Channelnewsasia.com, 22 February 2004 0722 hrs
Osama cornered in Pakistan's northwest: report
LONDON (AFP) -- US and British special forces have cornered Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in a mountainous area in northwest Pakistan, near the Afghanistan border, the Sunday Express newspaper reported.
Quoting "a US intelligence source," it said bin Laden and "up to 50 fanatical henchmen" were inside an area 16 kilometres (10 miles) wide and deep "north of the town of Khanozai and the city of Quetta".
"He is boxed in," the unidentified source was quoted by the tabloid as saying, adding that US special forces were "absolutely confident" that he could not escape.
According to the source, bin Laden moved into the area, "in the desolate Toba Kakar mountains," about one month ago from another area 240 kilometres to the south, the Sunday Express said.
In Washington, a Defense Department spokesman declined to comment on the report.
Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar is believed to be with bin Laden, according to the report.
The area is under surveillance from a geostationary spy satellite while US and British special forces await orders to move in, the newspaper said in its early edition, received late Saturday.
Al-Qaeda is held responsible for the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon that killed nearly 3,000 people in 2001. More recently, it has been suspected of supporting insurgent attacks on US forces in Iraq.
On Thursday, General Richard Meyers, chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff, said US forces were engaged in "intense" efforts to capture bin Laden, but held back from saying where he might be hiding.
"There are areas where we think it is most likely he is, and they remain the same," said Meyers, who was speaking to reporters in Washington. "They haven't changed in months," said Myers.
Asked whether the Al-Qaeda leader was believed to be in Pakistan, the general replied: "Don't know that. We think in that border region somewhere. We don't know where it is precisely."
The Sunday Express said it was also told in London by "a senior Republican close to the White House and the Pentagon" this past week that bin Laden had been located.
"They have found bin Laden," the source -- described as an "intimate" of the family of US President George W. Bush -- was quoted as saying. "They now know where he is within a manageable area which can be watched and controlled."
The Sunday Express said bin Laden's whereabouts had been discovered from "a combination of CIA paramilitaries and special forces, plus image analysis by geographers and soil experts".
"They studied the background in bin Laden's last video and matched it to rocks in the Toba Kakar region," the newspaper said.
"A two-man special forces surveillance unit them infiltrated the area," it said, adding that they picked up their first clues that bin Laden was in the area within a week.
"Other teams then slipped in," the Sunday Express quoted its source as saying. "To avoid any alert, helicopters were not used."
The last known video tape from bin Laden was aired in September by the Arabic all-news television station al-Jazeera. Three audio tapes followed, in October, December and January.
A graphic published alongside the Sunday Express report indicated that the area in which bin Laden is supposedly hiding is immediately to the north of the Pakistani towns of Khanozai and Murgha.
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http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040222/ap_on_el_pr/nader_13
Associated Press, February 22, 2004, 9:52 AM
Ralph Nader Announces Run for Presidency
WASHINGTON - Consumer advocate Ralph Nader announced Sunday he will run again for the presidency, declaring that Washington has become "corporate occupied territory" and arguing there is too little difference between the Democratic and Republican parties.
Nader, who will turn 70 this week, said he contemplated retirement but decided against that. "I've decided to run as an independent candidate for president," he announced on NBC's "Meet The Press."
"This country has more problems and injustices than it deserves," Nader said, bemoaning a "democracy gap." He said he needed to get into the race to "challenge this two-party duopoly."
"There's too much power and wealth in too few hands," he said . "They have taken over Washington."
"Washington is now corporate occupied territory," Nader said. "There is now a for-sale sign on most agencies and departments. ... Money is flowing in like never before. It means that corporations are saying no to the necessities of the American people. ... Basically, it's question of both parties flunking."
Asked if he would withdraw if he concluded his candidacy would merely ensure President Bush's re-election, Nader told interviewer Tim Russert, "When and if that eventuality occurs, you can invite me back on the program and I'll give you the answer."
Nader decided against running under the banner of the Green Party. His candidacy four years ago has been blamed by many Democrats for costing Al Gore the election against George W. Bush.
Last week, Democratic National Committee chairman Terry McAuliffe revealed that he had met with Nader several times urging him not to run.
"Let me say, this is going to be difficult," said Nader, who planned a round of interviews after his announcement. "This isn't just our fight. This is a fight for all third parties ... They want to have a chance to compete. This is not a democracy that can be controlled by two parties in the grip of corporate interests."
Third party candidacies have been a greater part of presidential politics in recent years; businessman Ross Perot twice ran for president, winning 19 percent of the vote in his first try in 1988 against George Herbert Walker Bush and Michael Dukakis.
"It's his personal vanity because he has no movement. Nobody's backing him," New Mexico Democratic Gov. Bill Richardson said Sunday in advance of Nader's announcement.
"The Greens aren't backing him. His friends urge him not to do it. It's all about himself," Richardson told "Fox News Sunday."
"Now, Ralph's made some great contributions to consumer issues over the years, but clearly it's not going to help us," he said. "I don't think he'll have a sizable impact, but it's terrible if he goes ahead because it's about him. It's about his ego. It's about his vanity and not about a movement that supposedly he headed for many years very effectively."
As the Green Party's nominee in 2000, Nader appeared on the ballot in 43 states and Washington, D.C., garnering only 2.7 percent of the vote. But in Florida and New Hampshire, Bush won such narrow victories that had Gore received the bulk of Nader's votes in those states, he would have won the general election.
- - - - - John Lacny
People of the US, unite and defeat the Bush regime and all its running dogs!