Return-Path: <sentto-279987-2040-1000849831-fc=all.net@returns.onelist.com> Delivered-To: fc@all.net Received: from 204.181.12.215 by localhost with POP3 (fetchmail-5.1.0) for fc@localhost (single-drop); Tue, 18 Sep 2001 14:51:07 -0700 (PDT) Received: (qmail 5275 invoked by uid 510); 18 Sep 2001 21:50:57 -0000 Received: from n15.groups.yahoo.com (216.115.96.65) by 204.181.12.215 with SMTP; 18 Sep 2001 21:50:57 -0000 X-eGroups-Return: sentto-279987-2040-1000849831-fc=all.net@returns.onelist.com Received: from [10.1.4.53] by ml.egroups.com with NNFMP; 18 Sep 2001 21:50:31 -0000 X-Sender: fc@big.all.net X-Apparently-To: iwar@onelist.com Received: (EGP: mail-7_3_2_2); 18 Sep 2001 21:50:30 -0000 Received: (qmail 49568 invoked from network); 18 Sep 2001 21:50:29 -0000 Received: from unknown (10.1.10.27) by l7.egroups.com with QMQP; 18 Sep 2001 21:50:29 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO big.all.net) (65.0.156.78) by mta2 with SMTP; 18 Sep 2001 21:50:27 -0000 Received: (from fc@localhost) by big.all.net (8.9.3/8.7.3) id OAA11520 for iwar@onelist.com; Tue, 18 Sep 2001 14:50:22 -0700 Message-Id: <200109182150.OAA11520@big.all.net> To: iwar@onelist.com (Information Warfare Mailing List) Organization: I'm not allowed to say X-Mailer: don't even ask X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.5 PL1] From: Fred Cohen <fc@all.net> Mailing-List: list iwar@yahoogroups.com; contact iwar-owner@yahoogroups.com Delivered-To: mailing list iwar@yahoogroups.com Precedence: bulk List-Unsubscribe: <mailto:iwar-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com> Date: Tue, 18 Sep 2001 14:50:22 -0700 (PDT) Reply-To: iwar@yahoogroups.com Subject: [iwar] [fc:ARAFAT.TELLS.FORCES.NOT.TO.SHOOT.IN.SELF.-.DEFENSE] Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit OSAC Global News for Tuesday, September 18, 2001 ARAFAT TELLS FORCES NOT TO SHOOT IN SELF - DEFENSE Tuesday, September 18, 2001 New York Times By REUTERS GAZA (Reuters) - Palestinian President Yasser Arafat Tuesday reaffirmed his commitment to a cease-fire and said he had ordered his security forces not to fire on Israeli troops even in self-defense. ``This morning, I again instructed all leaders of the security forces to work intensively on a cease-fire... and to abstain even in self-defense in response to Israeli attacks,'' Arafat told reporters in Palestinian-ruled Gaza. Arafat said Monday in a Jewish New Year's message to the Israeli people that he had ordered Palestinian forces to abide by a cease-fire he had declared in June. But this was the first time he had told his policemen not to shoot back if fired upon by Israelis since the outbreak of the nearly year-long Palestinian uprising that has claimed more than 700 lives. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has said that truce talks cannot begin until 48 hours pass without violence. Gunbattles raged overnight in the West Bank and two Palestinians were killed in the clashes. Western diplomats said the United States and European governments welcomed Arafat's announcement and that it had also been well received by dovish Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres. Sharon blocked Peres from meeting Arafat Monday. The prime minister said such talks would give Arafat ``a chance to continue with the terror'' by paving the way for the Palestinian leader to join a U.S.-led alliance being formed to respond to last week's attacks on New York and Washington. Arafat said he told the United States Tuesday he would place all his capabilities at its service and again offered to join a global coalition ``to end terrorism against unarmed civilians.'' Copyright 2001 Reuters Ltd. BIN LADEN'S RADICAL FORM OF ISLAM Tuesday, September 18, 2001 Washington Post By Caryle Murphy Most Muslims' Interpretations of the Koran Don't Condone Terrorist Violence The suspects in last week's attacks in New York and Washington are Muslims who adhered to a version of Islam that sanctions terrorist violence, but it is an interpretation of Islam that is rejected by most other Muslims around the world. The alleged mastermind of the attacks, the Saudi Arabian fugitive Osama bin Laden, promotes a radical form of Islam whose aim is to create a Muslim world governed by divine laws and totally free of Western cultural or political influences. To achieve that end, bin Laden has called for a jihad, or holy war, against the United States. Three years ago, he issued a religious declaration condoning terrorist attacks on American citizens wherever they are. "You cannot defeat the heretic with this book alone," bin Laden has said, referring to the Koran. "You have to show them the fist." Such views defy Islam's basic teachings and are based on a selective reading of the Koran, Islamic scholars say. In the faith's early history, military means were used to gain territory for Islam. But forced conversions were never sanctioned. And although the Koran does permit the use of force in self-defense, it prohibits violence against innocent civilians, scholars say. That prohibition has been stressed by several prominent Muslims in recent days, as they have tried to dispel misconceptions about their faith. "I cannot sit by and let the world think that Islam is a killing religion," said former heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali, a convert to