• News Briefs              AP Breaking News            Yahoo News

• News Round Up 12/31/01
• Israel Bans Arafat From Travel to Bethlehem 12/24/01
• Alleged Plane Bomber in Federal Custody 12/24/01
• News Round Up 12/24/01
• News Round Up 12/23/01
• News Round Up 12/21/01
• News Round Up 12/19/01
• Prof. Levin's Commentary from the Los Angeles Times 12/18/01
• News Round Up 12/18/01
• News Round Up 12/17/01
• U.S. Releases bin Laden Video 12/13/01
• News Round Up 12/13/01
• JDL Chairman Irv Rubin, Follower Arrested for Bomb Plot By FBI in Los Angeles 12/12/01
• Moussaoui Indicted in 9/ 11 Attacks Conspiracy 12/11/01
• Taliban Abandon Kandahar, Mullah Omar Flees 12/07/01
• Al-Zawahiri, Top Aide to Bin Laden, May Be Dead in U.S. Bombing 12/07/01
• News Round Up 12/07/01
• Taliban Agree to Surrender Kandahar to Anti-Taliban Forces 12/06/01
• Three Special Forces Soldiers Americans Die in Afghanistan; Son of Bin Laden May Have Been Killed; AfghanInterim Government Formed 12/05/01
• Another Suicide Bombing Shakes Jerusalem 12/05/01 
• Clayton Lee Waagner Captured in Cincinnati, Ohio 12/5/01
• News Round Up 12/5/01
• News Round Up 12/4/01
• News Round Up 12/3/01
• November News Briefs 
• October News Briefs
• September News Briefs
• August News Briefs
• July News Briefs
• June News Briefs
• May News Briefs
• ^{April News Briefs}
• ^{March News Briefs}

News Round Up 12/18/01

5 Alarm Fire Hits Church of St. John the Divine in NYC, World's Largest Gothic Church

Neo-Nazi National Alliance Protest Outside of Israeli Embassy, Post Anti-Immigration Billboard in Tampa

FBI in Khandahar To Interview al Qaeda Prisoners

Staff. Sgt. Brian Cody Prosser, Soldier, Laid To Rest In Arlington Nat'l Cemetery; Master Sgt. Jefferson Donald "Donnie" Davis, Buried in Elizabethton, Tennessee, both victims of friendly fire in Afghanistan.

White Supremacist Arrested With Weapons Cache in Connecticut

Envelope With White Powder At State Dept. Being Analyzed

India Blames Pakistan For Attack On Its Parliament

Anthrax Letter Increasingly Believed To Be From Someone Domestic-LA Times, Cal State San Bern. Center Says Domestic Link Strengthened Because bin Laden Didn't Mention It in Video

700 Law Prof's Send To Gov. Letter Urging Against Military Trials

Return to index

News Round Up 12/17/01

World's Muslims Celebrate End of Ramadan Holy Month With Feast of Eid al-Fitr

Hanukkah Ends for Jews Over Weekend

Former Indonesian Prime Minister Dictator in Hospital

Coup Attempt Fails In Haiti, At Least 4 Dead, State Dept. Urges Americans There to Stay Indoors

Space Shuttle Lands in Florida

Al Qaeda Appears Defeated in Tora Bora, but No Sign of bin Laden, Prisoners Say He Is Still There

Doctor Removes Skin Lesions on President Bush's Face

Marines Raise Flag Over Rededicated US Embassy Compound in Kabul, Afghanistan

Yasser Arafat in Televised Sunday Address Urges "No More Attacks" From Palestinian Extremists

Israeli Attacks in Palestinian Areas Result in Arrests And Deaths of Suspected Terrorists, but Civilians Are Killed as Well, Palestinians Fire Mortar at Jewish Settlement

Marine Who Stepped on Afghan Landmine Has Leg Amputated

Alleged JDL Bomb Plotters Remain Behind Bars, but Protest Innocence; Rubin Declined Center Director Levin's Request Last May to Renounce All Violence, but Said JDL Violence Was In the Past; Major Jewish & Islamic Groups Denounce JDL

NATO Holds Meetings in Belguim With Rumsfeld in Attendance

UK To Send 1500 Troops To Peacekeeping Force in Afghanistan; Argentina, Jordan, Canada, Australia, New Zealand To Send Troops Too

3018 People Still Dead or Missing at WTC, Injured IRS Employee Passes Away Late Last Week; Fires Expected to Smolder Until January

NYFD's Hero's Hero Ray Downey Mourned at Long Island Service, Was NYC's Most Decorated Firefighter & Special Operations Chief, Had Helped in OKC Rescues

American Taliban John Walker Held on Ship With 4 Other Prisoners Including An Alleged Australian

China Says McDonald's Explosion That Killed 1 Was Possibly A Timebomb

Commentary: Harry Potter Screening for Jewish Children in Paris Scrapped After Alleged Palestinian Threats, Center Director Levin "Very Concerned" Over Sharp Rise in Anti-Semitic Incidents in France and "Government's Tepid Response"

Commentary: Bob Dornan on CNN Broadcast Latest Commentator To Denounce Islam, Joins Cong. Cooksley , Rev. Franklin Graham, Ann Coulter and Other Public Figures in "Poisoning Interfaith Discourse With Bigotry" Says Center Director Levin

Commentary: Time Still Considering bin Laden For "Man of the Year", NYC Rescuers and Amer. Troops Should Be the Choice, Says Center Director Levin

Return to index

U.S. Releases bin Laden Video 12/13/01


On a translated tape (DoD translation) released by the Pentagon Thursday morning, terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden says ''we calculated in advance'' the number of casualties in the Sept. 11 attacks.

Bin Laden also added, ''we did not reveal'' the attack plan to the hijackers until ''just before they boarded the planes.''

''The brothers who conducted the operation, all they knew was that they have a martyrdom operation and we asked each of them to go to America, but they didn't know anything about the operation, not even one letter,'' bin Laden said, according to the U.S. translation.  ''But they were trained and we did not reveal the operation to them until they are there and just before the boarded the plane,'' he said.

Bin Laden also said he told his followers there would be more destruction after the first plane hit the World Trade Center.

''They were overjoyed when the first plane hit the building, so I said to them: be patient,'' he said.

Bin Laden spiritual adviser Ayman al-Zawahri and spokesman Abu Ghaith also appear in the tape. Their conversation was recorded in what the Pentagon identified as a guest house in Kandahar, Afghanistan.

