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Desperate search for Osama nukes
WorldNetDaily ^ | DECEMBER 7 | DEBKAfile

Posted on 12/07/2001 2:57:53 AM PST by Israel

Friday, December 7, 2001

FROM DEBKA INTELLIGENCE FILES

Desperate search for Osama nukes

Special Forces' priority now hunt for weapons of mass destruction


Editor's note: DEBKAfile's electronic news publication is a news-cum-analysis live wire, online round the clock seven days a week. A weekly edition, DEBKA-Net-Weekly, is now available through WorldNetDaily.com. Drawing on DEBKAfile's unique sources, analytical talents and forward-looking insights, it is presented as a compact, intelligence-angled weekly package. It is available as a direct e-mail feed or via the Internet.


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.


Subscribe to DEBKA-Net-Weekly.


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: alqaeda; alqaedanukes; gwot; proliferation
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To: dirtboy
Wrong, wrong, wrong. Debka claimed that China had sent 3,000 troops. The Chinese fighting for the Taliban were muslim volunteers, not Chinese troops. Maybe for you that is a nitpicking detail, but for the rest of us...

In 1940, a group of American fighter pilots volunteered to go to China to fight on the side of the Nationalist Chinese forces against the Japanese. They were called the "American Volunteer Group (AVG)". The official story was that these were people who had resigned their commissions in the US military and went over (because, of course, if they were officially still US military officers, and were shooting down Japanese planes, then it would of course be an act of war, and give the Japs an excuse to retaliate by, for example, attacking US military forces in Pearl Harbor)

My point is that reports probably were coming back of Chinese personnel working with the Taliban, and the logical assumption being that the Chinese government wouldn't be allowing them to cross the border into Afghanistan unless the Chinese govt wanted them there. It's very unlikely that Chinese support for the Taliban would consist of people in official Chinese uniform.

101 posted on 12/07/2001 1:17:03 PM PST by SauronOfMordor
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To: tallhappy
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

Bite me. Once again, READ the article. The entire premise of the article is based upon bad weather forcing the Bush Admin to change strategy. Yet, despite Debka's claims, there is no winter weather raging in Afghanistan - SO THEY ARE MAKING THIS CRAP UP TO CREATE A STORY. That is why the weather is so significant - it is just as significant a lie as the one about Tenet. And it is hardly hysterical to point that out.

102 posted on 12/07/2001 1:17:42 PM PST by dirtboy
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To: discostu
Anyone who claims someone is lying about weather is goofy.

Where I come from 100 degress is fine.

Others think 85 is oppressively hot.

Also, I have shown that highs were in the 30's, not 41 as you lazily thought.

And I have shown that the forecast said temperature are set to drop on sunday.

And you seem to also miss that the temperatures reported are for cities, not mountain hideouts where the activity is taking place.

None of this proves anything about debka, but it shows emotions and an attempt at one upmanship of debka gets the better of some people.

Here's the deal. I don't need a million hysterically screaming posts about debka lying about the weather.

So I respond.

I am well aware of debka's limitations. I don't need sophmoric analyses thought to be incisive telling me this.

If you guys did a thread "Post Debka Lies Here" I would not even bother with it.

103 posted on 12/07/2001 1:19:01 PM PST by tallhappy
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To: SauronOfMordor
It's very unlikely that Chinese support for the Taliban would consist of people in official Chinese uniform.

Debka claimed that the Chinese government sent 3,000 troops overland by truck to Afghanistan. Problem is, the Northern Alliance controlled the overland route, the narrow corridor that connects Afghanistan to China. And there definitely weren't 3,000 Chinese troops there - Rumsfeld mentioned a handful of volunteers, not thousands. So the Debka story was wrong. As the saying goes, the devil is in the details.

104 posted on 12/07/2001 1:20:05 PM PST by dirtboy
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To: dirtboy
Bite me.

You are proving my point that you are not the most emotionally objective person when discussing debka.

105 posted on 12/07/2001 1:21:37 PM PST by tallhappy
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To: tallhappy
It doesn't matter what you or I think of the weather, whether it is cold or not - instead, it is about the military requirements and the problems the weather may represent. Debka is claiming that winter weather is currently raging and is significant enough to curtail military operations. If you want to get Clintonian and parse the word raging, be my guest - but do you see ANY weather currently in Afghanistan that would do that? I don't - there are hardly any clouds in the country at the moment. There is NO winter weather currently raging - maybe YOU think 40 degrees is cold, but a Green Beret wearing Gore-Tex won't. You are just spewing nonsense now.
106 posted on 12/07/2001 1:24:37 PM PST by dirtboy
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To: tallhappy
You are proving my point that you are not the most emotionally objective person when discussing debka.

I am being quite objective - I just get tired of someone pulling Clintonian word games to make a pointless point. Tell me, what does raging winter weather mean to you? That it's too cold to play golf? I don't think the Green Berets think that way. You are plumbing the depths of absurdity with your word games here.

107 posted on 12/07/2001 1:26:18 PM PST by dirtboy
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To: tallhappy
And you seem to also miss that the temperatures reported are for cities, not mountain hideouts where the activity is taking place.

I live in the Colorado Rockies - in the mountains at 8,400 feet. I am well aware of the difference between Denver and the cabin where I live. However, because of this I can tell from a satellite picture and forecasts whether winter weather is "raging" or not - because if I go snowshoeing in the mountains, my life might depend upon it. If I had a similar forecast and satellite picture for Colorado as they currently have in Afghanistan, I would have no qualms about going into the mountains. So your little theory about the difference between the cities and the mountains falls flat as well - from someone who knows, not someone who is making stuff up.