Islam. "These radicals are doing things that God is against. Muslims do not believe in violence. If the culprits are Muslim, they have twisted the teachings of Islam. . . . Islam does not promote terrorism or the killing of people." President Bush also spoke up on the issue yesterday during a visit to the Washington Islamic Center. "These acts of violence against innocents violate the fundamental tenets of the Islamic faith," Bush said. "The face of terror is not the true faith of Islam. That's not what Islam is all about. Islam is peace." Muslims have not always obeyed their faith's ban on terrorist violence. Palestinian suicide bombers are the most glaring example. But over the centuries, Islam has been no more violent than Christianity, whose history includes the Inquisition, the Crusades and, more recently, the anti-Muslim violence of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic. Sometimes, Islam has been more tolerant than Christianity. After the famous Muslim leader Saladin expelled the crusaders from Jerusalem in the 12th century, for example, he invited Jews previously expelled by the crusaders back to the city. Along with Judaism and Christianity, Islam is one of the three monotheistic religions that emerged from the Middle East and spread throughout the world. It began in what is now Saudi Arabia when a businessman named Muhammad received what he believed were divine revelations. These revelations -- whose fundamental message was submission to the will of one God -- continued, Muslims believe, over a 23-year period until Muhammad's death in632. Eventually, they were compiled into the Koran. Islam, an Arabic word meaning "submission," drew on the traditions of Judaism and Christianity. Thus, Muslims accept some Old Testament books, including the story of Moses receiving the Ten Commandments, as part of their religious tradition. They also revere many Jewish prophets, in particular Abraham, as holy men. They believe that Jesus was a holy prophet, but not that he was the son of God. Allah is the Arabic word for God and is also used by Arab Christians. Islam has no initiation rite or baptism. One becomes a Muslim by making the personal declaration of belief: that there is one God and that Muhammad was his last prophet. The faith also has no central authority or clerical hierarchy because it teaches that each person has a direct relationship with God with no need for an intermediary. For centuries, Muslims have sought moral advice and leadership from learned men who studied the Koran and were experts in Islamic law, or shari'a. These religious scholars, or ulama, can differ widely in their interpretation of some aspects of the Koran and have often been influenced by local customs. On the issue of women's dress, for example, some scholars read the relevant Koranic verses as requiring that Muslim women cover their hair in public. Other scholars, however, interpret the same verses more liberally, saying they instruct women simply to dress modestly. Islam reached American shores when Muslim Africans were brought here as slaves in the early 1700s. The country's Muslim population, now estimated at between 5 million and 7 million, has been swollen in recent decades by increasing numbers of immigrants from Muslim countries. Growing numbers of Americans have been converting to Islam. In the 1930s, African American Elijah Muhammad formed the Nation of Islam, which gained momentum during the civil rights movement in the 1950s. Formed in response to white racism, the Nation of Islam advocated separation from white society. It was not accepted by orthodox Muslims because of its race-based orientation and because it held that Elijah Muhammad was a prophet of God. One of the Nation of Islam's most famous followers, Malcolm X, split from the organization because of these teachings shortly before his assassination in 1965. Today, the largest American-led Muslim organizations are the American Muslim Mission -- led by Elijah Muhammad's son, Warith Deen Muhammad -- and the Nation of Islam, led by Louis Farrakhan. Like Judaism and Christianity, Islam has split into separate denominations. Today, the majority of Muslims belong to the Sunni branch of Islam, while the rest follow the second-largest branch, Shi'ah Islam, and smaller denominations. About 85 percent of Islam's 1.2 billion followers are non-Arab. South Asia has the largest Muslim population, with 275 million believers. Staff writer Hanna Rosin contributed to this report. ? 2001 The Washington Post Company DEFIANT TALIBAN HITS BACK AS CLERICS DELAY RULING ON BIN LADEN Tuesday, September 18, 2001 Agence France Presse KABUL, Sept 18 (AFP) - Afghanistan's ruling Taliban Tuesday told their people to be ready for a holy war against the United States and launched a fierce offensive against their last opponents within the country. The display of defiance came as Islamic scholars from all 32 provinces of the war-ravaged country delayed a meeting called to consider extraditing Osama bin Laden, the alleged terrorist wanted "dead or alive" by the United States for last week's attacks in New York and Washington. "Of course if there is an invasion of an Islamic country, there will be jihad against the invaders," a senior Taliban official told AFP, requesting anonymity. "After the invasion jihad will be the only alternative