Posted on 12/06/2001 11:28:04 PM PST by Grampa Dave
The War On Terror: How It Unfolded
Taliban supreme leader Mullah Mohammed Omar has agreed to surrender Kandahar, his last major bastion, to tribal forces and put himself under the protection of tribal leaders.
Here is a timetable of the key events leading to the surrender:
September 11: Hijacked passenger jets slam into the World Trade Centre and Pentagon, killing thousands. Bin Laden and his al Qaeda terror network are immediately suspected as being behind the attacks.
September 12:US President George Bush announces he will make no distinction between the perpetrators of the atrocities and those who harbour them. Bin Laden congratulates the people who carried out the US strikes but denies responsibility, Abu Dhabi television reports.
September 13: Bin Laden confirmed as a suspect by US Secretary of State Colin Powell.
September 14: Mullah Mohammed Omar, the leader of Afghanistan's ruling Taliban regime, defends bin Laden against US accusations that he masterminded the terror strikes.
September 15: The United States is officially declared at war by President Bush, who says that bin Laden is their prime suspect.
September 24: Governments across the world announce they are taking action to freeze the assets of bin Laden and the al Qaeda network. Television reports quote bin Laden as urging Pakistanis to fight any assault on Afghanistan by the "crusader Americans".
October 2: Prime Minister Tony Blair speaks to the Labour Party conference in Brighton, warning the Taliban it should surrender bin Laden or "surrender power". Nato says the US has produced "conclusive evidence" that bin Laden was behind the attacks.
October 4: Firm evidence links bin Laden to at least three of the hijackers, Mr Blair tells Parliament.
October 7: First reports of explosions over the Afghan capital. President Bush speaks to the American people, confirming the "carefully targeted" air strikes and announcing that the war on terrorism is under way. Prime Minister Tony Blair said "the objectives to eradicate Osama bin Laden's network of terror" had been put in place. Ruling Taliban officials say they are "ready for jihad" - holy war.
October 8: Bin Laden threatens more violence against America saying: "You will not feel safe or secure." Speaking on Al Jazeera he calls on Muslims around the world to join a war on America.
October 10: Bin Laden's terror group al Qaeda calls for Muslims across the world to join a holy war against America and its allies, and claims there are "thousands of young people who look forward to death." Afghanistan's ruling Taliban regime is showing signs of cracking under the strain of coalition air strikes, British defence sources claim. As US warplanes began a fourth straight night of bombing raids on Taliban defences, officials in London said the regime could collapse without the need to send in ground troops.
October 13: Taliban rulers reject Mr Bush's second chance offer to surrender bin Laden and instead pledge to fight to "the last breath".
October 16: US officials confirm for first time that a heavily-armed special forces AC-130 Spectre gunships have been in action attacking Taliban military bases. The lumbering AC-130 - adapted from the Hercules transport aircraft - is typically used to support special forces troops on the ground, intensifying speculation that such units are already operating inside Afghanistan.
October 17: The US-led coalition begins to turn its firepower on Taliban troops fighting the rebel Northern Alliance in an effort to turn the screws on the Afghan regime. Northern Alliance fighters are reported to be close to capturing the key northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif and to be threatening the capital, Kabul.
October 19: The Taliban leadership continues to voice defiance after it emerges that US special forces are now operating behind the lines inside Afghanistan.
October 20: US special forces are parachuted into enemy territory, killing Taliban troops and destroying key targets in ground attacks. Later reports claim that the operation was bungled and led to 12 American soldiers being injured.
October 22: Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon confirms that US warplanes have now turned their attention to Taliban positions facing Northern Alliance forces around the Kabul and the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif.
October 23: Mr Hoon says that all the al Qaeda terrorist training camps have been destroyed by the air strikes.
October 29: The Pentagon says US warplanes have begun systematically bombing the cave complexes where bin Laden and his key lieutenants are believed to be hiding out.
November 3: Bin Laden issues new call to arms to Muslims to defeat the "infidels" attacking Afghanistan as the US-led coalition steps up the bombardment of his Taliban allies.
November 4: More elite US special forces troops are deployed into Afghanistan as America claims Taliban has ceased to function as an effective government. Northern Alliance rebel fighters say they have mounted a major offensive on Mazar-e-Sharif.
November 9: Northern Alliance warlord Rashid Dostum says his forces have smashed through Taliban defences and recaptured Mazar-e-Sharif. November 13: Limited numbers of Northern Alliance soldiers enter Kabul after Taliban troops are reported to have fled. The hunt for bin Laden intensifies.
November 20: As the Taliban continue to retreat US aircraft broadcast radio messages to the Afghan people calling on them to turn over bin Laden and claim a massive reward.
November 22: US special forces step up the hunt for bin Laden, using high tech sensors which can see in the dark and pierce 100ft of solid rock.
November 23: American military chiefs draw up a `hit list' of cave networks where the terrorist leader may be hiding based on information from spy planes, satellites and patrols from special forces.
November 26: Several British troops are wounded in Afghanistan as they serve alongside US forces, Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon tells MPs.
November 27: US Marines seize an airstrip near the Taliban stronghold of Kandahar and set up a base to launch attacks on the city. Anti-Taliban forces backed by US air strikes and special forces put down an uprising near Mazar-e-Sharif, where hundreds of pro-Taliban foreigners who surrendered from the besieged town of Kunduz had turned on their guards.
December 3: Pentagon chiefs order hi-tech missiles which will be be able to pierce the almost impregnable Tora Bora complex, where bin Laden is reported to be living.