Prior to releasing the tape, the Pentagon brought in four  Arabic-speaking translators to listen to the tape and agree on a uniform translation.  The tape lasts about one hour.

Bin Laden said he and his associates had estimated in advance how many people would be killed in the attacks on the World Trade Center towers.

''We calculated that the floors that would be hit would be three or four floors,'' he said. ''I was the most optimistic of them all.''

After a section of the tape which the Pentagon called inaudible, bin Laden says, ''Due to my experience in this field, I was thinking that the fire from the gas in the plane would melt the iron structure of the building and collapse the area where the plane hit and all the floors above it only. This was all that we had hoped for.''

The man U.S. officials say organized the execution of the hijackings on Sept. 11, Mohamed Atta, ''was in charge of the group,'' bin Laden said.  "The brothers, who conducted the operation, all they knew was that they have a martyrdom operation and we asked each of them to go to America but they didn't know anything about the operatioon, not even one letter.  But they were trained and we did not reveal the operation to them until they are there and just before they boarded the planes," bin Laden said of the men involved in the terrorist attacks.

Bin Laden, a Saudi fugitive, also said ''we had notification since the previous Thursday that the event would take place that day,'' referring to the attacks. He then described hearing the news reports.

''We had finished our work that day and had the radio on,'' he said. ''It was 5:30 p.m. our time. I was sitting with Dr. Ahmad Abu-al-Khair. Immediately, we heard the news that a plane had hit the World Trade Center. We turned the radio station to the news from Washington. The news continued and no mention of the attack until the end. At the end of the newscast they reported that a plane just hit the World Trade Center.''

He then mentioned hearing the newscast report that a second plane had hit World Trade Center.

''The brothers who heard the news were overjoyed by it.''

U.S. intelligence officers found the bin Laden tape at a home in Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan. It bears a date stamp that says it was made Nov. 9. That was the day the northern Afghan city of Mazar-e-Sharif fell to the rebel northern alliance.

Return to index

News Round Up 12/13/01

Government  Release's bin Laden Videotape Today; Christian Science Monitor Reports bin Laden In Pakistan, US Gov't. Skeptical

US Continues Massive Air Campaign in Tora Bora Region of Afghanistan

French Protest Possible Death Penalty Against Would Be Sept. 11 Hijacker

Attorney General Ashcroft in Europe To Meet With Allies

FBI To Do Mass Mailings of Postcards in PA/NJ to Solicit Clues in Anthrax Cases

Another Tragedy: WTC Widow Commits Suicide

WTC Death Toll Now At 3040

JDL Chair Irv Rubin and Follower Held in Federal Custody in So. Calif. Bombing Plot;
Mosque & Congressman Alleged To Be Targets; Jews and Muslims Condemn Rubin & Plot

Alleged White Supremacist Is Convicted in Brutal Long Island Hate Crime Attack Against Latino Day Laborers

85% of Americans Believe US  Attack At Home or Abroad By Terrorists is Likely in Next Few Months- Wall St. Journal/NBC Poll- Bush Approval At Rating 85%; 48% Have Confidence In US Intelligence To Prevent Future Attacks

Hamas Kills 10 Israelis Yesterday In Gun & Bomb Attack on Bus & Ambulances; Israel Launches Air Strikes, Breaks Relations With Palestinian Authority & Says It Will Send Ground Troops

Palestinian Authority Closes Hamas & Other Terrorist Offices

Kenyan Authorities Free Man Mistakenly Thought To Linked to 98 Embassy Bombings

Terrorist Attack on Indian Parliament Kills 12, Including Assailants & Police

Navy Veteran Charles Burlingame Laid To Rest At Arlington Nat'l Cemetary: He Piloted Hijacked American Airlines Plane That Crashed into Pentagon

US To Withdraw From Missile Treaty Within 6 Months

Denver Nuggets Coach Dan Issel Suspended for Four Games by Team for Making an Anti-Mexican Slur; Was Caught on Tape; Coach Apologizes 

Community Leaders Will Go To Riverside Mosque To Condemn Bigotry

Gonzaga University's Anti-Hate Institute to Launch Scholarly Journal on Hate in January

Return to index

JDL Chairman Irv Rubin, Follower Arrested for Bomb Plot By FBI in Los Angeles 12/12/01

The chairman of the Jewish Defense League and a member of the JDL were arrested in connection with plotting to blow up a Culver City mosque and the office of Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., federal authorities said today.

Irv Rubin, 56, and a member of the militant group, Earl Krugel, 59, both of Los Angeles, were arrested late Tuesday after explosive powder, the last component of the bomb, was delivered to Krugel's home, U.S. Attorney John S. Gordon said.  Other bomb components and weapons were seized during a raid at Krugel's home.

The arrests came late Tuesday.  Rubin and Krugel were arrested in connection with a bombing plot, according to Thom Mrozek, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office. He would not describe the alleged scheme except to say, "The bombing was not carried out."

They were booked for conspiracy to destroy a building by means of an explosive, which carries a maximum five year sentence, and possession of a destructive device related to a crime of violence, which carries a 30-year mandatory sentence.

A government source told authorities about a series of meetings at which the scheme to bomb the King Fahd Mosque in Culver City and Issa's office was hammered out, Gordon said.

The original target was to be the Muslim Public Affairs Council in Los Angeles but the source told authorities there was another meeting last weekend and the target was changed.

"Prior to last night's arrest, the source delivered explosive powder, the last component required to begin construction of the bomb, to Krugel's residence," the U.S. attorney said.  The complaint against the pair quotes Krugel as making a comment during a meeting that Arabs "need a wakeup call."

Tajuddin Shuaib, director of the King Fahd Mosque, said he was astonished by the alleged plot, which came during Ramadan, the holiest time of the year for Muslims. He said no threats were received by the mosque.  As many as 1,000 people attend the mosque to pray there during the Ramadan season.  Ramadan ends later this week.

"I can't understand why people would do such a thing. We are not against Jews. We are not against anybody. We are like any church or synagogue or temple," Shuaib said.

Issa, the grandson of Lebanese immigrants, is on the House Committee on International Relations and supports Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations. Last month, he met with Lebanon's president to discuss Hezbollah, which the United States considers a terrorist group. Issa called on the group to renounce terrorism.  Calls to Issa by the Associated Press at his San Clemente office were referred to Washington. A spokesman didn't immediate return calls.

