Posted on 10/06/2001 9:59:12 AM PDT by FresnoDA
I was watching C-SPAN apon awakening this morning at 5:00 AM Central. They were showing what looked to be a tape of a Canadian Talking Head Show. They had 4 participants discussing the situation...
One man stated that reports are out that they've located a massive number of dead animals in a certain area of Afghanistan. These dead animals were found through the use of a sattelite. The assumption being that Bin Laden and/or The Talaban are experimenting with Chemical/Biological Weapons.
I don't know about you, but for the first time during all the discussions of warfare, I got chills of fear.
God Bless our Troops.
Although many Americans anticipated swift military retaliation, little is likely to happen until satellites scan hundreds of thousands of square miles of Afghanistan's rugged terrain. "We have to have a feel for the terrain and for the weather, which we provide with our satellites, and we have to have a feeling for the weapons that potentially could be employed," says Rear Adm. James McArthur, director of operations for US Space Command at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs.
McArthur says the space technology in use over Afghanistan is a dramatic improvement from that used in the Gulf War. New satellites can process information at much faster speeds and allow ground forces to have up-to-the-moment information.
Also, missiles now are guided by satellites, which makes them more accurate than the laser-guided strikes in Kosovo just two years ago.
The satellites cannot distinguish a face or tell the difference between Bin Laden's group and a group of refugees. So they are supported by U-2 spy planes, which can use radar to detect ground movements, and unma-nned drones that take high-resolution images that reveal differences in groups of people.
Critics say Bin Laden can avoid detection by hiding in the mountains of Afghanistan and avoiding use of electronic transmissions. After learning that US spy satellites monitored his cellphone, Bin Laden reportedly reverted to low-tech personal couriers. But experts say that if Bin Laden's group moves or uses a simple handheld radio, the network of satellites and spy planes eventually will track it down.
Consequently, protecting the satellites' ground stations against terrorist attack has assumed new importance.
While the US has unsurpassed superiority in space, its satellites have an Achilles' heel. The sophisticated system, said to be capable of seeing a man tying his shoelaces, is vulnerable to a simple terrorist attack, experts say.
Terrorist groups are probably incapable of knocking out satellites in orbit, but several of the ground stations, which control the satellites, are open targets. "The ground stations are too big to hide, and they are relatively well-known," says John Pike, a national security expert. An official of the National Reconnaissance Office, which operates the US spy satellite system, declined to comment on the stations’ vulnerability. "We take the necessary steps to protect our assets,” he said.
But if that's true, it's disturbing to wonder why they just don't deport the people. Gotta be PC, I suppose.
Which one is more compassionate?
Which one is less coercive?
Which one builds more hospitals and schools?
Which one requires Faith vs Works?
Which one has a Savior?
It's no surprise that animals are dying in herds and rotting where they fall after the weakened population heads for the refugee camps.
NOW we know why this country was attacked!
So............
These are supposedly Muslim's, not Hindu's. If they are starving and hungry from famine, something tell's me they would be chowing down on these herd's of dead cattle. Unless they have an unusual after taste to them!! Weak attempt at misdirection IMHO!!
| With Carl Limbacher and NewsMax.com Staff |
| For the story behind the story... |
Saturday Oct. 6, 2001; 2:51 p.m. EDT
Prediction of Terrorist Counterstrikes Delays Retaliation
In a classified briefing to Congress last week, a U.S. intelligence expert said he was a "100 percent" certain that terrorists still operating in the U.S. and around the world would launch counterstrikes when America retaliates against Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network -- a prediction that has forced the delay of U.S. military action.
"That is part of the equation," one official told New York Post Saturday, referring to the Bush administration's decision to hold its fire for the moment.
News of bin Laden's doomsday plan was shared with Congress on Tuesday by counter-terrorism officials at the FBI, CIA and the Defense Intelligence Agency.
They reportedly told intelligence committee members that field operatives are in a desperate race against the clock to hunt down the terrorists who are ready to carry out bin Laden's doomsday plan. "(Military planners) want to give the FBI time to find the counterstrike cell and neutralize it," sources told the paper.
"I think Americans should be very concerned," said Senate Intelligence Committee member Jon Kyl, in an interview Friday with Fox News Channel's Bill O'Reilly. "I don't think there's any doubt that the... terrorists are going to strike again."
Experts say the U.S. has only a few weeks left retaliate against bin Laden, since Afghanistan's winter starts in November. Veterans of the former Soviet Union's ten year war in the country during the 1980's said its brutal winters made military action infinitely more difficult.
U.S. and allied military forces have reportedly had Afghanistan surrounded for days, with some sources claiming commando units have already pinpointed bin Laden's whereabouts. But plans for an attack are apparently now on hold, while the U.S. attempts to defuse bin Laden's counterstrike terror timebomb.
"The information (on bin Laden's doomsday plan) was based on intelligence from sources in England, Germany, Afghanistan and Pakistan," the Post said. "Pakistani elements of bin Laden's network are thought to be involved."
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