Posted on 12/07/2001 2:57:53 AM PST by Israel
Friday, December 7, 2001
FROM DEBKA INTELLIGENCE FILES
Two pieces of fresh and definitive nuclear intelligence have U.S. Special Forces frantically searching the Tora Bora cave complex of east Afghanistan and triggered a major terror alert inside the United States, the third since the attack on New York and the Pentagon. In Afghanistan, the U.S. military -- combing through the Tora Bora mountain cave complex 300 miles northeast of Kandahar for Osama bin Laden, his top lieutenant, Ayman al-Zawahiri, and 1,000 al-Qaida fighters -- were ordered to switch their priorities around. Their top objective now is to locate al-Qaida's weapons of mass destruction -- including nuclear devices -- in a desperate race against the clock. According to intelligence sources, some 3,000 special forces commandos from the United States, Britain, Germany and Russia are currently scouring the cave warren of Tora Bora -- which means black dust -- for suspected weapons stores. The special forces personnel operating in the region are attired in protective suits and carry equipment to counter threats from radiation and biological or chemical agents. It has been declared a no-go zone for journalists -- even those attached to the U.S. military. A senior U.S. intelligence source familiar with the Tora Bora operation said the target area from Jalalabad to the Marines' Reno base south of Kandahar, has been cleansed of all cameras and media correspondents. The images appearing on television screens of summer-like conditions at Tora Bora come from archived footage. At present, the edges of the area north of Kandahar are dusted with snow, and winter is raging in north, northwest and western Afghanistan, encumbering U.S. intelligence-gathering and air operations. The latest intelligence reports in U.S. hands claim that al-Qaida chiefs removed their nuclear, biological and chemical weapons arsenal from secret hideouts in Kabul to Tora Bora six days in advance of the Sept. 11 attacks in New York and Washington. That information persuaded Russian, Pakistani and Northern Alliance intelligence that bin Laden and al-Zawahiri went somewhere else, anxious to remove themselves from harm's way anywhere near a site where weapons of mass-destruction might explode. Military sources report that because of the bad weather, sorties by drones and B-52 bombers and F-18 warplanes over Tora Bora and territory south of Jalalabad are intermittent. U.S. air operations are also disrupted in such areas as Paktia and Lugar in the southeast. A further downturn is forecast by meteorologists in the days to come, with heavy snowstorms threatening Jalalabad in the east. Those forecasts persuaded President Bush, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and U.S. military chiefs that no time must be lost in the search for al-Qaida's nuclear weapons -- particularly in view of the second piece of alarming intelligence reaching Washington Nov. 27, primarily from Pakistan. Bin Laden and his partner, al-Zawahiri, are now reported to be planning to take advantage of the slowdown in U.S. air activity forced by the inclement weather to complete their preparations for massive pre-Christmas terrorist strikes in the United States, including a possible nuclear or radiological weapon attack. The target period referred to was between Dec. 5 and Dec. 20. Al-Qaida's operational teams were described as standing by at the various departure points, some waiting only for the delivery of explosives, others just for their last order to go. Bush dispatched CIA Chief George Tenet urgently to Islamabad to establish the credibility of this intelligence data with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and the heads of Pakistan's Inter-Service Intelligence service. According to sources, Musharraf showed Tenet documents and first-hand witness accounts collected in the past two weeks by Pakistani military intelligence officers who had discovered and entered underground stores around Kabul, in which high levels of nuclear radiation were detected. The Pakistani agents also spent large sums of money to buy from Kabul locals descriptions of the men in charge of the stores and anything they may have picked up about the type of goods cached there. They came up with a description of dark-colored, cone-shaped, ultra-heavy containers, about 4 feet long, which they were given to understand were radioactive. The guards, identified as a special al-Qaida unit of foreigners, Egyptians, Saudis and Chechens, spoke to no one. Their commanders communicated directly with bin Laden and al-Zawahiri. According to sources in Islamabad, Musharraf advised the CIA director to go to Kabul himself and verify the information firsthand. They report that Tenet took this advice and paid a secret visit to the Afghan capital Sunday, Dec. 2, under the protection of U.S. and Russian special forces units. With the help of interpreters, he and his assistants interrogated the Pakistani agents' sources directly. After six hours in Kabul, Tenet called the White House to confirm the Pakistan report, adding that it tied in with previous intelligence attesting to nuclear activity in the Tora Bora complex. Washington's order to switch the objectives of the Tora Bora offensive went out accordingly at the beginning of the week. A nuclear terror alert was declared in the United States Dec. 4. American armed forces in Afghanistan are in a race against the weather, too. The heavy snows expected around Dec. 10 to 12 will make their task almost impossible, forcing them to wait for the spring thaw. If Tora Bora is left in Taliban and al-Qaida hands, it would serve as a forward base for guerrilla forays to harass U.S. forces at Kandahar and Jalalabad and loosen their grip. Bin Laden and al-Zawahiri would win a breather of five long months safe from large-scale U.S. assault.