Law enforcement agencies raided a Reseda home identified by television stations as Krugel's late Tuesday night. Footage showed officers carrying out weapons and cardboard boxes.  A neighbor of Krugel’s, Rod Colson, heard Krugel's dog barking at about 10 p.m. and went outside, where he saw people carrying out boxes. He said the Krugels had lived there since 1978.

"I saw a lot of agents in the back yard taking photos," he said.

The screen door of the red brick home was broken and part of the fence had been knocked down. A menorahwas visible through a window and there was an American flag on the mailbox.

"Irv Rubin never had anything to do with explosives," said Rubin's attorney, Peter Morris. "It seems to us that, given the timing ... the government's action is part of an overreaction to the Sept. 11 events."

Matthew McLaughlin, an FBI spokesman in Los Angeles, declined to discuss the alleged target but said physical evidence was found.  "The tools might have been in place to do this thing," he said. "We don't put people in (custody) just for superficial impressions. We put people in place for their physical actions."

"My husband and Earl are completely innocent of anything. They are law-abiding, good people," Rubin's wife, Shelley, said in a telephone interview with the Associated Press.

The Jewish Defense League opposes what it considers threats to the Jewish people, whether from Arabs, evangelizing Christians or pro-peace Jews.

Originally formed by Meir Kahane to mount armed response to anti-Semitic acts in New York City, it gained notoriety when its members were linked to bombings, most of them aimed at Soviet targets in retaliation for the way that country treated its Jewish population.

From the JDL Website:

JDL upholds the principle of Barzel -- iron -- the need to both move to help Jews everywhere and to change the Jewish image through sacrifice and all necessary means -- even strength, force and violence. The Galut image of the Jew as a weakling, as one who is easily stepped upon and who does not fight back is an image that must be changed. Not only does that image cause immediate harm to Jews but it is a self-perpetuating thing. Because a Jew runs away or because a Jew allows himself to be stepped upon, he guarantees that another Jew in the future will be attacked because of the image that he has perpetuated. JDL wants to create a physically strong, fearless and courageous Jew who fights back. We are changing an image, an image born of 2,000 years in the Galut, an image that must be buried because it has buried us. We train ourselves for the defense of Jewish lives and Jewish rights. We learn how to fight physically, for it is better to know how and not have to, than have to and not know how.

The Jewish Defense League was founded in 1968 by militant Rabbi Meir Kahane. Kahane migrated to Israel in 1971 and founded the far right wing Kach Party.  Kahane was shot and killed an Egyptian Islamic extremist El sayyid Nosair on November 5, 1990 on  trip to New York.  After Kahane was murdered, the Kach Party was renamed Kahane Chai (Kahane Lives) and was led by Kahane's son Binyamin. Both the Kach Party and Kahane Chai were banned by Israel as a terrorist organizations in March, 1994, after JDL charter member Baruch Goldstein killed 29 at a mosque on the site over the Tomb of the Patriarchs in February, 1994.  Goldstein committed suicide after the killings.  Goldstein was an former member of JDL and was affiliated with the Kach Party in Israel. 

According to the JDL website: 

How does JDL feel about Dr. Boruch Goldstein?

Dr. Goldstein was a brilliant surgeon, a mild-mannered Yeshiva-educated man who was promoted to the rank of major in the IDF. He was warned by his superiors in the military to prepare an open field hospital in anticipation of another murderous attack by the hostile Arab population of Hevron during the Jewish festival of Purim. Many of these Arabs were standing outside Goldstein's synagogue in the Cave of the Patriarchs and yelling "Slaughter the Jew." Goldstein had lost 30 close friends in the last few years; they were murdered by Arabs in the Hevron-Kiryat Arba area. One of those was the son of his best friend, Mordechai Lapid; as Goldstein rushed to give the young man medical aid, he was held back by the Arabs on the scene and the young man died. Additionally, as there is proof that the Arabs were hoarding food and supplies in response to a Muslim call for a massacre on the Jewish holiday of Purim, we feel that Goldstein took a preventative measure against yet another Arab attack on Jews. We understand his motivation, his grief and his actions. And we are not ashamed to say that Goldstein was a charter member of the Jewish Defense League.


The JDL virtually monopolized Jewish extremist violence in the US from the late 1970s to the mid 1980s. During 1980s it was listed as a terrorist group by the FBI

The group split into two factions the Jewish Defense League based in LA and the Jewish Defense Organization (JDO) headed by Mordachi Levy out of New York. Mr Levy was recently arrested in NY

The back of the organization was broken when 4 extremists were arrested and pled guilty in 1987. One committed suicide

Some JDL acts of terrorism from 1980s:

2/19 1982  two explosions rock Russian airline Aeroflots offices in NY, no casualties

April 5, 1982  Arson at Tripoi restaurant, Brooklyn NY,  1 dead 8 injured

April 28 1982 2 bombings at NYC Lufthansa Airlines office & a bomb at Iraq's UN Mission, no casualties

2 individuals with ties to JDL were suspected in the 1985 murder of Alex Odeh.  Both suspects are thought to have fled to Israel, one is believed dead. 

According to the JDL website: 

Why didn't the JDL condemn the 1985 murder of Alex Odeh, director of the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee? Did JDL have anything to do with the bombing that killed him?

It is true that JDL National Chairman Irv Rubin publicly stated that Odeh "got what he deserved" in the bombing of the ADC offices in Santa Ana, California. He also said, "I'm not crying over the death of Alex Odeh. My tear ducts are dry. My tears were used up crying for Leon Klinghoffer." Rubin made these passionate statements after observing Odeh on television less than 24 hours before his death on the local ABC news whitewashing the PLO's involvement in the death of the wheelchair-bound Klinghoffer on the hijacked cruise ship Achille Lauro. Odeh praised the PLO and called Arafat a man of peace. JDL believes -- and there is no information to the contrary -- that Odeh was murdered by his own people, probably Hamas, who believed Odeh to be too moderate.    

Rubin’s Biography:     

According to Irv Rubin, his family emigrated to the United States in 1961 and settled in the Los Angeles area. Granada Hills (CA) High School (Class of '63)

In 1966, Rubin became a citizen when he enlisted in the U.S. Air Force. He served for four years and attained the rank of sergeant.