and that is the obligation of Muslims." In their biggest offensive in months, Taliban forces launched an attack in the northeastern province of Takhar in a bid to cut their opponents' key supply lines from neighbouring Tajikistan. Fierce fighting was still raging Tuesday, an opposition spokesman told AFP. The onslaught represents an attempt by the Taliban army to exploit last week's death of the opposition's charismatic commander Ahmad Shah Masood and cut their supply lines before the mountainous region's harsh winter sets in. If they succeed, the opposition forces could be eliminated before they have time to reap the benefit of an anticipated surge in support from the United States in the wake of last week's terror attacks. Ordinary Afghans were fleeing the main cities in fear of a US strike, with thousands massing near the Pakistani border. Those who stayed behind were becoming increasingly anxious over possible civil unrest or conflict between rival factions of the ruling Islamic militia. In neighbouring Pakistan, a crucial US partner for any attack on Afghanistan, troops remained on alert. But the high command has not ordered any movement out of barracks pending the outcome of the talks in Kabul on bin Laden. Radical Islamists in Pakistan have vowed to join any Afghan jihad and warned the government that helping the US in any attack will mean civil war. Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has promised his "unstinting cooperation" with any US action. But political leaders have warned him that this must stop short of letting Pakistan be used as the launching pad for an attack. "If the government agrees to let American ground troops into Pakistan there will be a hell of a reaction," retired Lieutenant-General K.M. Azhar told AFP. The decision to delay the Kabul meeting of the Afghan ulema was made because only half the estimated 700 elders had arrived by Tuesday morning. The unexpected decision to seek a ruling from the scholars was announced by Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar after a high-level Pakistani delegation visited him Monday in the southeastern city of Kandahar, where bin Laden is also based. The ulema includes many non-Taliban scholars who could be prepared to countenance some sort of deal -- although any decision, or fatwa, will have to be approved by Omar, who is married to bin Laden's eldest daughter. A team led by the head of Pakistan's intelligence services, the Taliban's main backers, gave Omar a blunt warning Monday that the country could be bombed back to the stone age if bin Laden is not handed over. US President George W. Bush on Monday invoked the language of the Wild West to threaten bin Laden. "I want justice. There's an old poster out west that says, as I recall, 'Wanted dead or alive'," he said during a visit to the Pentagon, a target in last week's suicide attacks along with the World Trade Center in New York. The Taliban consider bin Laden an honored "guest" and have repeatedly rejected his extradition in the past, despite UN sanctions following the twin US embassy bombings in East Africa in 1998 which he is accused of masterminding. The last Afghan jihad was issued against the Soviet Union after its 1979 invasion of the country and resulted, a decade later, in the Red Army beating a humiliating retreat. Taliban Council of Ministers Deputy Chairman Mullah Mohammad Hasan told state-run Radio Shariat that jihad would be declared against the United States if it attacked the Taliban or their ally, bin Laden. --------------------------------------------- Copyright ? 2000 AFP. All rights reserved. All information displayed in this section (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the contents of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presses. Copyright ? 1994-2001 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved. EMERGENCY SUMMIT FOR EU LEADERS Tuesday, September 18, 2001 CNN BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) -- European Union leaders are to hold an emergency summit on Friday to discuss the implications of the attacks on the United States. Belgium, which holds the EU presidency, proposed the meeting early on Monday and the other EU nations rallied behind the idea. The summit will start at 1600 GMT on Friday, according to government spokeswoman Caroline Van der Hasselt. The idea of an EU summit was first raised by German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder in the immediate aftermath of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. EU foreign ministers and transport ministers have already held emergency sessions to declare political solidarity with the United States and to agree on extra security measures for public transport -- especially air travel -- and public buildings. Initial reaction from some EU capitals appeared to be broadly positive on the issue of an emergency summit, but Sweden struck a more sceptical note. "Our position is that you should not hold a summit for the sake of holding a summit. What would be the operative outcome of such a summit?" said a government spokesman. EU heads of state and government already have a summit scheduled for October 19 in the Belgian town of Ghent. Meanwhile, Foreign Ministers from the Group of Eight world powers may meet on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York next week. