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Desperate search for Osama nukes
WorldNetDaily ^ | DECEMBER 7 | DEBKAfile

Posted on 12/07/2001 2:57:53 AM PST by Israel

Friday, December 7, 2001

FROM DEBKA INTELLIGENCE FILES

Desperate search for Osama nukes

Special Forces' priority now hunt for weapons of mass destruction


Editor's note: DEBKAfile's electronic news publication is a news-cum-analysis live wire, online round the clock seven days a week. A weekly edition, DEBKA-Net-Weekly, is now available through WorldNetDaily.com. Drawing on DEBKAfile's unique sources, analytical talents and forward-looking insights, it is presented as a compact, intelligence-angled weekly package. It is available as a direct e-mail feed or via the Internet.


Two pieces of fresh and definitive nuclear intelligence have U.S. Special Forces frantically searching the Tora Bora cave complex of east Afghanistan and triggered a major terror alert inside the United States, the third since the attack on New York and the Pentagon.

In Afghanistan, the U.S. military -- combing through the Tora Bora mountain cave complex 300 miles northeast of Kandahar for Osama bin Laden, his top lieutenant, Ayman al-Zawahiri, and 1,000 al-Qaida fighters -- were ordered to switch their priorities around. Their top objective now is to locate al-Qaida's weapons of mass destruction -- including nuclear devices -- in a desperate race against the clock.

According to intelligence sources, some 3,000 special forces commandos from the United States, Britain, Germany and Russia are currently scouring the cave warren of Tora Bora -- which means black dust -- for suspected weapons stores.

The special forces personnel operating in the region are attired in protective suits and carry equipment to counter threats from radiation and biological or chemical agents. It has been declared a no-go zone for journalists -- even those attached to the U.S. military.

A senior U.S. intelligence source familiar with the Tora Bora operation said the target area from Jalalabad to the Marines' Reno base south of Kandahar, has been cleansed of all cameras and media correspondents. The images appearing on television screens of summer-like conditions at Tora Bora come from archived footage. At present, the edges of the area north of Kandahar are dusted with snow, and winter is raging in north, northwest and western Afghanistan, encumbering U.S. intelligence-gathering and air operations.

The latest intelligence reports in U.S. hands claim that al-Qaida chiefs removed their nuclear, biological and chemical weapons arsenal from secret hideouts in Kabul to Tora Bora six days in advance of the Sept. 11 attacks in New York and Washington. That information persuaded Russian, Pakistani and Northern Alliance intelligence that bin Laden and al-Zawahiri went somewhere else, anxious to remove themselves from harm's way anywhere near a site where weapons of mass-destruction might explode.

Military sources report that because of the bad weather, sorties by drones and B-52 bombers and F-18 warplanes over Tora Bora and territory south of Jalalabad are intermittent. U.S. air operations are also disrupted in such areas as Paktia and Lugar in the southeast.

A further downturn is forecast by meteorologists in the days to come, with heavy snowstorms threatening Jalalabad in the east. Those forecasts persuaded President Bush, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and U.S. military chiefs that no time must be lost in the search for al-Qaida's nuclear weapons -- particularly in view of the second piece of alarming intelligence reaching Washington Nov. 27, primarily from Pakistan.

Bin Laden and his partner, al-Zawahiri, are now reported to be planning to take advantage of the slowdown in U.S. air activity forced by the inclement weather to complete their preparations for massive pre-Christmas terrorist strikes in the United States, including a possible nuclear or radiological weapon attack. The target period referred to was between Dec. 5 and Dec. 20. Al-Qaida's operational teams were described as standing by at the various departure points, some waiting only for the delivery of explosives, others just for their last order to go.

Bush dispatched CIA Chief George Tenet urgently to Islamabad to establish the credibility of this intelligence data with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and the heads of Pakistan's Inter-Service Intelligence service.

According to sources, Musharraf showed Tenet documents and first-hand witness accounts collected in the past two weeks by Pakistani military intelligence officers who had discovered and entered underground stores around Kabul, in which high levels of nuclear radiation were detected. The Pakistani agents also spent large sums of money to buy from Kabul locals descriptions of the men in charge of the stores and anything they may have picked up about the type of goods cached there.

They came up with a description of dark-colored, cone-shaped, ultra-heavy containers, about 4 feet long, which they were given to understand were radioactive. The guards, identified as a special al-Qaida unit of foreigners, Egyptians, Saudis and Chechens, spoke to no one. Their commanders communicated directly with bin Laden and al-Zawahiri.

