[iwar] [fc:Revealed:.British.plan.for.Afghan.onslaught]

From: Fred Cohen (fc@all.net)
Date: 2001-09-23 16:15:21
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From: Fred Cohen <fc@all.net>
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Date: Sun, 23 Sep 2001 16:15:21 -0700 (PDT)
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 Revealed: British plan for Afghan onslaught

Kamal Ahmed in London, Peter Beaumont in Washington and Ed Vulliamy in
New York
Sunday September 23, 2001
The Observer

BRITISH troops will lead an international coalition alongside America to
wage war on Afghanistan in the next 10 days as security and intelligence
sources indicated last night that the net was tightening on Osama bin
Laden, the prime suspect behind the terrorist attacks on America. 

With an attack now imminent and American warplanes arriving in
neighbouring Uzbekistan ahead of the first wave of strikes, security
sources in Britain and America said that they were now concentrating
their investigation into bin Laden and the al-Qaeda terrorist
organisation in the north and west of Afghanistan. 

Five terrorist camps around Jalalabad will be the focus of the military
campaign, which Ministry of Defence officials last night revealed was
now in the 'final stages' of planning.  Sources said that any action by
ground troops would be preceded by bombing in the terrorist camps'
region.  There were unconfirmed reports last night that Special Air
Service (SAS) troops were already in northern Afghanistan, working with
the anti-Taliban alliance that controls the area. 

With America now on a war footing and Britain emerging as its most
potent war partner, 13 British warships travelled through the Suez canal
yesterday and steamed for the Gulf . 

In the largest military mobilisation since the Gulf War 10 years ago,
the White House also revealed that a third aircraft carrier, B-52
bombers and warships capable of launching ground-attack Tomahawk cruise
missiles had moved into the area to prepare for attack.  Yesterday Bush
chaired a National Security Council meeting to complete plans for
military action, which could come as early as Thursday.  Later today the
President will join advisers from the special operations arm of the US
Marines at the presidential retreat at Camp David. 

It is believed that the coalition force will be led by America with
military support and troops from specialist units in Britain and France. 
Russia will provide logistical support.  Tony Blair is on the verge of
signing the order agreeing to the use of British troops.  Britain and
America now believe that bin Laden is still in Afghanistan, contrary to
reports that he had fled to China or Chechnya.  'Bin Laden is in
Afghanistan,' the Prime Minister's official spokesman said.  'We know he
is there, put it that way.' His words reflected those of Colin Powell,
the US secretary of state and key military planner in the White House,
who said that there was a 'presumption' that the man who has become a
hate figure for many in the West was still in the country. 

Although British officials said that the ultimatum to the Taliban
authorities that bin Laden must be expelled from Afghanistan was 'open
ended', it was made clear that with winter approaching military action
needed to be rapid. 

It is believed that bin Laden is hiding in a network of camps in the
north-west of Afghanistan.  The camps at Darunta, Bhesud, Jaji-Maydan,
Khost and Tani are well known to the CIA and could be bombed from the
air.  Senior Whitehall sources said that military programmes could only
be put in place when 'the outcome was clear', a reference to Bill
Clinton's policy of bombing Afghan camps with cruise missiles in 1998 -
which failed to capture or kill bin Laden. 

Downing Street said that any action would now take a 'twin track'
approach, with the first phase concentrating on finding bin Laden and
breaking down the al-Qaeda organisation, and the second phase
concentrating on the fight against world terrorism. 

In a clear indication that the Government is planning to put Britain
onto a war footing, Downing Street has sent a request to all departments
asking them to draw up legislation in case of 'national emergency'. 
Plans are being prepared in the areas of extradition, anti-terrorism
legislation and crime to allow the Government to act more swiftly
against people suspected of being linked to terrorist organisations. 

The move reflects similar action taken during the Gulf War when
internment powers were used to imprison up to 100 Iraqis and
Palestinians.  Many later successfully sued the Government for wrongful
imprisonment.  The disclosure of the allied plans for war came as
tensions in the region heightened dramatically yesterday.  Despite
earlier contradictory statements, officials from Afghanistan's ruling
Taliban said they had established that their forces had downed a
pilotless drone aircraft over Tashkurghan with machinegun fire as well
as a helicopter near Dara-i-Suf. 

