Posted on 11/16/2001 1:23:31 PM PST by dwbh
Heh-heh. I loved Lost in Space when I was a child!
28 posted on 11/16/01 6:46 AM Pacific by DallasMike
Hahaha! Obscure cultural reference! I got it! I got it!
"This guy was bin Laden's military specialist since the early 1990s, widely thought to be bin Laden's successor in the event of his death," said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The airstrike took place near Kabul, the Afghan capital, said the official, who added there is credible evidence Atef was killed.
Atef, an Egyptian, was believed to have be involved in the planning of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, U.S. officials said. He has also been indicted for involvement in the U.S. embassy bombings in Africa in 1998.
Earlier this year, Atef's daughter married bin Laden's son, demonstrating the closeness of the Egyptian to bin Laden.
The death of bin Laden's heir apparent would be a serious blow to the al-Qaida terrorist network, whose members are being pursued in Afghanistan by U.S. special forces and rebels opposed to the Taliban regime.
The focus of the U.S. campaign in Afghanistan has shifted more toward tracking down bin Laden and al-Qaida leaders, who are thought to be hiding in southern Afghanistan where the Taliban still retains some control.
Pentagon officials have said some senior Taliban and al-Qaida leaders have been killed in recent days, but have offered no names.
"We are tightening the noose," Army Gen. Tommy Franks, commander of the U.S. forces in the region, said Thursday at the Pentagon.
The State Department was offering a $5 million reward for information leading to the capture and conviction of Atef.
In October 1999, the FBI charged Atef and other al-Qaida members in a conspiracy to murder U.S. nationals. The indictment pointed to the Aug. 7 1998, bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania as being part of the conspiracy.
The British government says Atef traveled to Somalia several times in 1992 and 1993 to organize violence against U.S. and U.N. troops then stationed in that African nation. On each occasion he reported back to bin Laden, who was based at the time in Khartoum, Sudan.
Now he's just armless. Rest in pieces, Atef.
 |
| Mohammed Atef(R), one of the top leaders of Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network, has apparently been killed in a U.S. air strike in Afghanistan, a U.S. official said November 16, 2001. 'We believe that it is true that he was killed in the U.S. bombing around Kabul,' said the official, who asked not to be identified. This undated, uncredited photo shows bin Laden(L) with Atef. (U.S. Dept. of Justice via Reuters) |
LOL!
I'm an Air Force vet, I'm so proud that the flyboys took out this enemy of the good ole U. S. of A!!!!!!!!
GO AIR FORCE!
Bomb to the right!
Stand up, sit down
Fight, fight, fight!!
(shaking red white and blue pom-poms)
GOOOOOOOO, U.S.A.!!!!
(LOL.....sorry, I can't help it.....)
Wait till he finds out he doesn't get 72 Virgins, but 72 Monica Lewinsky's instead!
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