Posted on 09/27/2002 8:15:41 AM PDT by bonesmccoy
Posted on 09/27/2002 9:17 AM Central by luv2ndamend
2 al-Qaida soldiers brought to Bagram base for questioning, Russian fighter also held
WASHINGTON – U.S. forces captured two al-Qaida fighters believed to be Iraqi nationals in a recent raid in Afghanistan, U.S. intelligence officials told WorldNetDaily.
The two young men, who identified themselves as Iraqi citizens, were brought to the U.S. air base in Bagram for questioning, the officials said.
A third fighter, who identified himself as a Russian national, also was captured early last week in the raid on an al-Qaida stronghold, the sources said. He's being detained at Bagram, as well.
U.S. interrogators are attempting to confirm the nationalities of the detainees. Al-Qaida operatives in U.S. custody have been traced back to more than 40 countries.
But so far none has come from Iraq or Russia.
The interrogation of the Iraqis will be intense, said one official. The U.S. will want to know if they defected or joined up with al-Qaida under the auspices of the regime in Baghdad.
"Interrogators will be treating this with extra special care," said the official.
The Bush administration has been trying to tie Baghdad closer to al-Qaida as it builds a case for taking out Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein in the next front in the war on terrorism.
National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice said Wednesday that several al-Qaida detainees have said that Iraq helped train al-Qaida in chemical-weapons development. She also said al-Qaida operatives have found refuge in Baghdad.
A spokesman for the Iraqi ambassador to the United Nations said the Iraqi government has received no information about the detainees captured in Afghanistan.
A State Department official said the incident has not risen to the diplomatic level.
"It was an intelligence operation," said State spokesman Greg Sullivan. "And we don't normally comment on intelligence operations."
A Pentagon spokesman said he could not discuss specifics about any of the detainees.
Phone calls to the Russian Embassy, as well as the White House, were not immediately returned.
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Paul Sperry is Washington bureau chief for WorldNetDaily.Joseph Farah is editor and chief executive officer of WND.
IOW this speech by Kennedy provides a much more plausible straw for the "can't we all just get along" crowd, including, I fear, many mainstream Americans, to grasp at. Gore's speech, and Tiny Tom's meltdown, didn't pass the laugh or puke tests. Kennedy has come closer.
Well, if the democrats win in November, I'll have to get my will in order.
Democrats urgently need your help!
Polls show Democrats and Republicans neck and neck, but the GOP is planning a multimillion dollar infusion of special interest cash to try and steal this election.
This is without question the most ridiculous comment by Kennedy. Put our troops in danger??? Oh no, wouldn't want that. Nah, we just want troops to go to safe places where we know they won't get hurt. Sheesh, Ted, get you head out of the sand. War is h*ll but that doesn't mean it isn't worth fighting.
From the little bit I could stomach listening to, he did sound much more reasonable than Gore or Daschle. But then, that wouldn't be very hard to do.
JFK would be a conservative by today's standards.
I'll give him a break on his pronounciation, then.
The "Private Ryan" reference is weird though. I doubt he or his speechwriter ever saw the movie; if they did I'd think the mistake would be obvious - The movie *starts* with the Normandy invasion. It doesn't make sense for the movie to *end* with it.
Like I said, I never saw the movie, but at least I know what it was about.
By the way, did you ever notice Al Gore's "accent". I never hear anyone talk about it, but he's got the weirdest way of pronouncing words sometimes.
Perhaps Wellstone??? He's an idiot. I bet he'd do it.
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