Posted on 12/16/2001 7:39:54 PM PST by Asmodeus
December 16 2001
Putin Warns US Over War On Terror
By Andrew Gowers, Robert Cottrell and Andrew Jack in Moscow and Richard McGregor in Tora Bora
Russia expects the US to consult it before taking the "war against terrorism" anywhere beyond Afghanistan, President Vladimir Putin said in an interview with the Financial Times.
The US-led war against the Taliban and Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network in Afghanistan appeared to be drawing to a close on Sunday. Some White House officials are pressing to shift the fight against terrorism to other rogue states.
But the Russian president warned specifically against military action in Iraq. The next priority for the anti-terrorist coalition should be to "block the financing of terrorist activities", he said. "And so far I have no confirmation, no evidence that Iraq is financing the terrorists that we are fighting against."
Mujahideen commanders declared victory in the battle against al-Qaeda forces in Afghanistan on Sunday, as Donald Rumsfeld, US defence secretary, made a surprise visit to the US Bagram Airbase in the country.
But after coming down from the Tora Bora mountains at the end of the battle to drive al-Qaeda from its final stronghold, the Mujahideen said they had not found Mr bin Laden.
"He is not here," said Haji Zaman, one of the commanders of the three Mujahideen forces fighting with the US. "Osama is not in my pocket. I cannot show him to you."
Mr Zaman said he had seen the cave where Mr bin Laden was thought to be hiding, and that his body was not among the many left there after Sunday's fighting.
But he and other commanders will continue to search the mountain "metre by metre" on Monday to hunt for the scores of al-Qaeda members who had fled the battlefield.
Mr Rumsfeld, the first top US official to visit Afghanistan since the war began, met Hamid Karzai, who will head the interim government that takes power in Kabul on Saturday.
Mr Putin, interviewed at the end of last week, criticised past bombing of Iraq by US and UK warplanes.
The main concern of the international community, he said, was to prevent Iraq developing weapons of mass destruction. Bombing did not seem to advance this aim.
Russia wanted Iraq to re-admit UN weapons inspectors in exchange for a full lifting of sanctions, Mr Putin said. But he admitted this idea had "not met with understanding on the part of Iraq's leadership".
US officials said on Sunday that it may still be difficult to get precise information on Mr bin Laden's fate.
Tommy Franks, the general in charge of US forces, told ABC News the US had picked up radio transmissions from Tora Bora last week that appear to be from Mr bin Laden.
But with US air strikes methodically destroying the bunkers and cave complexes that shelter the remaining al-Qaeda forces, he said it may be impossible to determine who had been killed.
About 200 al-Qaeda members were killed in fighting and 25 taken prisoner on Sunday. A dozen Mujahideen have also died in the past two days.
US B52 and F18 aircraft conducted another intense round of bombing on Saturday night and Sunday morning, over a wider area than usual as Al-Qaeda members tried to flee.
Additional reporting by Edward Alden in Washington and Reuters at Bagram Airbase
Saddam has been using the networks to perform his work, we need to take his tools away first.
Do you know nothing about Iraq? They have not been involved with your so-called "networks" in the slightest. But I guess you don't need any proof. Kristol said it so it must be true.
What's predictable, comrade, are the posts on this thread.
You said it. Knee-jerk and ill-informed. Doesn't seem to bother anyone that we are behaving exactly like the old Soviet Union. Endless war abroad and crack-downs on liberty back home.
We should also go against Palestinians and Hezbollah. They are more a priority right now,
And they are a threat to us exactly how?
Poor old Saddam one minute he is the blue eye boy for invading another sovereign nation, then he is the bad boy for invading another sovereign nation.
Very well said, Tony. You have captured the complete and concise history of the New World Order. One day we are at war with Eurasia and always have been. The next we are at war with Eastasia, Eurasia is our ally, and it has always been that way. The problem with most people on this thread is their knowledge of the world and history begins and ends with the television.
I wonder how many of you warmongers would support the draft with all this talk about every nation the U.S. should attack? It's all fine and dandy when you don't have any loved ones doing the fighting.
Isn't that the truth!!!
Besides that, I agree wholeheartedly with you that September 11 had state-sponsorship at some level.
Wouldn't it be interesting to see what was EDITED from Osama's last videotape?
It did. Have you forgotten the bombings of apartment buildings in Moscow, armed takeovers of hospitals, decapitations of the captives. But instead of understanding Russia was getting gratuitous and repeated insinuations from Western media that Russian government did those terrorists attackts to make Muslim extremist look bad.
American and Europeans government were demanding that Russian government negotiates with "good freedom fighters" and makes concessions (in Macedonia style). Pressure was applied, sanctions were threatened and even Voice of America established the broadcast in Chechen language (your tax dollars at work). Russian reaction in form of "dirty war" (as if there are clean wars) was closely scrutinised and maligned.
Those measures are more discrete now, but I hear NOTHING about stopping Chechen broadcast by VOA.
It was done already. Do you want this to be repeated? Then give more help to Chechen KLA.
But a lot with Saudi occupied Arabia. Iraq is a militantly secular regime which fought a long war against Islamic Iran.
BTW in this "agression against another sovereign country" Iraq was supported by USA even to the point of involvement of US navy (do you remember shooting down by the USS Vincennes of an Iranian passenger jet?). American navy was protecting Iraqi tankers while Iraq was free to attack Iranian tankers.
If we wanted to spin this, we could say this means "let us know before you do anything so I can dust off the nukes and join in on the action."
LOL
I am convinced that Putin, Bush, Blair, Fox and a few others are the new young leaders working toward the same goals. They each have to sell those themes in their countries. Some of those themes are contrary to my beliefs but I think this is the future of globalism.
As for the bickering in this thread, let me say to both sides, the Cold War is over. Russia and the United States should be great allies. We beat the Nazis together and our futures are intertwined. We are team-mates now and it will take the both of us along with India, South Korea, and Japan to keep the Chinese in the box.
Putin is trying to distance himself from overt commitment while watching the firework from Bhagdad. He is just like Stalin. He wants all the spoils but use others to do the work. He tried to use it against Mao. Mao tried to dodge it. But in the end, Mao was sucked in.
Soviet Union shipped many weapons to Iraq on Credit. They have not been paid. Putin wants this money back. So if Bush let Putin salvage this money out of Iraq's oil sale after Hussein regime is destroyed, he won't mention this again.
It certainly is not hard to identify the culprits in government or the pundits that rally around them. Most are red-diaper babies that quickly learned to high jack both the left and the right wing to further their goals.
To quote Askel5, 'waging war on a word' will only work if they can guarentee that a sucker is born every minute.
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