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, whose country is currently head of G-7 group of nations, told reporters in London that he had mentioned the idea to President George W. Bush. "Some G8 leaders asked me if Bush thought it would be good to hold a G-8 meeting. I have spoken to Bush. He said it would happen in the future," he said. Berlusconi was in london for a meeting with British Prime Minister Tony Blair who has been publically shoring up European support for a possible joint NATO action in response to last Tuesday's attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Blair, who on Sunday said he believed "that the whole of Europe" would stand with America, will travel to Germany on Wednesday to meet Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder. Blair's spokesman said the British premier had held telephone talks with Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf to urge him to help the United States. Germany's President Johannes Rau has said that he does not expect the German army will take part in a military reponse to the terror attacks in the U.S. "My impression is that it is not called for, rather what is required is support of a logistic nature," Rau said in an interview with German radio on Sunday. French President Jacques Chirac has told CNN: "When it comes to punishing this murderous folly, France will be at the side of the United States." Italy's defence minister has said that no Italian troops would be committed. On Saturday, Spain's Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar reiterated Spain's support of the United States. --------------------------------------------- ? 2001 Cable News Network LP, LLLP. An AOL Time Warner Company. All Rights Reserved. Terms under which this service is provided to you. KAZAKHSTAN TAKING PRECAUTIONS AHEAD OF POPE'S VISIT Tuesday, September 18, 2001 Nando Times MOSCOW (September 17, 2001 4:07 p.m. EDT) - Kazakhstan will take "unprecedented" security measures for this weekend's visit by Pope John Paul II, in the wake of the attacks on the United States and tension throughout Central Asia, the foreign minister said Monday. "The security measures will be unprecedented in connection with the recent terrorist attacks in the United States," Kazakh Foreign Minister Bulat Iskakov was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying. He said 2,400 Interior Ministry police and troops would guard the Kazakh capital, Astana - a new capital with just 350,000 residents - for the visit. He said $1.2 million had been earmarked to prepare this former Soviet republic for the pope's trip. The Vatican said plans were still going ahead for the pope's weeklong trip starting Saturday to Kazakhstan and Armenia, despite security concerns after last week's terrorist attacks on New York and Washington. Central Asian leaders are bracing for possible U.S. retaliatory attacks on Afghanistan, which borders three former Soviet states: Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. Astana is in northern Kazakhstan, about 840 miles north of Afghanistan. --------------------------------------------- Copyright ? 2001 Nando Media MACEDONIA WRESTLES WITH PROPOSAL Tuesday, September 18, 2001 New York Times SKOPJE, Macedonia (AP) -- Amid growing tension between government forces and ethnic Albanians, Macedonia's parliament is wrestling with another potential problem -- a proposal to put the country's Western-backed peace plan to a vote. The plan commits parliament to constitutional reforms granting ethnic Albanians more rights, in exchange for ethnic Albanian rebels surrendering weapons to NATO troops. But it could unravel if put to a referendum because many of the majority Macedonian electorate are opposed to concessions to the ethnic Albanian minority. The referendum proposal, brought by the small New Democracy party, needs a simple majority of 61 votes in the 120-seat parliament to pass. After an initial day of debate, parliament was scheduled to continue its session Tuesday. Tension and sporadic violence in villages near Tetovo also pose a threat to the peace plan. In a statement carried by the state-run news agency MIA, the interior ministry -- responsible for police -- said rebels had blockaded roads around the ethnically mixed village of Semsevo. Armed ethnic Albanians in civilian clothes were seen manning a roadblock at an entrance to Semsevo. Villagers said they had set up the checkpoint out of fear Macedonian forces would move into the village. The blockades appeared the day after Macedonian police in the neighboring village of Zilce exchanged fire with groups in Semsevo. Macedonian police officials blamed rebels. But NATO said its intelligence showed police fired first, and that most of the firing, including the use of heavy weapons, was from the Macedonian side. Top ethnic Albanian leader Arben Xhaferi blamed Macedonian paramilitary units for the outbreak. ``We don't know to whom they answer,'' he said. ``It is a dangerous game.'' Presidential adviser Nikola Dimitrov said the National Security Council -- consisting of the president, prime minister, top Cabinet ministers and senior security officials -- would recommend that police in the region be replaced by army units. But the interior ministry appeared unwilling to back down. It threatened to ``take necessary