Al Qaida biological warfare factories attacked

Ha'aretz Daily ^ | 10/10/2001 | By Ze'ev Schiff, Ha'aretz Defense Commentator

[grimalkin]

Among the bases attacked in the U.S.-led strikes in Afghanistan was an Osama bin Laden camp which served as a production facility for poisonous chemicals, including biological warfare agents.

The present strategic situation is one of the reasons that Washington is being extremely careful in disclosing the targets that American and British planes hit in Afghanistan over the past three days. Information on the targets has not been readily supplied, not even to fellow members of the international anti-terror coalition.

According to information provided by Western sources, it seems that U.S. intelligence holds "detailed information on the location of bin Laden's Al Qaida organization camps." The U.S. and British air strike targeted instructional and training bases near the cities of Jalalabad and Khut, located close to the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.

Apparently, one of the bin Laden bases attacked, which was both small and secret, manufactured various poisons, including biological warfare agents. Professional bases as well as Al Qaida manufacturing centers, including intelligence instructional bases near Kandahar and Kabul have also been hit. According to Western claims, Al Qaida members were trained to carry out attacks and hijackings at these bases.

Another base attacked in the region was a chief manufacturer of explosive materials.

According to this information it seems that the American and other intelligence services knew about Al Qaida's involvement in the chemical and biological warfare realm prior to the strikes.

[Red Jones]

bump

[onyx]

This is good, albeit, anticipated news. I just heard a report on the radio that our guys are busy dropping 5000 ton(?) bombs that penetrate and destroy caves, tunnels, and underground facilities.

[anymouse]

hope our bombers are making Al Queda targets look like the typical Afghan's face, pock marked and scarred from neglect of basic hygine. Why do you think they wear those beards. :)

[spycatcher]

5000 lbs is the size ... also comes with high tech casing and nose that make each cost $18 million.

I'm waiting for them to drop these suckers.

Depending on the yield of the bomb, the B61-11 can produce explosions ranging from 300 tons of TNT to more than 300,000 tons. The B61-11 is designed to burrow through layers of concrete by way of a "shock-coupling effect." The design directs the force of the B61-11's explosive energy downward, destroying everything buried beneath it to a depth of several hundred meters, according to a story in the March 2, 1997 issue of Defense News.

[onyx]

Thanks for the info. "These suckers" are quite the thing! Two hundred meter depth; can Osama's caves and tunnels be any deeper?

[Aquinasfan]

The design directs the force of the B61-11's explosive energy downward, destroying everything buried beneath it to a depth of several hundred meters, according to a story in the March 2, 1997 issue of Defense News.

Whoa.

[Abn1508]

It doesn't matter...if you close the entrance.

(Very Big Evil Grin)

Let his last words be "more air!"

[spycatcher]

And if we can tie the Anthrax to the terrorists, we will be justified in using these tactical nukes.

I like this one...The B53, on the other hand, with a force equal to 9 million tons of TNT, penetrates the earth simply by creating a massive crater, rather than the more precise downward blow of the B61-11.

The 8,900-pound, nine-megaton B53 device, a bomb initially designated as an earth-penetrating weapon. It is far larger than even the greatest conventional non-nuclear device in U.S. stockpiles and it is several times more powerful than the atomic weapons dropped on Japan in 1945.

[Sender]

Word is that the caves have more than one entrance and exit. All rats know about this, in case the dogs come.

[onyx]

Whoa! I can't begin to imagine the destruction! Color Osama and his pals dead?

[AmericanInTokyo]

Any black Toyota four wheel drive traveling any where near AlQuaida camps has probably been advanced KH-11-ized and blown to smitherines by now (one hopes!). Perhaps the first two days work of strikes to take down Talib air defenses, command/control and airfields, did not do it. But now with GBU bunker busters, our JDAM system that is up and running, and upcoming helo-gunships, not to mention nighttime quick strick special ops, Osama may in fact have already been whacked. Let us hope and pray so.

IMHO, it is VERY dangerous to apprehend him alive and have a trial somewhere, because terrorists will take hostages like crazy around the world, demanding his release. On the other hand, OBL's colleagues and deputies cannot very well demand the release of a sorry scrap of bloody meat that looks like Wisconsin road kill, formerly known as 'Osama Bin Laden'.

[Lotabrain]

Those are BLU-86's. We dropped them on Iraq during the PG war. It is a Fuel-Air Explosive bomb that was officially used for "mine clearing" but in fact it was used to penetrate the Republican Guard bunkers and also used to BBQ a sizable portion of the Iraqi army. It's 1500 ft. incineration radius is pretty effective.

[tessalu]

I would like to see all caves gassed and all entrances closed off. Let Osama die like the coward that he is, holed up. He is welcome to take all friends and family with him.

[aught-6]

a sorry scrap of bloody meat that looks like Wisconsin road kill, formerly known as 'Osama Bin Laden'.

Love that mental imagery!

[Virginia-American]

is VERY dangerous to apprehend him alive and have a trial somewhere

Oh, I don't know, I bet there are a lot of Afghan clans, tribes and ethnic groups who have jurisdiction and also traditional punishment. I'd like to see Saddam dropped off in Kurdistan, too.

[Dan Day]

Word is that the caves have more than one entrance and exit. All rats know about this, in case the dogs come.

And we will close them all. We have satellites with high-resolution ground-penetrating radar that makes spotting tunnel entrances a trivial exercise.

[Dan Day]

Al Qaida biological warfare factories attacked

Gosh, wouldn't it be, um, terrible if the bombings inadvertently splattered Osama's biological warfare agents all over the surrounding countryside?

[Dan Day]

Areal Sharon started this war.

Hallucinate much?