While attending college in 1971, Rubin crossed paths with leaders of the organization he would ultimately head - the Jewish Defense League. His talents and genius were recognized right from the start. In four short months, Rubin was appointed to the post of West Coast Coordinator, a position he held until 1985, when he was asked to succeed Rabbi Meir Kahane, founder of the JDL, as National Chairman.

Throughout his career, Rubin has been arrested about forty times (he's lost count) on behalf of the Jewish people. Many of his arrests were related to his protests of the treatment of Jews in the former Soviet Union. He has also been arrested numerous times for physically confronting Jew-haters. In 1980, he was tried for "soliciting the murders of every Nazi in the United States," of which a jury found him innocent. Also that year, he was put on trial for "challenging to fight" hostile Iranians at an event labeled by the media as the "Battle of Beverly Hills." The judge dismissed the charges.

Rubin has made a career out of confrontation, challenging white supremacists to fistfights, burning a Confederate flag outside a Reno courthouse, and being tried in 1980 for soliciting the murders of Nazis in the United States (he was found innocent). By his own count he has been arrested more than 40 times.

A suit filed by Rubin resulted in a court decision banning prayer during Burbank City Council meetings.

Return to index

Moussaoui Indicted in 9/11 Attacks Conspiracy 12/11/01

Attorney General John Ashcroft announced that a federal grand jury indicted Zacarias Moussaooui, a French Moroccan,  for conspiracy in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the first indictment directly related to the suicide hijackings.  Ashcroft announced Osama bin Laden was listed as one of the unindicted coconspirators.

``Al-Qaeda will now meet the justice it abhors and the judgment it fears,'' Ashcroft said. 

Moussaoui had raised the suspicions of flight instructors who said he only wanted to learn how to turn an airplane, not take off and land and contacted the FBI.  Investigators' suspicions by seeking flight lessons in Minnesota a month before the hijackings. A 30-page indictment lists six counts against him, four of them punishable by death if he is convicted. 

Ashcroft called Moussaoui ``an active participant'' in the terrorist attacks, and accused him of ``undergoing the same training, receiving the same funding and pledging the same commitment to kill Americans'' as the terrorists on the hijacked planes. 

The attorney general also announced a list of 23 unindicted coconspirators. In addition to bin Laden, they include bin Laden's deputy, Ayman Zawahiri; all 19 of the Sept. 11 hijackers; a man the FBI has identified as the intended 20th member of the hijack team; and bin Laden's alleged financial manager, Mustafa Ahmed al-Hisawi. 

The indictment charges that Moussaoui trained at an al-Qaeda camp in Afghanistan in April 1998 (link to chapters from an Al Qaeda training manual on the DOJ website). Around the same time, Mohamed Atta, suspected ringleader of the hijackers, and two other of the 19 hijackers formed an al-Qaeda terrorist cell in Germany. 

Last year, Atta and the other hijackers traveled to the United States. In July, Atta visited the same flight school in Norman, Okla., where Moussaoui enrolled at a later time.

The indictment was issued by a grand jury in the Eastern District of Virginia, charging Moussaoui ``with conspiring with Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda to murder thousands of innocent people in New York, Virginia and Pennsylvania on Sept. 11.'' Ashcroft called the indictment ``a chronicle of evil.'' 

Moussaoui will be arraiged Jan. 2 in Alexandria, Va. 

``Today, three months after the assault on our homeland, the United States of America has brought the awesome weight of justice against the terrorists who brutally murdered innocent Americans,'' Ashcroft said. 

The counts against Moussaoui were conspiracy to commit acts of terrorism, to commit aircraft piracy, to destroy aircraft, to use weapons of mass destruction, murder and conspiracy to destroy property. 

The indictment says he trained at an al-Qaeda camp in Afghanistan, received flight training in the United States, received money from sources in Germany and the Middle East and pledged to kill Americans. 

Ashcroft said listing some suspects as unindicted coconspirators did not preclude them from facing indictment as the investigation progresses. 

Referring to the progress of the military campaign, Ashcroft said that ``7,000 miles from the field of battle in Afghanistan, another victory is taking shape in the war on terrorism.'' 

The attorney general called the indictment ``an important step in securing justice for the victims of Sept. 11.'' He said victims had been waiting three months for the terrorists to be brought to justice, and that the Justice Department would soon be making available to victims a Web site and toll-free phone number ``to follow the progress of this prosecution.'' 

Moussaoui was detained Aug. 17 on immigration charges after officials at a flight school where he sought training grew suspicious and called authorities. He has been held as a material witness - someone with possibly important information - in the investigation of the terrorist attacks. 

U.S. officials had spoken of Moussaoui as possibly an intended 20th member of the hijacking team. But FBI Director Robert Mueller this month told federal prosecutors that a computer owned by Moussaoui did not link him to the Sept. 11 attacks. Mueller then named Ramsi Binalshibh, a Yemeni fugitive, as the man who may have planned to be on United Airlines Flight 93 that crashed in Pennsylvania.  Binashibh had been repeatedly denied a visa to enter the United States.

Moussaoui has been the subject of intense scrutiny since the attacks, which occurred while he was in custody. Prosecutors had wanted to search his computer but were unable to get approval for the warrant until after Sept. 11. 

The search showed that Moussaoui had gathered information about ``dispersal of chemicals'' as well as about crop-duster planes, Mueller said last month. 

The discovery prompted the Bush administration to temporarily ground crop-dusters as a precaution against a possible biochemical terrorist attack. 

When he was seeking flying lessons, Moussaoui had said he wanted to learn how to take off and land but not to fly, Mueller said. 

Last month, his mother, Aicha Moussaoui, told The Associated Press that her son had written her a letter saying he is innocent. ``I believe him,'' said the mother, who lives in Narbonne in southern France. ``As a young boy, he was never a liar.'' 

Return to index

Taliban Abandon Kandahar, Mullah Omar Flees 12/07/01

The Taliban abandoned their last major stronghold of Kandahar Friday in a chaotic retreat, but their spiritual leader Mullah Mohammad Omar and hundreds of his armed supporters managed to escape away amid violence and confusion.

The rigid Islamist Taliban surrendered in Kandahar to rival forces who immediately started fighting each other, but the militia's supreme leader Mullah Omar disappeared despite U.S. efforts to prevent any deal that allowed him to escape, according to Reuters..