measures'' if NATO and international monitors did not remove the blockade, MIA said. NATO officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the alliance's mandate did not extend to such activities. NATO troops are in Macedonia on a 30-day mission ending Sept. 26 to collect weapons voluntarily handed over by ethnic Albanian rebels. More than two-thirds of the rebels' 3,300 weapons to be collected already have been gathered. Parliament must now discuss the constitutional amendments before the alliance can complete the arms collection. --------------------------------------------- Copyright 2001 The Associated Press RELIGIOUS PARTIES GIVE STRIKE CALL FOR FRIDAY Tuesday, September 18, 2001 DAWN LAHORE, Sept 17: The Council for Defence of Pakistan and Afghanistan, a group of over 20 religious parties, has given a call for a country-wide strike on Friday to protest against the US efforts to implicate Taliban and Osama Bin Laden in the terrorist attacks. "The council considers an attack on Afghanistan as an attack on Pakistan and it will respond positively to the Jehad call given by the Afghan government," it said at the end of its four-hour-long session here on Monday. The meeting was presided over by the council's chairman Maulana Samiul Haq, leader of his own faction of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam, and conducted by the council's secretary-general Liaqat Baloch of the Jamaat-i-Islami. It was addressed by JUI (Fazlur Rehman) president Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Amir of Jamaat-i-Islami Qazi Hussain Ahmad, Lt-Gen K M Azhar (retd) of the JUP, Dr Israr Ahmad of the Tanzim-i-Islami, Maulana Mohammad Azam Tariq of the Sipah-i-Sihaba Pakistan, Afaq Ahmad Khan of the MQM (Haqeeqi), Prof Mohammad Saeed of Lashkar-i-Taiba and others. The council also announced a month-long plan to hold rallies throughout the country to oppose the Pakistan government support to the US, express solidarity with the people of Afghanistan and to condemn the terrorist attacks in the US and to express solidarity with the victims. The protest call comes hours after President Parvez Musharaf's meeting with politicians and religious leaders to take them into confidence over his government's decision to accede to the US demands. The council members said they were not convinced with the reasons behind the Pakistan government action. --------------------------------------------- ? The DAWN Group of Newspapers, TENSIONS HIGH WORLDWIDE AS TALIBAN THREATEN 'JIHAD' Tuesday, September 18, 2001 New York Times By REUTERS TOKYO (Reuters) - The global security alert triggered by last week's attacks on America showed no sign of abating on Tuesday as the leaders of Afghanistan's Taliban regime threatened to declare a holy war against the United States. The move was certain to raise fears of follow-up attacks to last week's terror in New York and Washington, a point underlined by a rash of bomb threats in Japan. With a military clash between the Islamic Taliban and the United States looking increasingly likely, countries in Asia that have large Muslim communities were also bracing for a possible reaction from within their own populations. In Japan, a bomb threat against Citibank's local offices forced the evacuation of several high-rise buildings, but employees returned to work after police determined the buildings were safe, police and witnesses said. ``I think in light of what happened last week, you can't not take this seriously... It makes you cautious,'' said Michael McCorkle, who works for an independent U.S. firm in the Tokyo Bankers' Association Building, where Citibank occupies five floors. People inside the 30-floor Akasaka Park Building and well as the Tokyo Bankers' Association Building, in separate financial districts in the nation's capital, as well as Citibank's Tokyo headquarters, were told to leave their buildings after a phone call saying that a bomb planted at a Citibank office or offices would go off at 2:30 p.m. (1:30 a.m. EDT). Another Citibank retail office in the Otemachi financial district was also briefly evacuated, a security guard at the building said. A police spokesman was reluctant to write off the phone calls as pranks. ``Although there have been no reports of bomb explosions, we are not able to state clearly that they were pranks,'' he said. The bomb scare forced Chase Manhattan Bank's Tokyo branch to suspend its foreign exchange and other trading operations, a spokeswoman said. Operations by U.S. brokerage J.P. Morgan Securities Asia PTE Limited were also suspended, she said. HIJACKER ASSOCIATES AT LARGE? Even before Taliban officials said they were considering launching a ``jihad'' or holy war, U.S. officials were warning of the real danger of further attacks, possibly by associates of the hijackers who could still be at large. ``Associates of the hijackers that have ties to terrorist organizations may be a continuing presence in the United States,'' Attorney General John Ashcroft told a news conference at FBI headquarters. He cited ``this current threat assessment'' in urging that Congress approve new anti-terrorist legislation that would make it easier for the FBI to tap suspects' telephones, including mobile phones, and to track suspicious movements of money. As the international scope of the suspected terror network