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Posted on 10/13/2001 9:35:44 PM PDT by captain11
Osama bin Laden (news - web sites)'s al Qaeda organization vowed to retaliate for the U.S.-led strikes in Afghanistan (news - web sites) and warned of violence against President Bush (news - web sites) and other leaders. Al Qaeda also warned Muslims in America and Britain to avoid high-rise buildings or flying in planes.
In a videotaped statement, al Qaeda spokesman Sulaiman Abu Ghaith threatened retaliation for the U.S.-led military assault on Afghanistan that began last Sunday.
Abu Ghaith singled out President Bush; his father, former President George H.W. Bush; former President Bill Clinton; British Prime Minister Tony Blair (news - web sites); and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (news - web sites).
Al Qaeda, Ghaith said, declares that those men "are the top Zionists and crusaders criminals who committed the worst atrocities against the Muslim Umma [nation]: killing millions of innocent Muslim women, men and children. Their blood will be avenged from these criminals."
Muslims living in the United States and Great Britain should be careful, Ghaith said.
"We affirm and we advise Muslims who live in America and in England, [we advice] the children, [we advice] those who oppose the oppressive policies of the United States, we advice them to stay away from planes and not to live in high rises nor high towers," Ghaith said.
The U.S. military assault was launched as a retaliation for the Sept. 11 terror attacks on the United States, when men hijacked four airliners and crashed them into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon (news - web sites) and into a field in Pennsylvania. Bush has labeled bin Laden the top suspect.
The videotaped statement was aired by Qatar's Al-Jazeera satellite channel. ABCNEWS translated the quotes above.
The Bush administration called the threats "propoganda." "The White House sees it as just more propaganda," White House spokesowoman Jennifer Millerwise told Reuters.
In his radio address this morning, Bush said that the United States was taking "strong precautions" to protect Americans at home and abroad from more attacks.
Errant Missile Hits Civilian Area
An errant missile missed its target by a mile during the sixth day of bombing raids in Afghanistan, accidentally hitting a residential neighborhood in the capital city of Kabul, the Defense Department said Saturday. "We regret the loss of any civilian life," the department said in a written statement. "U.S. forces are intentionally striking only military and terrorist targets. They take great care in their targeting process to avoid civilian casualties."
The department said there was no accurate way of measuring the number of casualties, though reports from the ground indicated four deaths and eight injured.
Pentagon officials told ABCNEWS that at approximately 6:30 p.m. ET Friday, the plane's pilot was aiming for a helicopter at Kabul Airport but missed. On Friday, U.S. bombing raids were scaled back because of the Muslim day of prayer.
The precision-guided, 2,000-pound bomb, known as a joint direct attack munition, went astray and hit a nearby neighborhood. The JDAM is designed for use in poor weather.
The Defense Department is investigating the mistake, but said, "preliminary indications are that the accident occurred from a targeting process error." Officials told ABCNEWS the "targeting process error" might mean someone loaded incorrect coordinates during the attack.
Early Saturday, witnesses reported bombs falling in Kabul, including one that fell on the city's already damaged airport. The city of Kandahar, a stronghold of the Taliban was also targeted during the strikes.
People living near the scene of the Kabul strikes said at least one civilian was killed and four hurt, according to media reports. The Taliban estimates that more than 300 people, mostly civilians, have been killed since the raids began.
Recent attacks against the Taliban and al Qaeda in the six-day campaign have focused on training camps, garrisons and bunkers because few aircraft fields and command centers remained intact from earlier bombings.
The targeting has reflected a new focus on weakening the Taliban military and set the stage for ground operations meant to root out bin Laden and al Qaeda.
In his weekly radio address Saturday, President Bush reaffirmed his commitment to the war against terror and the government's commitment to strengthen defense and security at home to protect the United States from further terror attacks.
"In last week's radio address, I warned that time was running out for the Taliban to turn over the terrorists they shelter," Bush said. "They did not listen, and they are paying a price."
The Taliban Saturday rejected a second offer by President Bush to halt air strikes if they handed over Saudi-born bin Laden.
In other developments:
Britain's Sunday Mirror newspaper quoted the 18-year old son of Osama bin Laden as saying his father was hiding in a cave in the Afghan mountains with 300 commandos and would never be caught. The Mirror quoted bin Laden's son Abdullah, one of his 42 children, as saying his father had disappeared with 60 trucks filled with satellite equipment on Sept. 11, the day of the suicide hijack attacks on New York and Washington "America and Britain will never track down my father," the son said in the interview. "He has vanished into the landscape, he is invisible."
Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites) is heading to India and Pakistan this weekend on his first trip since the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United Staes. He's hoping to ease tensions between the two nuclear rivals that grew out of an October 1 suicide attack that killed 40 people in Indian-held Kashmir (news - web sites).
New York City officials estimate the number of missing and presumed dead at the World Trade Center is 4,668. The number of confirmed dead is 446, and 388 have been identified. At the Pentagon, 189 were believed killed and another 44 were killed when the fourth hijacked jet, United Airlines Flight 93, crashed in Pennsylvania.
It may well be. But there's a bright side...
1. As the suicide bombers and crazy radicals do their work, they either eliminate themselves from the planet (suicide bombers) or make themselves obvious so that *we* can take them out of action. The phrase "evolution in action" was tailor made for things like this. Over time, the nutcases will take themselves out of circulation -- not only out of the gene pool, but out of the cultural pool as well. The population that remains will thus drift towards greater passivity.
2. In the world of Larry Niven's science-fiction books, there is a race of catlike warrior people named the Kzin. The Kzin are powerful, numerous, fearless, and have declared war on humanity. However, they are so bloodthirsty that they always launch recklessly into battle as soon as possible before they are well prepared, and as a result always get the crap beaten out of them by the humans. Sounds familiar...
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