Gen. Tommy Franks, commanding the U.S. campaign, said U.S. forces were engaging from the air and the ground armed Taliban who were attempting to escape.  Franks did not detail the efforts American forces were using against the Taliban.

The Taliban also surrendered the border town of Spin Boldak and a southern province, signaling their final death knell after years of harsh rule over the Afghani people.

Anti-Taliban forces said they had seized a separate mountain hide-out of Osama bin Laden.,

But the U.S.-backed forces found no trace of the Saudi-born multi-millionaire, who U.S. experts believe is still hiding out somewhere in Afghanistan, although others suggest he may have sneaked across the Pakistani border.

The fall of Kandahar came on the 60th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, which brought the United States into the Second World War.

''Now, another date will forever stand alongside Dec. 7 -- Sept. 11, 2001,'' President George W.  Bush said in a proclamation.

''On that day, our people and our way of life again were brutally and suddenly attacked, though not by a complex military maneuver but by the surreptitious wiles of evil terrorists,'' he said.

The U.S.-led coalition against terror welcomed Kandahar's fall but vowed to pursue the war until it met its goals, which are to crushing the hard-line Taliban and bin Laden's international al Qaeda network of Islamic extremists, and bringing their leaders to justice.

U.S. Marines on patrol from a desert airstrip near Kandahar killed seven ''enemy forces'' overnight in their first ground attack since they seized the base almost two weeks ago.

''Last evening we successfully engaged enemy forces along road networks near Kandahar, killing seven and destroying three vehicles,'' Marine Captain David Romley told reporters, adding that there were no U.S. casualties.

Hamid Karzai, Afghanistan's newly designated leader, offered an amnesty to Taliban foot soldiers but said their leaders and foreign al Qaeda fighters must face ''international justice.''

The Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) said Mullah Omar had been unchallenged as he made his escape.  ''Mullah Omar has disappeared from Kandahar and it is not known where he has gone,'' Haji Bashar, a former Mujahideen commander, told AIP by satellite phone from Kandahar.

Underlining the deep divisions that brought Afghanistan years of factional warfare in the early 1990s, rival anti-Taliban forces skirmished in Kandahar as soon as they had taken it.  ''The city is in chaos, there is street-by-street fighting,'' said a spokesman for Gul Agha Sherzai, an ally of Karzai.

''There are problems because there are a lot of different groups, lots of commanders and lots of former mujahideen,'' said Abdul Khaliq Noorzai, a supporter of the former Afghan king.

Aid agencies say a quarter of a million people in the old royal capital, starting point for the Taliban's march to power in 1994, needed aid when they last had contact in September.   The plight of the Afghani people has worsened since the fighting began about nine weeks ago.

Anti-Taliban forces said they had captured bin Laden's main base in the eastern Tora Bora mountains and were mopping up, but had failed to find the Saudi-born militant.

''Osama was not in Tora Bora during the past days of fighting and if he had been, he has probably slipped into Pakistan,'' said Northern Alliance spokesman Mohammad Habeel.

Kenton Keith, spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition, said the hunt for bin Laden and his al Qaeda comrades would go on.  ''We haven't achieved our goals yet and the (military) campaign will continue until we do so,'' he said.

In a sign the search could soon spread, U.S. defense officials warned shippers to cooperate with maritime searches for fleeing al Qaeda fighters, or risk being sunk.  

Karzai said Taliban chiefs and al Qaeda operatives must face international justice and pay for their crimes.

Omar ''has not made even a statement regretting what he has done. If he is found, he must face trial,'' he said.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said leaving Omar to ''live in dignity'' was unacceptable. French President Jacques Chirac said there should be no amnesty for terrorists.  In Berlin, Western aid donors played down fears the Afghan power-sharing pact, agreed upon in Germany this week, was unraveling as U.N. officials said $6 billion would be needed to rebuild a country torn apart by war since the Soviet invasion of 1979.

Cajoled by diplomats and promises of aid dollars, rival Afghan groups led by Karzai have agreed to govern the unruly country together for six months from Dec. 22.

But traditional rivalries have threatened to split the new interim administration before it had even met.  Warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum, who holds much of northern Afghanistan, said his ethnic Uzbek faction was under-represented in the new government. Turkey hinted it may try to talk to him into accepting the new interim government for the sake of unity in the country.

Return to index

Al-Zawahiri, Top Aide to Bin Laden, May Be Dead in U.S. Bombing 12/07/01

News Round Up 12/07/01

Last Taliban Stronghold of Kandahar Falls; Fate of Omar Undetermined

Al Qaeda #2 Leader al-Zawahri Reportedly Killed With His Family in Unconfirmed Dispatches

FBI Conducting Intensive Tests on Leahy Anthrax Letter

Hunt for bin Laden Continues in Tora Bora Section of Afghanistan

John Ashcroft Faces Intense Questioning From Senators

Clayton Waagner Denied Bail

Pearl Harbor Observances on 60th Anniversary

US Commission on Civil Rights Subject to Dispute Over Whether Bush Can Fill A Vacancy

Return to index

Taliban Agree to Surrender Kandahar to Anti-Taliban Forces 12/06/01

Taliban supreme leader Mullah Mohammed Omar has agreed to surrender his last major bastion of Kandahar to anti-Taliban  tribal forces and put himself under the protection of tribal leaders, Afghanistan's interim leader and a Taliban official said. 

Hamid Karzai, the U.S.-backed head of a new interim government, told CNN that Taliban fighters would be allowed to disband and return to their homes. He said Omar would also be afforded protection if he promised to ``renounce terrorism.''  

Karzai said it would take two or three days to work out the transfer of power. ``It will be done in a slow and orderly manner.'' 

Any amnesty, Karzai told CNN, would apply only to ``common Taliban'' fighters, not to Omar. If Omar does not condemn terrorism, ``he would not be safe,'' Karzai said. 

There will be no safe passage for those linked to terrorism, Karzai said. ``They must leave my country,'' he said. ``They are criminals.'' 

Abdul Salam Zaeef, the Taliban's former ambassador to Pakistan, said in Islamabad, Pakistan, Taliban fighters would begin handing over their weapons to a local Pashtun leader, Mullah Naqibullah, starting Friday. 

Earlier, a U.S. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, could not confirm that the  deal had been finalized. The official said discussions between Taliban and anti-Taliban commanders were ongoing. 

``We don't have information that would indicate that Mullah Omar has agreed to anything like this,'' the official said to the Associated Press. ``It's not there yet.'' 

