Karzai urges joint force to hunt bin Laden

WASHINGTON, Jun 23, 2002 (United Press International via COMTEX) -- Afghan President Hamid Karzai Sunday called for a joint operation to hunt down Osama bin Laden and other al Qaida and Taliban leaders after a spokesman for the wanted terrorist said he was "well and alive," and threatened more attacks on the United States.

"My idea is that there has to be a three-way cooperation, a tripartite cooperation between us and the government of Pakistan and the U.S., and we must move together into an operation to find people like Osama bin Laden," Karzai told CNN.

He was responding to an audio recording broadcast Sunday by the al Jazeera television news channel of al Qaida spokesman, Suleman Abu Ghaith.

In the recording, Ghaith also claimed responsibility for the April 11 suicide blast at a synagogue in Djerba, Tunisia. Fourteen German tourists, a French citizen and four Tunisians were killed when a fuel tanker blew up outside the ancient building.

Ghaith said that the American military action against al Qaida had failed to destroy the group, adding that, "by the grace of God, Sheikh Osama bin Laden and (his second-in-command) Ayman al-Zawahiri are well and alive."

Karzai spoke of the need for the U.S. forces to "stay in Afghanistan for as long as it takes" to finish off the remnants of the Taliban and al Qaida, adding that it was in "the best interest of Afghanistan, Pakistan ... and the United States" to do so.

Although Ghaith gave no clue as to bin Laden's whereabouts and Karzai said he did know where the world's most wanted man was hiding, Chairman of the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee, Bob Graham, D-Fla., told CNN he believed the Saudi terrorist mastermind was "probably in western Pakistan, in an area controlled by ethnic Pashtun tribes."

And Karzai, who was elected president of a new Afghan government last week -- after heading an interim administration for six months -- had a message for bin Laden too. "He better not cause any more trouble. He better deliver himself to law. And he better see a trial and justice done," the Afghan president said.

Explaining why the U.S. and Afghan forces had so far not succeeded in catching bin Laden, Karzai said: "He's an individual hiding in a house, not moving around, probably, or not communicating with anybody. It's easy to hide. Some criminals have hidden for 10, 12 years around the world."

Karzai said he believed Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar was also alive and had been "seen once or twice" but slipped out of the grip of Afghan forces. He said since few people had seen the face of the reclusive Taliban leader, it's easier for him to hide than bin Laden.

Al Jazeera said Ghaith had sent the recording they broadcast to them. Ghaith was a Kuwaiti national but Kuwait cancelled his citizenship after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, believed to be carried out by the al Qaida network.

While warning the United States of future al Qaida attacks, the message also sought to assure bin Laden's followers that their leader was alive and that he and his group were ready to fight back. He listed Taliban leader Mullah Omar among "the great Muslim leaders" who had escaped "the U.S. onslaught" were ready to avenge "the Christian invasion of Afghanistan."

"Our tanzeem (organization) is still there and is operating at its full strength," claims the message.

"Our defense and security operatives are watching. They are the ones who will determine new targets. Our mujahedin are ready for martyrdom. We will strike American and Jewish targets both inside and outside the United States. America should prepare for it. They should tighten their belts. We can still surprise them, going for the targets they cannot imagine.

"The Americans say the terrorist are planning to attack America. Yes, yes we are. We are going to launch our offensive soon. But they will not know when and where.

"Not (U.S. Vice President) Dick Cheney, not the Secretary of State, not even the American president will now when and where the attacks will come from and what will be our targets.

"We want to assure our Muslim brothers that Sheikh Osama will personally appear on television to address them. Sheikh Osama is in good health and all the rumors about his being ill of being injured at Tora Bora are false. Dr. Zawahiri is also in good health and the reports about his injuries are false as well."

Ghaith accepted responsibility for the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the 1998 bombing of two U.S. embassies in East Africa and the attack on USS Cole in Yemen in 2000 and described them as "our victories against the enemy achieved in the previous century and this beginning of the new century."

The Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington, Ghaith claimed, "broke the back of the world's greatest superpower."

"The war against America will continue as long as America continues to allow the Jews and the Christians to suppress the Muslims," he said.

Introducing the tape, al Jazeera said it believed it was new because Ghaith refers to current events, including the controversy over whether President Bush was aware of the possibility of the Sept. 11 attacks.

"......The war against America will continue as long as America continues to allow the Jews and the Christians to suppress the Muslims," he said......"

This one remark, I think, defines the medieval, paranoid thinking that these mystical morons/spiritual parasites have developed.

Ayn Rand, if she were still here, would be using these people as textbook analogies for much of her teachings.

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