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Journalism of Courage
LONDON, NOV 26: The United States, in cooperation with Russia, is planning military retaliation against Osama bin Laden, the accused terrorist mastermind in Afghanistan, after links were found between the bombings of the American warship USS Cole’ and his group’s attacks on US embassies in East Africa, media reported.
General Henry Shelton, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said an attack with cruise missiles or other weapons was possible, The Times, daily, reported.
"The intelligence community working on the problem has come to a very firm conclusion, which I believe is shared by the Clinton administration, that Osama bin Laden is involved," Vince Cannistraro, the former anti-terrorism chief at the Central Intelligence Agency said. "There is some dispute over the execution. Some people feel that a state is involved." He said some intelligence officials suspected that Iran might have had a hand in the operation through such proxies as the Lebanese fundamentalist group Hezbollah in supplying the explosives and training the bombmakers.
With Russian knowledge of Afghan territory and its own considerable counter-terrorist capability, a joint Russian-American operation against the multi-millionaire Saudi dissident whose brand of Islamic war poses a growing threat to Moscow’s interests would be the dream option, the report said.
However, there would appear to be too many obstacles to a combined operation ever taking place. Uzbekistan would also be nervous of approving American military flights over its territory, let alone allowing the Americans to use its bases for commando raids across the border.
Nevertheless, there are indications that the Americansare seeking help from Russia and other countries in the region in this regard.
Intelligence information has confirmed that bin Laden is still in Afghanistan. His movements have been tracked with the help of US intelligence satellites which have monitored his mobile phone calls, as part of a huge operation masterminded at the CIA’s headquarters.
Afghan and Pakistani officials fear that, besides bin Laden’s bases, Kandahar, the spiritual capital of the Taliban Islamic administration, will be targeted in any attack. The western Afghan city is the base of Mulla Omar, the spiritual leader of the hardline Islamic movement which now controls over 95 per cent of the strife-torn country.
According to the report, bin Laden also has close links with the Chechens and for that reason he is almost as great a threat to Russia as he is to the Americans.
On Thursday Russian Defence Minister gave a strong hint at some kind of action against Afghanistan was imminent. In an unusually strong statement, Marshal Igor Sergeyev said that religious extremism, separatism and international terrorism were the biggest threats to Russia’s security.
"Today they are not individual terrorists but a powerful army with centralised control, well armed and financed," he said.
Sergeyev identified Afghanistan as the international terrorist centre of the world. About 1,000 centres and camps for training fighters were operating there, he said. "From there they are sent to many regions, from Kosovo to Malaysia and to the North Caucasus as well."
And in a clear attempt to link this western Europe’s worries, he said that Afghanistan was also the source of drug-trafficking, with drugs being sent out to the West through central Asia and Russia. To combat the threat, Moscow would station more armed forces in southwest Russia and on the borders of central Asia.
Although neither side will confirm that they have swapped intelligence about bin Laden, all the signs point to intensifying preparations for an attack on Afghanistan by America or Russia that would have the full support of the other.