According to sources in Islamabad, Musharraf advised the CIA director to go to Kabul himself and verify the information firsthand. They report that Tenet took this advice and paid a secret visit to the Afghan capital Sunday, Dec. 2, under the protection of U.S. and Russian special forces units.

With the help of interpreters, he and his assistants interrogated the Pakistani agents' sources directly. After six hours in Kabul, Tenet called the White House to confirm the Pakistan report, adding that it tied in with previous intelligence attesting to nuclear activity in the Tora Bora complex.

Washington's order to switch the objectives of the Tora Bora offensive went out accordingly at the beginning of the week. A nuclear terror alert was declared in the United States Dec. 4.

American armed forces in Afghanistan are in a race against the weather, too. The heavy snows expected around Dec. 10 to 12 will make their task almost impossible, forcing them to wait for the spring thaw. If Tora Bora is left in Taliban and al-Qaida hands, it would serve as a forward base for guerrilla forays to harass U.S. forces at Kandahar and Jalalabad and loosen their grip. Bin Laden and al-Zawahiri would win a breather of five long months safe from large-scale U.S. assault.


Subscribe to DEBKA-Net-Weekly.


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: alqaeda; alqaedanukes; gwot; proliferation
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To: Black Jade
I generaly learn something from your informative replies.
Thanks
121 posted on 12/08/2001 2:48:00 PM PST by Libertarianize the GOP
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To: dirtboy
c'mon, guys, come on in and defend Debka.

I have never gone on record defending Debka... I know nothing about them.

FReegards...

122 posted on 12/09/2001 3:56:22 PM PST by copycat
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To: ChaseR; Black Jade
Way late - but FWIW, the deapwater port I refered to was Gwadar (I don't know where I got Anwar from)!
The port has some valuable strategic value in terms of access to shipping lanes and the proposed Central Asia Oil Pipeline will run to the port (see Black Jade's post).
123 posted on 12/10/2001 8:40:00 AM PST by batter
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To: soccer8
Thanks, I'll ck Jade's post again. bttt
124 posted on 12/10/2001 8:55:37 AM PST by ChaseR
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To: copycat
I have never gone on record defending Debka... I know nothing about them.

You said this in a previous Debka thread:

I can't understand why intelligent people can't weigh internet info for what it's worrth, and instead feel the need to denigrate, defame, and dismiss out of hand.

In Debka's case, there is a good reason to denigrate, defame and dismiss what they write...

125 posted on 12/10/2001 8:59:39 AM PST by dirtboy
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To: dirtboy
I can't understand why intelligent people can't weigh internet info for what it's worth, and instead feel the need to denigrate, defame, and dismiss out of hand.

This is an argument against knee-jerk close-mindedness...the kind I see on every Debka thread. It is not an argument defending Debka.

In fact, I only remember one of their stories which had to do with thousands of Chinese troops moving toward Afghanistan. Obviously, their record is less than stellar...

FReegards...

126 posted on 12/10/2001 5:18:22 PM PST by copycat
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Comment #127 Removed by Moderator

To: Black Jade
Good info as usual
128 posted on 12/12/2001 6:47:54 AM PST by Libertarianize the GOP
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To: Israel; Dog Gone; veronica; Smogger; monkeyshine
American armed forces in Afghanistan are in a race against the weather, too. The heavy snows expected around Dec. 10 to 12 will make their task almost impossible, forcing them to wait for the spring thaw.

Time to revisit this story. The weather on the news broadcasts looks pretty good today - what happened to all the heavy snow? Why has the mission not changed to what Debka said - they are still hunting bin Laden, not stopping the search. And I haven't seen any hazmat suits in the reports from Tora Bora. This story is officially BUNK.

129 posted on 12/12/2001 7:24:24 AM PST by dirtboy
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To: dirtboy
All I can say is that you gave it more benefit of the doubt than I ever did before declaring it bunk. Maybe you didn't see the sensational story the Debka ran on the Iraqi invasion of Jordan. Maybe you didn't notice their report on the spectacular palace coup in Saudi Arabia with the royal family fleeing the country.

Debka not only has no regard for the truth, but they don't even base their stories on it. They flat out make stuff up.

This particular story is completely bogus, but I'm not sure it even makes their Top 10 of Amazing Whopping Lies.

130 posted on 12/12/2001 9:44:18 AM PST by Dog Gone
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