December 4: US spies find evidence bin Laden and the al Qaeda network have made strides towards producing a crude atomic bomb, known as a dirty bomb. The device does not use a nuclear explosion but conventional means to spread large doses of radiation over a wide area.
December 6: Taliban supreme leader Mohammed Omar agrees to surrender Kandahar to tribal forces. The last major stronghold of the Taliban falls.
Last Modified: 17:05 UK, Thursday December 06, 2001
You have e-mail, my FRiend, as well as my e-mail address.
Hope you like the pics...MUD
The 24/7 nay sayers have placed themselves in the same category of the little boy who cried wolf 24/7 (modern adaptation here). As they bray, scream and roar they continue to minimize any legitimate impact that they might have had. Now their only audience is their shrinking % of fellow nay sayers!
...geshhh; yer *really* gettin' old. :o)
I still remember all those who said our military was weak and in poor shape.
Did anybody really think a Republican held Senate under Clinton would have approved Senate confirmations of weak Generals and Admirals?"
You and the other Nam Vets recognized this tactic used by the left wingers who hate America better than any of us. These naysayers from Renta Mobbers in the street, the left wing professors, the left wing mediots, the left wing Follywood maggots, the left wing congressits, the left wing pundits on phoney National News dug out the same script used to stop our war in Viet Nam and to trash our troops there. We as a nation refused to listen to them, and we "Maherized" those who used hate talk to discredit our flag, our president and our military.
Thanks to Free Republic, Fox News, brave conservatives and brave moderates across the land, we stood firm. We placed our trust in President Bush, his cabinet and the military.
We didn't listen to McAinal and his pet possum, Krystol. We didn't listen to the great arm chair admirals and generals across the land.
We just let the President, SECDEF Rumsfield select the right people and let them devastate the Talibani in the above timeline!
Thanks for your incredible support of our military people during this timeline.
Yesterday, I talked to Marine LARP sniper who did 3 tours in Nam. The last two he had bounties on his head from the VC, the Russians, and the ChiComs. He wishes that he and the rest of you had the support then. However, he is so happy that we are flusing the left wing cr*p down the toilet, (his words). His final comment, "America has finally woke up to reality, and realizes how important our military is to our survival as a nation and us!"
Point-of-Order, Sir!
According to this nation's Constitution.....ONLY The Congress has that authority !!!
You posted,"It is my humble opinion that George W. Bush will Do What's Right with respect to his predecessor's Criminality...and ultimately, Bill Clinton will die in a Federal Penitentiary, after spending years and years as a sex-slave to a 6'6", 335-lb. cell-mate named "Dwight"!!
Actually Jake Reno comes close to your description of Dwight. It would be an incredible sense of justice to put Clintoon, Jake Reno and the Hilldebeast in the same jail cell and force them to listen and watch video tapes of Da$$hole, Gephardless and Leaky Leahy. Also, just throw Teddy, the whale in with them. He is probably close to 335#'s.
Then, we as conservatives could come and pay to see these people. Half of the money would go to our military and the other half to Free Republic! The lines would be miles long, 24/7/365! I would buy a Senior Season Ticket each year to go there and laugh as these Anti American Clymers! I would even throw peanuts at them!
Here is the link to the article, (link)
Here is the paragraph with Zell Miller's remarks, "As these and other details have emerged about tribunals, grown-up Democrats have begun to speak out in favor. Senator Joe Lieberman now supports them and even New York's Chuck Schumer, usually a hyper-partisan, has offered a qualified endorsement. Zell Miller, the Georgia Democrat, has been the sharpest critic of his own colleagues, noting that, "These nit-pickers need to find another nit to pick. They need to stop protecting the rights of terrorists. This is about national security. This is about life and death." "
FReegards...MUD
ROFLMAO...stop it, Grampa, I'm sittin' here in my cubicle cryin' from laughin' so hard thinkin' 'bout Slick, Butch and the HildaBeast forced to spend every moment in a 6' x 12' cell. And here I was worryin' I'd muddied up a very important thread with my risque reference to Prison Justice...LOL!! Sign me up fer one of them there Season Tickets, if you would, although I'm afraid I'm gonna have to skip the days wherein Ol' Butch Reno straps on her man-tool and gives Slick Willie the Bid'ness...in fact, the thought of it kinda makes me queasy.
FReegards...MUD
Good point, Wild_Man...does that make the War on Drugs un-Constitutional as well?!
FReegards...MUD
Nice timeline. Thanks, John.
Slim, my Friend, you are so much more than correct !!
I'd put in between your Nov 9 and Nov 13. We shouldn't leave the press' regular and pathetic idiocy out of this. It'll be important to teach future generations to never listen to the press.
I still can hear ALL the major TV networks saying we had to stop fighting before Ramadan, because our troops were no match for the Taliban in the winter and would have to wait until Spring to start again.
Good comment, Tonkin.
When some of my liberal acquaintances brought up these points AND how the USSR was defeated after years of fighting, I always reminded them WHY Afghanistan beat them. Were it not for the help of the USA they couldn't have done it.
I'd put in between your Nov 9 and Nov 13. We shouldn't leave the press' regular and pathetic idiocy out of this. It'll be important to teach future generations to never listen to the press."
Since I don't follow the left wing mediots very closely, that would be an interesting add on.
Maybe someone who kept notes could do a time line of the lies and idiocy of the Nay Sayers from 9/11 to the current date!
Then we could compare their lies and idiocy with the reality time line I posted on this thread. It would make great reading!
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