108 posted on 12/07/2001 1:30:33 PM PST by dirtboy
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To: tallhappy
Also, I have shown that highs were in the 30's, not 41 as you lazily thought.

What a nitpick, even if it were true - the weather map I posted showed a high for Kabul of 41 - so I'm lazy for going out and posting a link? Are you gonna parse "lazy" like you have "raging?" Playing word games is all you have left...

109 posted on 12/07/2001 1:32:16 PM PST by dirtboy
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To: tallhappy
The images appearing on television screens of summer-like conditions at Tora Bora come from archived footage.

Another weather lie from the article. DallasDeb saw Geraldo reporting from Tora Bora yesterday and said the weather appeared quite nice. How long has Geraldo been over there? Not very long. Plus, we just got to Tora Bora - how could we have archived footage from there if we just got there a couple of days ago? But Debka had to craft this lie to cover up the fact that the weather is fine. Unfortunately for them, the satellite doesn't lie.

Am I still being hysterical?

110 posted on 12/07/2001 1:40:40 PM PST by dirtboy
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To: dirtboy
I thought this thread got pulled.

A better argument is why would the US be desperately searching for nuclear material in Afghanistan if the attack is to occur here in the next few days.

If so, the stuff is here all ready.

Debka is claiming that winter weather is currently raging and is significant enough to curtail military operations.

This is a lot better. Yes, these are the questions.

I don't know the answer. Cold can do a lot. I was in the mountains a couple years ago and the cold fritzed out my car's alarm system. It warmed up and worked fine then.

111 posted on 12/07/2001 2:15:35 PM PST by tallhappy
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To: Smogger; copycat; Magician; Israel; TIGERCLAW
c'mon, guys, come on in and defend Debka. Or disparage me for tracking down their bald-faced lies in this article.
112 posted on 12/07/2001 2:16:33 PM PST by dirtboy
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To: TIGERCLAW
Your posts would be much easier if you avoided capitals letters, it is very hard to read. Using all capitals is considered shouting and should only be used for emphasis. Thanks.
113 posted on 12/07/2001 2:22:45 PM PST by WIMom
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To: tallhappy
A better argument is why would the US be desperately searching for nuclear material in Afghanistan if the attack is to occur here in the next few days. If so, the stuff is here all ready.

A very good point, considering that Al Qaida has pratically no ability to move something as heavy as a MERV around country given American air supremecy - and from the conical shape of the cases I figure Debka was implying that Al Qaida somehow got ahold of some warheads.

I don't know the answer. Cold can do a lot. I was in the mountains a couple years ago and the cold fritzed out my car's alarm system. It warmed up and worked fine then.

You gotta figure that the military has the capability to operate in below-freezing temps. Fog, clouds, and precipitation are more likely to curtail missions. There might be fog on the ground, as that doesn't show up on a satellite picture - but that isn't what Debka said - they claimed winter weather was the problem, and I simply don't see anything problematic, and I live in the mountains and am used to checking the satellite maps and forecasts to figure out if I can get out on Saturdays and go snowshoeing.

But to me, the item I spotted last was the most telling. Dekba is claiming that the footage shot from Tora Bora was archived - even though Geraldo just got there, and we just got there. So it seems the claim of the weather was a premeditated lie - hence the need to say the media was lying. But the satellite doesn't lie, so they are exposed. And it chafes me that Debka would lie about something this important in order to generate traffic and interest - it is the worst kind of yellow journalism.

114 posted on 12/07/2001 2:23:54 PM PST by dirtboy
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To: Lazamataz
Laz, could you repeat that? Didn't quite catch that last part, about being annoying or something.....
115 posted on 12/07/2001 2:25:31 PM PST by WIMom
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To: ChaseR
Somewhat off subject, Chase......I heard a statement used by a Commissioner with the CRC today. He said, "To a hammer...everything looks like a nail." I wish the US would adapt that policy with the Taliban and their supporters regardless of nationality. Bring on the Chinese sympathizers. It's going to happen anyway....someday. I'd rather be a hammer than a nail. Yes I would. Oh...I think someone already took that one, huh?
116 posted on 12/07/2001 3:02:06 PM PST by FryingPan101
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To: dirtboy
Thanks for the heads up. It appears that several of the most vocal and supportive of the article are members since yesterday, which means they are probably just disruptors. Love the caps. Probably had all their fingers blown off by guided munitions. Cold in those caves.
117 posted on 12/08/2001 3:28:23 AM PST by beekeeper
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To: dirtboy
to the Marines' Reno base south of Kandahar

Uh, that would be Rhino Base. They couldn't even get that right.

I love Debka stories, because they are so authoritavely written, and such a complete and utter crock. It's fun to pick them apart and expose the lies, which you did well, by the way.

But even more amazing than the Debka lies are those who actually try to defend this website. It never ceases to amaze me.

118 posted on 12/08/2001 7:03:01 AM PST by Dog Gone
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To: ex-Texan
Osama might set off a nuke in the Afgan hills and try to blame the U.S.

If he has more than one. He might like to set one off in Afghanistan and blame it on us. Since he has stated publicly he would only retaliate if we used nuclear weapons first then I guess it would be a green light to nuke NY and Washington.

Self-Defense.

Case closed.

Who would we retaliate against now since they have abandoned all of the cities? The war is much more dangerous not that they don't occupy any cities.

119 posted on 12/08/2001 1:16:07 PM PST by Smogger
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Comment #120 Removed by Moderator


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