Karzai said he did not know the whereabouts of either Mullah Omar or Osama bin Laden, the prime suspect in the Sept. 11 attacks. 

Zaeef said the handover would take three or four days and after that, it would be up to Naqibullah to decide who can enter the city. Zaeef also said further talks would be held to determine the fate of Arab and other foreign fighters loyal to bin Laden.  It was also unclear whether the surrender would apply to Taliban units in the town of Spin Boldak or in scattered mountain hide-outs in southern Afghanistan. The United States has also strongly opposed any deal under which bin Laden or Omar could go free. 

Zaeef said the deal would not allow for Karzai to enter the city without Naqibullah's permission.  ``We have agreed to surrender weapons not to Hamid Karzai but to tribal elders,'' Zaeef said. ``Mullah Omar has taken the decision for the welfare of the people, to avoid casualties and to save the life and dignity of Afghans.''   

A decision to hand over the southern city would mark a sharp change of course by Omar, who had called on the Taliban to fight to the death last week. ``The fight has now begun. It is the best opportunity to achieve martyrdom,'' Omar told his commanders by radio, according to a Taliban official. 

Zaeef said the Taliban were finished as a political movement. ``I think we should go home,'' he said. 

Karzai agreed to release all Taliban prisoners in Afghanistan and give them free passage home, Zaeef said. He said Omar had secured unspecified protection for himself.  

In an earlier interview Thursday at his base 12 miles north of Kandahar, Karzai said that he was offering a general amnesty to Taliban fighters who surrender but not Omar. He had been meeting with Taliban officials for two days. 

Speaking to The Associated Press by satellite telephone, Karzai stressed that the amnesty offer applies only to the Taliban troops. Asked about reports he was offering amnesty to Omar, Karzai replied: ``It's not true.'' The amnesty offer, he said, is for the soldiers, many of them young men from rural regions of southern Afghanistan, where his own Popolzai tribe is located. 

"The Taliban leadership has decided to surrender (the provinces of) Kandahar, Helmand and Zabul to me and that in return we have offered them amnesty and that they can go to their homes without any trouble," Karzai told CNN. 

"I have offered amnesty to the common Taliban," he said. 

Asked about the fate of supreme Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar, he said Omar must "clearly denounce terrorism and make explicitly clear that terrorism has brutalised Afghanistan society and destroyed out country. This is our demand." 

Zaeef said he knew nothing about Karzai's statement ``but Hamid Karzai and the tribal leaders have promised him protection.''  Zaeef said Omar's decision was in response to heavy U.S. bombing of Kandahar, and was intended to prevent more civilian deaths. 

U.S. aircraft have been pounding the Kandahar area intensively for weeks to soften Taliban defenses and support Afghan fighters advancing on the city. 

However, there was no bombing in the Kandahar area on Thursday. The pause could either have been to facilitate negotiations or possibly in response to Wednesday's accidental bombing of anti-Taliban forces in which three U.S. special forces troops and five Afghan fighters were killed, and many more wounded.

Zaeef said Karzai agreed to Naqibullah's becoming governor of Kandahar. Naqibullah, a member of the Jamiat-e-Islami party of the former president Burhanuddin Rabbani, led guerrilla forces against the Soviets in the 1980s and now leads one of several groups fighting the Taliban.  

Previous deals to surrender Kandahar and other cities stalled over the issue of Arab, Pakistan and other foreign fighters loyal to bin Laden.  Hundreds of al-Qaeda fighters are believed in Kandahar, especially around the airport where they beat back assaults by tribal fighters under former Kandahar governor Gul Agha. 

The United States has made clear it would not support any deal which allowed bin Laden or his lieutenants to escape prosecution. The Americans blame bin Laden for the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States.  Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld has also insisted that Mullah Omar should not be allowed to go free.   White House spokesman Ari Fleischer, asked if Omar should be allowed to live in dignity, said President George W. Bush "believes very strongly that those who harbor terrorists need to be brought to justice."

Zaeef said he was proud of what the Taliban have done in Afghanistan. 

``We have done a lot for the welfare of the people,'' he said. ``In every village, mosque, home and province there is a Talib.'' 

Return to index

Three Special Forces Soldiers Americans Die in Afghanistan; Son of Bin Laden May Have Been Killed; Afghani Interim Government Formed 12/05/01 

Three U.S. Special Forces soldiers were killed and 19 wounded in Afghanistan Wednesday when a U.S. bomb missed its target. The bomb, carrying 2,000 pounds of explosives, landed about 100 yards from the soldiers' position north of Kandahar, where the Taliban is making its final stand against Afghan opposition forces.  

Pentagon officials said they could not immediately explain what went wrong in the deadliest ``friendly fire'' accident of the war against the Taliban.  

``This is one of the potentially most hazardous type of missions that we use as a military tactic,'' said Rear Adm. John Stufflebeem, deputy director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff.  Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld ordered an investigation into the friendly fire accident. 

``In every conflict there are unexpected, unintended deaths,'' Rumsfeld said in an interview for CNN's ``Larry King Live.'' ``And it is a shame, but it happens.''  

Five Afghan fighters also were killed in Wednesday's incident and an undetermined number were wounded.  One slightly wounded anti-Taliban fighter was Hamid Karzai, the southern Pashtun leader, who was chosen to lead the new Afghanistan interim government.  

The Pentagon identified those killed in the friendly fire bombing as Master Sgt. Jefferson Donald Davis, 39, of Watauga, Tenn.; Sgt. 1st Class Daniel Petithory, 32, of Cheshire, Mass.; and Staff Sgt. Brian Cody Prosser, 28, of California. All were members of the Army's 3rd Battalion, 5th Special Forces Group, stationed at Fort Campbell, Ky.  

All casualties were evacuated from the scene, first to a U.S. Marine base south of Kandahar and then out of Afghanistan.   

``I, along with the rest of American, grieve for the loss of life in Afghanistan,'' President Bush said during an Oval Office appearance. ``I want the families to know that they died for a noble and just cause.''  

The deaths bring to four the number of Americans killed inside Afghanistan in the two-month war. CIA officer Johnny ``Mike'' Spann was killed Nov. 25 in a prison uprising while questioning forces captured in the fighting.  