Both areas are in Samangan, about 150 miles north-west of Kabul, where
the anti-Taliban commander General Rashid Dostum reported that his force
of minority Uzbek fighters had made advances against the Taliban. 

Mystery surrounded the origin of the spy plane.  A spokesman for
Afghanistan's opposition North ern Alliance confirmed the helicopter
crash, but blamed it on a mechanical fault.  'The helicopter seems to
have gone down because of technical reasons,' the spokesman, Mohamed
Ashraf Nadeem, said, adding that the fate of those on board was unknown. 

The Taliban's ambassador in Islamabad, Mullah Abdul Saleem Zaeef, said
the spyplane had been downed while taking pictures over northern
Afghanistan. 

Washington frequently uses 'drones' to fly spy missions over Iraq, but
the aircraft do not generally have defensive capabilities and make up
the majority of planes shot down by Baghdad since the Gulf War.  A
Pentagon spokesman in Washington would not comment on the report.  With
America determined to press ahead with military action after more than
6,800 people were killed in twin attacks on New York and Washington,
Blair's aides signalled that Britain would stand firmly behind
Washington. 

His resolve will be bolstered by a poll in today's Observer that shows
65 per cent of Britons support surgical air strikes against countries
harbouring terrorists, and 63 per cent of voters believe that Britain is
'at war' already against terrorists.  Blair is likely to recall
Parliament in an effort to keep the broad political coalition between
the main political parties that has so far backed his stance.  There is
increasing concern in government quarters that a left-wing backlash
against any military action could damage Blair's standing.  He is said
to be furious that Clare Short, the Cabinet Minister and Secretary of
State for International Development, has spoken out against the
militaristic language used since the atrocity.  She criticised Bush's
use of the word 'crusade' as 'very unfortunate' and said that America
was using 'lots of planes and guns to make everybody do their bidding'. 

Blair was briefed by key security and intelligence officials for an hour
as he travelled to New York and Washington last week, increasing
speculation that military action was days away.  One of the officials
was thought to be General Tom Piggott, head of opera tional advice at
the MoD.  Blair was also accompanied by Sir David Manning, a Foreign
Office adviser. 

An administration official in America said that the President would soon
sign an executive order naming terrorist organisations and specific
terrorists around the world and freezing their US assets.  Oxfam said
yesterday that Afghanistan was facing a humanitarian crisis as refugees
fled south and north to try to escape any military attacks. 

The charity had ordered a 15,000 tonne emergency shipment of food to
Uzbekistan and was trying to move emergency food into Afghanistan, where
millions of people are threatened with starvation.  'Afghanistan hasn't
been totally shut off.  Why is the world waiting? There is no need to
wait.  Aid can be got in now,' said Alex Renton, an Oxfam spokesman. 

The intensive build-up for war came barely 24 hours after Afghanistan's
ruling Islamic council of clerics said that they had asked bin Laden to
leave the country voluntarily, although they insisted that they would
not hand him over to the US authorities.  America yesterday faced its
most serious difficulty in building a coalition to date: envoys from
Saudi Arabia - a crucial ally in the Gulf War of 10 years ago - told the
State Department that the kingdom would resist granting the US use of
its crucial Prince Sultan air base, which the Pentagon was planning to
use as a command centre.  Even hesitation on the Saudis' part towards
the campaign would entrench divisions in Washington, and strengthen the
hand of those wanting to get on with the war rather than wait to build a
consensus alliance. 

The Saudi monarchy is - like Pakistan - also extremely concerned about
the domestic threat from its Islamic fundamentalists, who have been
offended by the kingdom's alliance with the US. 

The US Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, yesterday argued that the US
should make immediate plans to shift its command centre to Turkey. 
Rumsfeld and the Secretary of State, Colin Powell, spent the weekend in
Washington working on details of the deployment.  Last night, Bush
continued to make his plans at Camp David in Maryland with his chief of
staff Andrew Card and his National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice. 


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