Fw: [ASDnet] Kabul paper trail damns al-Qaeda

Luke Weiger lweiger at umich.edu
Sun Nov 18 14:59:33 PST 2001


----- Original Message ----- From: "ANDERSON DAVID" <andersd at spot.colorado.edu> To: <Undisclosed at easycomeeasygo.mr.itd.umich.edu>; <recipients:>; <@easycomeeasygo.mr.itd.umich.edu> Sent: Sunday, November 18, 2001 11:00 AM Subject: [ASDnet] Kabul paper trail damns al-Qaeda


>
> Kabul paper trail damns al-Qaeda
> War in Afghanistan: Observer special
> Jason Burke in Jalalabad, Tim Judah in Kabul and Peter Beaumont
> Saturday November 17 2001
> The Guardian
>
>
> Crucial evidence linking both Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network and the
Taliban to the suicide hijackings on New York and Washington on 11 September has been uncovered in secret documents discarded in Kabul and other Afghan cities.
>
> Among papers seen by Western journalists, and abandoned by retreating
Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters, were a flight simulator computer programme and a list of flight schools in the US.
>
> Other documents describing chemical, biological and nuclear warfare and
referring to the al-Qaeda organisation were also found yesterday in two houses in Kabul.
>
> The flight simulator programme is understood to be identical to one
discovered in the luggage of Mohamed Atta, one of the key leaders of the suicide hijackers who flew two airliners into the World Trade Centre, killing almost 5,000 people.
>
> Other documents seen by Observer reporters make clear the scale of
al-Qaeda's ambitions for a global jihad, including a notebook detailing plans to assassinate Western leaders. Other evidence uncovered at al-Qaeda sites indicates that major power plants in the US and Europe - some of them nuclear - were being targeted for attack.
>
> Other documents, apparently prepared by Pakistani diplomats and
intelligence officers, make it absolutely clear that the Taliban, far from simply hosting bin Laden's network, was involved in every stage of the plan for global jihad against Western interests and had repeatedly ignored warnings before the 11 September attacks that it faced bombing by the US or Russia if it continued to support terrorists.
>
> The most damning documents were discovered at two sites in the former
diplomatic district of Kabul, both of which were scattered with forms labelled 'al-Qaeda Ammunition Warehouse'. The presence of al-Qaeda documents in the first - a Taliban Defence Ministry building - is compelling evidence of the inseparable links between al-Qaeda and the Taliban.
>
> The discovery of the documents will be a source of considerable
satisfaction to President George Bush and his allies, who have sometimes seemed to struggle in providing the smoking gun linking bin Laden's organisation to the 11 September attacks.
>
> Among documents uncovered by the New York Times at this location was a
page torn out of Flying magazine, listing flight schools in Florida, including Walkawitz Aviation in Titusville and Phoenix East Aviation in Daytona Beach.
>
> Greg Nardi, the manager of Walkawitz Aviation, told the paper that several
Arab students had approached the school in the last year asking about flight training. One Arab man, with a thick accent, asked him whether it was possible to jump safely out of a jet using a parachute. He also asked how far the parachute would carry him.
>
> 'At the time you just pass it off,' Nardi said of the questions. His staff
told the prospective student that it would be difficult to open the door of a pressurised jet .
>
> The houses were also decorated with maps, including one listing the
location of power plants in Europe, Africa and Asia. Another showed Saudi Arabia with American military bases marked with the words in Arabic, 'Occupied by the Crusader'.
>
> Neighbours described the men who occupied the houses as Arabs who kept to
themselves and followed regular routines. The documents suggest a broad network, including Somalis, Algerians, Bosnians, Uzbeks, Sudanese and natives of the Dagastan region of Russia.
>
> The apparent interest of the people who occupied the houses in American
flying schools is particularly significant. Some of the hijackers of the planes that crashed on 11 September trained in Florida.
>
> Another document discovered at the house gave further evidence of
al-Qaeda's interest in weapons of mass destruction. Written in Arabic and entitled, 'Before and After Precautions For Using Chemical, Biological and Nuclear Warfare', it was found on the floor of the private house.
>
> Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited
>
> The preceding is a personal opinion. Try not to post more than daily.
>
>



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