Theos-Talk Archives (December 2001 Message tt00230)

OBL - minus wig and make up - is currently in his personal trailer
outside a west hollywood soundstage owned by Rupert Murdoch.

Cheers

Nos



-----Original Message-----
From: bri_mue [mailto:bri_mue@yahoo.com] 
Sent: Friday, 14 December 2001 7:33 AM
To: theos-talk@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Theos-World By by Afghanistan.


Yvonne Ridley of the UK Sunday Express, sneaked into taliban-held 
territory illegally in late September hidden under a traditional 
Afghan woman's burqa veil, but was caught as she journeyed back to 
Pakistan. She was later released.

Ridley now is launching a book on her 10-day ordeal, accused western 
intelligence services on wednesday of trying to have her executed 
during her capture to boost public support for the bombing campaign 
in Afghanistan.

"I suppose that if I had been publicly executed for being a spy, that 
would have been a huge propaganda tool for the West," she told .

The allegations, which appear in the final chapter of "In the Hands 
of the Taliban", were based on what Ridley said were false documents 
she had seen suggesting she was a spy.

She had no copies, but said the documents, and evidence that her 
apartment in London had been broken into during her assignment 
abroad, all pointed to foul play.
On the other hand trying to make a realistic assesment of the actual 
situatuation in Afghanistan, the taliban no longer hold state power, 
but it seems that doesn't mean they have ceased to exist. Only a 
fraction of taliban fighters have been captured, and most of them 
remain armed. Russian and indian estimates indicate there are about 
10,000 taliban captives out of an initial force of 40,000 to 50,000. 
If the estimates are correct,it seems then the 30,000 to 40,000 
armed taliban still in Afghanistan might remain a force to be 
reckoned with, if they can maintain some degree of cohesion. 
In preparation for the deployment of new al Qaeda command cells, U.S. 
forces have reportedly been moving into key countries. One media 
report has U.S. military officers arriving in Somalia while others 
say U.S. forces have been made available to the Philippines in its 
fight against pro-bin Laden muslim rebels. 
The Christian Science Monitor said bin Laden had escaped the Tora 
Bora base to Pakistan 10 days ago with the help of Ghilzi tribesmen, 
according to a senior Al Qaeda operative and Saudi financier, Abu 
Jaffar.
One problem with the media aspect of the war I think is, that the 
Bush administration has allowed the war to be personalized. It has 
focused on bin Laden and his fate as a key issue in the battle 
against terrorism. So I wont ask anymore, "has anybody seen OBL ?".

Brigitte





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