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Al Qaeda Offers $100,000 for Captured Americans
CNSNews ^ | 4/5/02 | Lawrence Morahan

Posted on 04/05/2002 2:41:21 PM PST by Tumbleweed_Connection

Senior defense officials Friday confirmed reports that al Qaeda and Taliban forces in Afghanistan are distributing leaflets offering rewards of up to $100,000 for Americans captured alive.

"I think it confirms what we've been saying and that is that Afghanistan remains a very, very dangerous place," Army Gen. Tommy Franks, commander of the U.S.-led coalition, told Pentagon reporters in a video link-up from U.S. Central Command headquarters in Tampa, Fla.

U.S. forces found the leaflets last week in eastern Afghanistan, in a region where much fighting has taken place. The leaflets or pamphlets offer $50,000 for an American delivered dead and $100,000 for one who is alive, U.S. officials in the region reported.

The leaflets, which are distributed clandestinely, also contain language threatening the lives of Afghans who support the coalition.

"It's a dangerous place for our people to operate. It's a dangerous place for coalition forces to operate, and as we all recognize, there are groups of enemy troops still in that country. And that's why I think we've all been a little bit reluctant to predict how long our operations to kill or capture those enemy troops are going to go on," Franks said.

U.S. forces are collecting intelligence across the whole of Afghanistan 24 hours a day, he said.

"Right now, as of this minute, I don't see something that indicated a sized enemy force that would warrant something such as ... Anaconda," Franks said.

Operation Anaconda, which officially ended in early March, was the biggest ground offensive of the war and deemed a success by U.S. and coalition commanders.

U.S. forces currently are scouring the Khost and Gardez regions where caches of weapons and documents have been found. These operations would continue until the United States was satisfied that the terrorist network inside Afghanistan was destroyed, Franks said.

"What we do is we react to our intelligence and simply go to confirm or deny, and then kill or capture the enemy forces that we find there," he said.

Franks said he had not received any special briefing on what was found on Abu Zubaydah, who was taken into U.S. custody after a shootout in Pakistan. Zubaydah is suspected of being the right-hand man of Osama bin Laden, the chief suspect in the Sept. 11 attacks.


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs
KEYWORDS: 100kaward; capturedamericans
Update this.
1 posted on 04/05/2002 2:41:21 PM PST by Tumbleweed_Connection
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To: Tumbleweed_Connection
Here I am! Come and get me, goat breath!
2 posted on 04/05/2002 2:43:15 PM PST by Howie66
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To: Tumbleweed_Connection
Nice try. Anyone who trys to capture an american soldier will end up like swiss cheese. I can see them trying to go for more journalists though...

Everyone overseas be careful just the same.

3 posted on 04/05/2002 2:47:15 PM PST by Mixer
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To: Tumbleweed_Connection
I am sending Jessie Jackson. When can I collect my $100,000?
4 posted on 04/05/2002 2:48:02 PM PST by NorseWood
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To: NorseWood
I am sending Jessie Jackson. When can I collect my $100,000?

I think they said "an American"...sorry.

5 posted on 04/05/2002 2:50:48 PM PST by RckyRaCoCo
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To: Tumbleweed_Connection
I'll have to sleep with one eye open for a bit.
6 posted on 04/05/2002 2:51:37 PM PST by jwalsh07
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To: RckyRaCoCo
I am sending Jessie Jackson. When can I collect my $100,000?

I think they said "an American"...sorry.

LOL!

7 posted on 04/05/2002 3:00:00 PM PST by blam
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To: Tumbleweed_Connection
In what currency will this despicable ransom be delivered?

Rhetorical question. The body may be delivered, but the ransom won't.

8 posted on 04/05/2002 3:01:37 PM PST by Fizzie
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To: Tumbleweed_Connection
Execute Jonny Jihad, and sell his body to Afghanistan.
9 posted on 04/05/2002 3:03:11 PM PST by coloradan
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To: RckyRaCoCo
There are about 3,000,000 "undocumented" Americans here in California. Let's see . . . 3,000,000 times $100,000. It is pretty cheap to buy phony documents here. I think we could come out ahead on this venture!
10 posted on 04/05/2002 3:08:15 PM PST by NorseWood
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To: Tumbleweed_Connection
Would that Bill Krinton would volunteer?
11 posted on 04/05/2002 3:12:27 PM PST by lawdude
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To: Tumbleweed_Connection
Villagers to Taliban: We've captured an alive American; Where/When do you want him?

Taliban to Villagers: 3rd Mud hut on the left, next to the goat barn: high noon

Villagers to US Army: See above...Send in DaisyCutter.

12 posted on 04/05/2002 3:38:28 PM PST by Drango
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To: Tumbleweed_Connection
USA Offers FREE Room & Board -- Inn the Radhead Hilton at Gitmo, Cuba. You're guaranteed Humane Treatment. Free to Express yourself! No - Loss of Limb! 3 Meals with Snacks! The best health care on Earth - discomfort cured (must be in heaven)! Observance of Faith! One Koran printed on fine Virgin long fiber paper (Better then even anything in Pakistan or Iran)! Misbehave - but not be abused! Life will be Great - Allah is just - even over the Infidels.
13 posted on 04/05/2002 5:13:40 PM PST by freepsolo
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