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Uh, tallhappy, Debka just got caught lying, about the weather, about George Tenet, and about the ban on journalists. Their credibility is shot. Yet you say WE critics are the ones being hysterical? What a pantload...
This is how your comment was irrational.
You were commenting on a long term forecast but there are no satellite pictures for the future.
Your take home message should be you are undercutting whatever serious criticisms you can make with trivial and irrationa and hysterically presented comments.
Debka was claiming, in an article dated today, that winter weather was currently raging in various parts of Afghanistan. Maybe YOU should read more carefully...
Debka can't even get the name of the base right, it's Camp Rhino.
More Debka crap.
Uh, as I have trying to point out, this is an irrational comment.
I don't understand your thinking. Is it irrational because EVERYONE, especially the weathermen, get the weather wrong?
At present,the edges of the area north of Kandahar are dusted with snow, and winter is raging in north, northwest and western Afghanistan, encumbering U.S. intelligence-gathering and air operations.
Now maybe I'm just being hysterical, but when I see an article dated December 7th, I look at my calender and it says December 7th, present means today. And when I look at today's satellite picture, I see no precipitation of any significant form in Afghanistan. And when I look at the forecast, the temps are moderate. Or maybe present means something else?
Once again, what part of present do you not understand?
Read the forecast:
Forecast: Despite some some snow in Afghanistan's upper elevations, weather will be quiet over the weeknd throughout the country.
Kabul will be chilly and dry with clear skies. High temperatures through Saturday will be in the high 30s, with lows around freezing.
South of Kabul, skies will also be clear in Kandahar, and temperatures will be a bit warmer. Highs will reach into the 60s and lows will only be in the 40s.
Sunday sees the onset of colder weather, as daytime temperatures plunge to near freezing in Kabul. Lows will fall to low 20s.
Recent conditions: ABC News associate producer Vinnie Malhotra reports that Monday was sunny and brisk in Kabul, with an afternoon high of about 65 degrees.
Come on. Don't be so hysterical.
In the mountains it is even colder.
I'm not defending Debka, I'm defending calmness.
Sometimes the typos are the best thing in the thread.
And, quite frankly, you're being full of it. The entire Debka story was based upon bad weather already starting and more to come, which was forcing the Bush Admin to change strategy. But there is no bad weather currently in Afghanistan. Therefore, the entire article is crafted upon a big stinkin' lie. If you think I'm being hysterical for pointing out that Debka is lying through their teeth to create a story, I'm sorry, we just cannot communicate on the same level.
This is from your first weather post. You were talking about forecast. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/fr/585628/posts?page=23#23
The page you cite even says Sunday will see the onset of cold weather.
My point - this point is trivial.
As I pointed out before, a bigger deal is that the Egyption doctor is probably dead.
Harping on weather forecasts is a waste of time.
Why would I downplay that? That is a fine point, unlike your weather comments which are trivial.
This post by you is another example of you being emotional, hysterical and irrational.
Nude Rampage on Evergreen State Campus
Reply 8 to Noxxus by matamoros
10559262 posted on 12/7/01 5:11 PM eastern
Desperate search for Osama nukes
Reply 99 to dirtboy by tallhappy
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