoming 'guerrilla war' fought
> by US and British forces. Although soldiers of the 82nd Airborne Division
> are trained for low-level parachute jumps, any assault is likely be made
> by first abseiling down fixed lines from helicopters. 
> 
> American forces would be supported by US Special Forces - including US
> Army Rangers and Green Berets, and by British Special Forces. British
> units understood to have been earmarked include mountain warfare cadres of
> G-troop, 22 SAS Regiment; the Special Boat Service's Mountain Troop -
> which is trained for cliff assault and Arctic warfare - and the Mountain
> Leaders' section of 4/5 Royal Marine Commando. All are trained and
> equipped to operate in mountainous terrain for periods of up to a
> fortnight without being resupplied. 
> 
> The US troops are equipped with a specialised version of the Black Hawk
> attack helicopter and long range MH-47 Chinooks armed with rotary cannon.
> They would also be able to call on support from AC-130 aircraft -
> nicknamed Puff the Magic Dragon - which can give ground support with an
> artillery cannon in its belly. 
> 
> Initial targets earmarked for the air assault and desant operation include
> bases controlled by the al-Qaeda around Kabul, in particular those with
> usable air strips. 
> 
> Crucial evidence that links bin Laden to the terrorist attacks on New York
> and Washington nearly three weeks ago has been obtained by The Observer .
> A secret intelligence dossier
> compiled by an Arab state with a longstanding interest in bin Laden last
> night revealed that at least one of the 19 hijackers was trained in a camp
> in Afghanistan run by al-Qaeda and that another is 'close to bin Laden'.
> 
> American security sources told The Observer they believe four of the
> hijackers had spent time in Afghanistan with the Taliban and possibly with
> al-Qaeda. One, Wali Mohamed al-Sherhi, is believed to have been taught
> urban warfare and terrorism in al-Farooq training camp in eastern
> Afghanistan, close to the Pakistan border. 
> 
> He is thought to have left Afghanistan 18 months ago. The dossier, for the
> first time, definitely links al-Farooq to bin Laden, naming four men who
> are bin Laden aides who it says
> administer and train those at the camp. 
> 
> Back in Washington, the tight focus of the planned military operation is a
> victory for the pragmatists in Bush's cabinet, notably Secretary of State
> Colin Powell. Powell has been involved in a battle of wills with hawks
> gathered around the figure of Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, who
> would like to see US strikes against a wide range of targets, including
> Iraq. 
> 
> It also follows words of caution from America's key ally, Britain. Tony
> Blair has advised that the only target of military action should be bin
> Laden's network and, if necessary, the Taliban. 
> 
> The location of the bases was revealed yesterday by Russian intelligence,
> which has provided the Pentagon with the most detailed intelligence so far
> on the network of bin Laden camps. 
> 
> The news came as British sources claimed that the Taliban was set to flood
> the west with heroin in an attempt to destabilise its enemies. 
> 
> US Special Forces were last night already active in Afghanistan, almost
> certainly involved in scouting and preparing a secure forward airbase in
> territory held by the opposition Northern Alliance.
> 
> There were claims from Afghanistan yesterday that a team of five US
> commandos has been captured by al-Qaeda. The Qatar-based al-Jezeera
> television station said al-Qaeda claimed to have captured a unit 'armed
> with modern weapons and maps of al-Qaeda's bases' in the south-western
> Helmand province. 
> 
> The Taliban and the Pentagon denied the report. US officials, however,
> confirmed on Friday that special forces units - possibly from the US Green
> Berets or the elite Rangers regiment - had been deployed in Afghanistan on
> reconnaissance missions. 
> 
> They hinted that soldiers from the British SAS were also involved. The
> special forces had been deployed 'in the last few days', the sources told
> US reporters, and were there to gather information on Taliban positions
> and strengths, not to search for bin Laden. 
> 
> Sources in Washington said that with British and American reconnaissance
> and Special Operations teams already working on the ground to locate
> targets with laser-guidance and sensor systems, US forces were ready to
> 'go into the first breach' in territory controlled by al-Qaeda. 
> 
> Planning groups at the Pentagon will now increase pressure on the White
> House to expand the action to attack locations in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon,
> with the elimination of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein as 'a precondition'
> to defeating terrorism.
> *************************
> 
> Date: Sun, 30 Sep 2001 21:05:00 -0400 (EDT)
> From: Jerise  Fogel <jf23 at columbia.edu>
> To: President at Whitehouse.gov
> Cc: VicePresident at Whitehouse.gov, cssn at columbia.edu,
>      Wilfred H Small Jr <whs5 at columbia.edu>
> Subject: NO MILITARY STRIKES!!!!
> 
> Dear Mr. President,
> 
> Do not send troops into Afghanistan.  Do not use our soldiers in this
> cynical way.  Do not use the children of our country to bomb and destroy
> another country's children.
> 
> There is no such thing as a "surgical strike."  This is the lesson that
> was learned in the Gulf War.  By taking action to send an airborne assault
> led by helicopter-carried troops of the US 82nd Airborne Division and
> perhaps the 101st as well, and to send in on the ground the 10th Mountain
> Division and others in a "guerilla war", you are deciding to kill innocent
> Afghanis, including women and children who had NOTHING to do with the
> imposition of the Taliban's laws, or the bombing of the World Trade
> Center, who are already suffering, sick and malnourished.
> 
> Moreover, although you have a certain blanket approval given you by the
> Senate and House for military action, the American people expects you to
> be accountable to them for your actions.  You need to allow plans for your
> "war against terrorism" to be debated in democratic fashion.  You need to
> hear from all sides, not just the military, because going to war is a
> decision that affects every citizen in this country deeply.
> 
> So I am writing to you, although I sincerely doubt that you read such
> letters as mine, to say that I completely oppose your apparent plans to
> bomb and overrun the already incredibly poor, already incredibly desperate
> country of Afghanistan, and any other poor, desperate countries your
> advisors tell you to bomb.
> 
> 
> AMERICANS DO NOT WANT WAR!  DO NOT SEND US INTO WAR!
> 
> I say this knowing that you have probably already taken whatever action
> you are going to take, and that when I wake up tomorrow our nation will
> probably be at war once again.  I am very sick at the thought.
> 
> AMERICANS DO NOT WANT WAR!  We will protest and protest until you learn
> that.
> 
> Sincerely,
> 
> Jerise Fogel
> 482 Ft. Washington Ave. #3D
> New York, NY 10033
> (212) 740-2466
> jf23 at columbia.edu
> 
> 


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