became apparent, Britain's Daily Mail newspaper reported on Tuesday that at least five of the hijackers had trained in Britain. The Mail's front-page report, which police refused to discuss, said that ``dozens of addresses across Britain will now be raided as Special Branch and anti-terrorist officers try to trace the movements of the five and everyone they contacted.'' Thousands of miles away in the Philippines, transport authorities ordered all 16 flight training schools in the country to exercise caution in accepting foreign students. Philippine Air Transport Office (ATO) Chief Adelberto Yap said his office issued the directive in the wake of U.S. reports that some of those involved in last week's attacks in the United States had studied at U.S. aviation schools. Yap said he had ordered local aviation schools to furnish the ATO with lists and pictures of their foreign students. ''We'll profile them and investigate their backgrounds,'' he said. The Philippine government is one of several in Asia, including Indonesia and India, that could face instability if a U.S.-Taliban clash ends up stirring unrest in Muslim communities. Indian authorities have already ordered police throughout the country to be on guard for clashes between majority Hindus and minority Muslims if Washington launches an attack on Afghanistan. And a radical Islamic group in Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim country, threatened on Tuesday to attack the U.S. embassy and seek the expulsion of Americans in Jakarta if Washington carries out revenge strikes against any Islamic nation. Police dismissed the threat as not being serious, but the group -- the Islamic Defenders Front -- has been behind a number of attacks against bars and nightclubs popular with foreigners. ``If the U.S. carries out its threat in the form of military aggression against any Muslim states, then the FPI will perceive it as an act of terrorism,'' head of the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), Al Habib Muhammad Riziq Syihab, told Reuters. Several Western embassies in Jakarta told Reuters earlier that while their nationals and companies were on alert, they were not evacuating staff or families. JAPAN NERVOUS ON BUSH VISIT In Japan, police began meeting to plan security for President Bush, admitting they were concerned that he might be a target for attack when he visits his Asian ally next month. A special panel of 30 senior police officers in charge of security measures for Bush met for the first time on Tuesday, a police spokesman said. National Police Agency Deputy Director Hidehiko Sato, who heads the panel, called for tight security. Bush is scheduled to visit Japan in mid-October before attending a summit meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Shanghai. ``We are concerned about possible terrorist attacks targeting the president,'' Sato told the panel. As the bomb scares reminded Japan that it was not immune to the terror fallout, the ruling coalition began discussing a new law allowing it to provide logistical support to any U.S. retaliation. ``We must respond to international terrorism. We should consider what Japan can do and what Japan should do,'' Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi told a gathering of leaders of the ruling tripartite coalition. But any move by Japan to boost its military role is sure to arouse controversy in Asia, because of the country's wartime imperialism, and at home because of its pacifist Constitution. --------------------------------------------- Copyright 2001 Reuters Ltd. WEEKEND VIOLENCE LEAVES 10 DEAD IN ALGERIA Tuesday, September 18, 2001 Nando Times The Associated Press ALGIERS, Algeria (September 17, 2001 3:58 p.m. EDT) - Six civilians, two police officers and two armed Islamic militants were killed in Algeria this weekend, newspapers reported Monday. The country has been wracked by a nine-year insurgency. Gunmen with automatic weapons killed four people Saturday in the region of Ain Defla, 70 miles west of the capital, El Watan reported. Another newspaper, Liberte, said a police officer, a 14-year-old boy and two Islamic militants were killed in fighting that broke out when militants ambushed police near Jijel, a town 220 miles east of Algiers. Liberte also reported one person was shot in the head and killed on Saturday in Tisbilane, near Jijel, and the daily Le Matin said a police officer was shot and killed Sunday in Bordj El Kiffan, an Algiers suburb. A government official who spoke on condition of anonymity told Le Matin that authorities have stepped up their anti-terrorism efforts, citing an increase in violence in Algeria and last week's terrorist attacks in the United States. Officials have increased security at the international airport in Algiers and reinforced police checkpoints throughout the country over the last three days. More than 100,000 people have been killed since the insurgency began in 1992, when the military canceled elections that an Islamic fundamentalist party was expected to win. Copyright 2001 AP Online Copyright 2001 Nando Media ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Get VeriSign's FREE GUIDE: "Securing Your Web Site for Business." 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This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.2 : 2001-09-29 21:08:45 PDT