Several hundred U.S. special operations troops are in Afghanistan to assist the Afghan opposition forces. The Pentagon has credited them with helping turn the tide against the Taliban in northern Afghanistan last month by enabling more precise and effective U.S. bombing; in the south they are heavily engaged in aiding a collection of anti-Taliban forces in a fierce fight for control of Kandahar, the last major city held by the Taliban.   

U.S. officials familiar with the evolving battle for Kandahar said it appeared that the opposition forces were too few to initiate a final, climactic assault on the Taliban and al-Qaeda holdouts inside the city. The Pentagon continues its strategy to let the opposition forces take the lead on the ground, rather than send in the Marines or other U.S. ground troops to finish the fight. 

Victoria Clarke, spokeswoman for Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, said at a Pentagon news conference that the U.S. casualties Wednesday are a reminder of military members' willingness to risk their lives in fighting an unconventional war triggered by the Sept. 11 attacks.  

``We did not ask for this war,'' she said. ``We did not start this war. And every casualty rests at the feet of the al-Qaeda and the Taliban.''  

Stufflebeem said it would take a few days to sort out what happened.  

A forward air controller among the U.S. troops involved in the incident called for close air support and an Air Force B-52 bomber responded by launching a bomb known as a Joint Direct Attack Munition or JDAM, he said. 

The bomb is guided by a satellite navigation system and is considered one of the most accurate weapons in the U.S. arsenal. It was used for the first time in combat in Kosovo in 1999.  Stufflebeem said investigators will try to determine whether the bomb missed the intended target because of mechanical or human error.  

``A 2,000-pound weapon is a devastating weapon,'' he said. ``As a pilot, I can do everything perfectly with a perfect weapon system, and still cannot account for every weapon going exactly where it's supposed to go. And that's just a fact of unfortunate life here in this case.''  

Stufflebeem said Marines based south of Kandahar rushed to the scene and evacuated the casualties. A combat search and rescue team based in Pakistan also responded, he said.  

Some casualties were taken to the Marine base and then flown by C-130 transport to another, undisclosed, medical facility while others went directly to the facility, said Capt. Stewart Upton, a public affairs officer at the base. About 20 Afghan troops were treated at the Marines' base, he said.  

The United States is focusing its bombing on Kandahar, Spin Baldak and the mountainous area of Tora Bora near the Khyber Pass south of Jalalabad, where it is believed Osama bin Laden and his top lieutenants are hiding in a complex of caves and tunnels. 

Unconfirmed intelligence reports suggest that U.S. airstrikes on Afghanistan may have killed a son or son-in-law of Osama bin Laden, a U.S. official said on Wednesday. 

"There are reports that perhaps a son or son-in-law might have been killed, can't confirm either," the official told Reuters on condition of anonymity. If it happened, the speculation centered on late last week or early this week. 

The highest-level al Qaeda member known to have been killed in the bombing campaign was Mohammed Atef, an Egyptian militant who was a close aide to bin Laden. 

Bin Laden, his top aide Ayman al-Zawahri, and Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar are all believed to be alive and in Afghanistan, U.S. officials said. Bin Laden was, at one stage, said to have with him three wives and more than a dozen of his 23 children. 

Rumors circulated earlier this week that Zawahri had been injured in a U.S. airstrike, but were not confirmed. Instead, more information accumulated that his family probably had been killed, one U.S. official said. Zawahri is the leader of Egyptian militant group al-Jihad who joined forces with bin Laden and is considered to be the Saudi-born militant's top lieutenant. 

Hany Seba'i, an exiled Egyptian Islamist in London on Wednesday said, "I can confirm that he (Zawahri) is unhurt," but added that Zawahri's wife, two daughters and son had been killed in a U.S. attack. U.S. officials said it was difficult to verify whether specific individuals had been killed in the bombing because finding the body was rare. 

Instead, indications of who had died were determined more from the accumulation of intelligence reports of people saying that a particular person had been killed. But it could be days or weeks for consensus to emerge about whether a particular individual was dead. "This is a mushy, very ambiguous process," another U.S. official said. 

With war continuing to rage in their own country, in Germany, Afghan factions signed a pact Wednesday to create an interim post-Taliban administration, putting aside differences over power-sharing to take the first step toward peace.  

Amid applause and embraces, exhausted envoys at a luxury hotel near Bonn agreed to a U.N.-brokered plan that allows for the deployment of foreign troops to secure the transition, stresses the inclusion women and strives for a democracy. It offers Afghanistan its best chance in decades to escape a cycle of war. 

The mood was resolute, and the U.N. envoy who will foster the process warned of the difficulties for Afghanistan ahead.  ``If there is one thing the world has learned, it is that the situation in Afghanistan is far too complex for quick and simple solutions,'' U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi told a ceremony attended by German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.  

The 30 interim Cabinet members, drawn from the international Afghan community, face staggering tasks. They must rebuild a land ravaged by 23 years of war, but ensure stability by integrating fighters into a regular army, reopen education for women and fight drug production and corruption.  

Still, the pact represents ``the breathing space during which the people of Afghanistan can take the first of many steps that will be required before a broad-based, multiethnic and truly representative government can be established,'' Brahimi said.  

In tune with realities on the ground, the agreement gave most posts in the six-month interim Cabinet due to take power Dec. 22 - including defense, foreign affairs and interior - to the northern alliance, which has captured most of the country backed by U.S. forces.  

President Bush said the United States was ``pleased with the progress being made, that the interim government is being formed to include women.''  

``It's a major change for that part of the world, and a positive change,'' the president said during an Oval Office appearance with Norwegian Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik.

At the same time, the list reflected international pressure to include women after years of suppression by the Taliban and to strike a balance among Afghanistan's ethnic groups. Two women were named as ministers. 

Hamid Karzai, a moderate Muslim commander involved in the push to conquer the last Taliban stronghold in Kandahar, was chosen as a broadly acceptable leader to head the interim administration. 

Karzai, 44, belongs to the largest ethnic group, the Pashtuns and heads an influential western Afghan clan with longstanding links to the Afghan royal dynasty exiled since King Mohammad Zaher Shah was deposed in 1973.

Karzai, who has Washington's support, has gone on a risky mission in recent weeks to win over tribesmen who supported the Taliban in his native Kandahar region.  

In a CNN interview Wednesday from Afghanistan, he called the appointment an honor and expressed hope for a smooth transfer of power in Kabul.  

``I hope very much it will be in the interest of the Afghan people, one that will keep our country good forever,'' he said. 

