Stuff they don't want you to know

[Roger Baker]

I apologize for bering fascinated by this war but it is, after all, 
a fascinating war. 

The two best links for stuff they don't want you to know about the 
war in Afghanistan are probably these:

for general peace news, go to:
http://www.commondreams.org 

and for English language news directly from Pakistan,
go to:    http://www.dawn.com

-- Roger

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For example, where else could you go to find the news about disagreement 
at top levels concerning our general military strategy as being reported in 
the British but not US newspapers? 

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines01/1015-01.htm

 
 "...At one end of the US war machine are people like Donald Rumsfeld, the ultimate 
defense intellectual who views the war on terrorism as an intriguing puzzle requiring 
new ways of thinking. At the other are the long-serving men in uniform such as General 
Tommy Franks, the former artillery officer leading the campaign...

The two men embody the different approaches circulating in the corridors of the Pentagon
 over how to pursue the war on terrorism. Winter is coming to the Afghan highlands and 
decisions have to be made quickly, but a week's bombing under Gen Franks's command has 
so far failed to push Osama bin Laden or the Taliban leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar, into 
the open where they could be picked out by an air strike, or grabbed by special forces.
 
That would have been considered a bonus in the initial phase of the campaign, but in the 
absence of such a stroke of luck, differences over how the plan should proceed have come 
to the surface. 
Mr Rumsfeld and his civilian advisers believe the US military does not have the 
flexibility to combat an enemy like Bin Laden. They point to a computerized war game 
in 1997 in which the army took on a terrorist organization similar to al-Qaida, and lost. 
The generals, the analysts concluded, spent too much time looking for things to bomb, 
and not enough time looking for innovative methods of eliminating the enemy...
 
Mr Rumsfeld is reported to be so frustrated with the pursuit of the war by Gen Franks's 
command, with its emphasis on waves of Gulf-style bombing sorties, that he is pressing 
to have operational control shifted from Tampa to Washington. Mr Rumsfeld and his circle 
want to pursue a new military doctrine built around small groups of special forces 
soldiers who will dart in and out of Afghanistan looking for intelligence and targets... 
 
This week US and British special forces units are expected to be deployed in Afghanistan, 
but they are being sent on highly dangerous fishing expeditions, concealing themselves 
along the sides of dirt roads and mountain paths on the chance that Bin Laden or Mullah 
Omar, or their top lieutenants, might pass by...

Before sending in larger numbers of troops, the traditionalist generals want to continue 
the air campaign. It has been kept up for seven days, with only a pause on Friday, the 
Muslim day of prayer. 
But such niceties are not helping the state department efforts to keep the international 
coalition together... 

As reports of the casualties percolate into the Middle East and Pakistan, support for 
the US is fast eroding. A poll of Pakistanis found that 83% supported the Taliban in 
its confrontation with the US. According to Newsweek, which conducted the poll, support 
for the Afghan militia jumped by 40% when the bombing began last week...

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Or how about the phantom interview given by President Masharraf and reported
in USA Today?

http://www.dawn.com/2001/10/16/top7.htm




ISLAMABAD, Oct 15: President Pervez Musharraf's spokesman on Monday expressed 
"shock" and "utter disbelief" at remarks attributed to Pakistani President by 
the USA Today and CBS radio, quoting him as having said that he planned to tell 
US Secretary of State Colin Powell that US forces should first "take out" Mullah 
Omar rather than Osama bin Ladin if they wanted to eliminate terrorism in 
Afghanistan. 

Talking to Dawn Maj General Rashid Qureshi, Press Secretary to President and 
Director General of ISPR, said that no interview was granted to USA Today and 
CBS radio. He said that he had never heard of any interview in which no audio 
or video tapes were made. He said that in fact, no such interview was requested 
by the news establishments concerned nor was one granted. 

The President's spokesman said that after Sept 11, the President had been 
interviewed only by two international TV networks, CNN and BBC, and he held a 
press conference. "He (President) has not granted any other interview since then," 
he stated emphatically...

Musharraf was quoted to have clarified comments he made two weeks ago that the 
US-led assault on Afghanistan could be over in "a day or two." His remarks appeared 
to contradict those of President Bush and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, 
who have tried to prepare Americans for the possibility of months of military 
action against Osama and the Taliban. Air strikes began last Sunday... 

Musharraf was reported to have said that Pakistan's 145 million people were solidly 
behind him. He derided Muslim militants and clerics who have called for a jihad 
against his government and the United States. 

"The people love me. I'm a popular leader wherever I go," he said. "Those who are 
protesting against me are idiots. They don't know anything." In Jacobabad on Sunday, 
police fired on thousands of stone-throwing demonstrators who had evaded a huge 
security cordon thrown around the city. One person was killed and 12 were injured.