In Kabul, northern alliance foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah, who will retain his post, said Karzai was an acceptable choice.  

``He's an educated, intelligent person who will put the interest of the Afghan nation above everything else,'' said Abdullah.  

In Islamabad, the Taliban's former ambassador to Pakistan, Abdul Salam Zaeef, denounced the interim administration, saying Afghans would never accept a government organized by a foreign power.  

``Any government imposed on Afghans from abroad can't be accepted,'' Zaeef told The Associated Press. ``We reject this interim government. ... We will continue to fight against the puppets of America.''   Pakistan closed the Taliban’s last embassy shortly after eight foreign aid workers the Taliban were holding were released, approximately two weeks ago. 

The U.N. accord sets the stage for a 2 1/2-year transitional period as a prelude to democratic elections and the drafting of a constitution based on principles of ``Islam, democracy, pluralism and social justice.''  

Delegates in Germany wrapped up the deal early Wednesday morning, but were still bargaining over who would fill key posts even after the formal signing. And despite pressure to enshrine women's rights, delegates said a ministry of women's affairs was only created in a late compromise to secure a deal at the insistence of Sima Wali, a U.S.-based activist for Afghan women's rights.  

In the end, Sima Samar, a 44-year-old doctor and women's rights activist currently based in Pakistan, was named as one of five deputy premiers and minister of women's affairs. Another woman, Suhaila Seddiqi, will be health minister.  

Karzai will preside over a diverse group that melds opponents of Taliban rule who survived in Afghanistan with intellectuals and experts based outside the country - a reflection of two decades of war that began with the 1979 Soviet invasion.  

Mindful of a horrific civil war between rival warlords after the Red Army withdrew in 1989, the U.N. accord calls for all fighters to leave Kabul and other areas when the international force arrives. But northern alliance chief delegate Younus Qanooni said Afghans had learned from the past.  

``Today the Afghans have proven that, just as they were ready to die for their country, today they are ready to sacrifice and hand over power peacefully,'' he said.  

Brahimi said he would go to Afghanistan early next week to begin preparations for the transfer of power from the nominal northern alliance leader Burhanuddin Rabbani.  

He said he hoped to stop in Rome to meet the exiled former king, who is to convene a gathering of tribal leaders in a Loya Jirga next spring as part of the transition process.  

``The real work starts now,'' Brahimi said. ``The real difficulties are going to start when this interim administration that has been agreed upon here goes to Kabul.'' 

Return to index

Another Suicide Bombing Shakes Jerusalem 12/05/01 

A suicide bomber set off an explosion that rocked the street outside a central Jerusalem hotel Wednesday morning, injuring at least five people, police said.  

Blood covered a front wall of the David Citadel Hotel, formerly the Hilton, near the Jaffa Gate, one of the main entrances to Jerusalem's Old City, and pieces of flesh were strewn on the street. The explosion happened just after 7:35 a.m.  

Police said the bomber, whose identity was unknown, died in the blast.  

``It was a suicide bomber,'' said Jerusalem police chief Micky Levy. ``He crossed the street from one side to another. ... He detonated the explosives that were strapped to his body.''  

At the scene, Foreign Ministry spokesman Emanuel Nahshon, said the wounded had been waiting at a bus shelter about 25 yards away from the blast.  

The explosion followed two days of Israeli military strikes targeting Gaza and the West Bank. Two Palestinians were killed Tuesday, and the strikes hit a security station just yards from an office where Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was working.  

The strikes were Israel's response to Palestinian suicide attacks that killed 25 and injured 200 people in Jerusalem and the northern port city of Haifa over the weekend and brought the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to a new crisis point.  

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's government said it was sending a stern warning to the Palestinian leader that there would be even harsher reprisals if he did not crack down on militants who have been attacking Israelis. 

President George W. Bush insisted on Wednesday that Palestinian President Yasser Arafat do everything possible to prevent further attacks in Israel.

Meanwhile, the U.S. envoy in the Middle East, retired Marine Corps Gen. Anthony Zinni, meanwhile resumed contacts with Arafat's Palestinian Authority, indicating that the United States still sees him as a leader with whom it can do business.  

But the U.S. House of Representatives, which tends to be more pro-Israeli than the administration, passed a nonbinding resolution calling on Bush to cut ties with Arafat unless he cracks down on violence by Islamic militants.  

After two days of Israeli attacks in the West Bank and Gaza, Palestinian security officials said the leader of the militant organization Hamas had been put under house arrest.  

Bush, speaking at the start of an Oval Office meeting with Norwegian Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik, said: "The PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization) needs to stand up and rout out those killers, those murderers who are preventing us from getting the peace process in place." 

"Mr. Arafat must show leadership and bring those to justice who would use murder as a weapon to derail peace and destroy innocent life," Bush said.  

"He must use leadership. Now is his time and other nations of the world that are interested in peace must encourage Mr. Arafat, must insist that Mr. Arafat, do everything in his power to prevent further terrorist attacks in Israel," he added.  

Bush did not mention any consequences if Arafat does not meet U.S. and Israeli demands, apparently steering clear of the controversy over whether Arafat is still a "peace partner."  

But Zinni, who arrived in the Middle East last week on a mission to arrange a cease-fire, spoke to Arafat on Tuesday night and might have a meeting with him on Wednesday night or on Thursday, a U.S. official said.  A meeting would reinforce the message that Washington does still consider Arafat the representative of the Palestinian people, despite constant U.S. criticism of his inaction.  

State Department spokesman Philip Reeker, asked directly if the United States could do business with Arafat, said: "Arafat is the leader of the Palestinian Authority. We think he has authority. He has prestige."  

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, speaking to reporters between Ankara and Brussels on Wednesday, said: "There isn't a basis for him (Zinni) to do much more right now, but I'm not losing hope or giving up the opportunity that we created."  

Powell sent Zinni to the Middle East last week as part of a U.S. commitment to mediate more aggressively in the search for peace between Israelis and Palestinians.  Powell said: "It will be very hard to move back onto this track without positive action on the part of Chairman Arafat to get the violence way, way down and to give Prime Minister Sharon and his cabinet and the Israeli people a basis for them to take another look at what they're doing and get going." 

The United States took an ambiguous position on the Israeli attacks on Monday and Tuesday. It said Israel had a right to defend itself against attacks but both sides should be min