Everything is a go when CIC gives green light:
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From PAUL THOMPSON in Washington
and MARTIN WALLACE in London
THE largest air armada seen since World War Two was zeroing in on evil mastermind Osama bin Laden last night.
At least 630 US warplanes will join the battle against international terror - THREE TIMES as many as America deployed in the war against Saddam Hussein. More than a hundred jets are already in the Gulf, poised to strike at bin Laden and his henchmen in the wildernesses of Afghanistan.
Another 250 have been ordered to the region from bases around the world by President George W Bush. And 280 more are on board four US aircraft carriers which are moving into position with a 41-ship battlefleet.
The warplanes will be backed up by America's stockpile of 3,500 cruise missiles. Crack British SAS troops are ready to slip into Afghanistan to link up with anti-Taliban rebels and capture bin Laden.
And a British fleet - including an aircraft carrier, a nuclear sub, destroyers and a troop support carrying 3,000 Marines - was last night heading for the Suez Canal. The unprecedented show of strength sends a clear message to the world that the US-led war on terrorism is about to begin.
The four US carriers will be key players in any large-scale attack on Afghanistan.
They have been ordered to the area from as far away as Virginia and Japan.
Might ... USS Kitty Hawk
leaves Japan yesterday
The USS Theodore Roosevelt is accompanied by 13 ships, one nuclear submarine and 15,000 American troops.
USS Carl Vinson has 11 ships alongside it, including destroyers, battle cruisers and attack subs.
USS Enterprise will be joined by 12 ships - all similar types to Carl Vinson's escort. As well as warplanes, it will be carrying about 120 special forces troops.
And the USS Kitty Hawk will be joined by four support ships.
Giant B-52s - which can launch cruise missiles - and deadly stealth bombers are also expected to fly to the region.
RAF Tornado jets can be called in quickly to boost the force because many still patrol in the Gulf in the wake of the 1991 war against Iraq.
The announcement of the massive deployment spurred Afghanistan's rebel Northern Alliance to launch a bloody new offensive against the hated Taliban forces yesterday.
Point of interest ... Bush
with book yesterday
In a day of heavy fighting, the rebels claimed to have killed 80 Taliban militia, taken 200 others prisoner and captured key territory.
Meanwhile, Taliban leaders tried to worm their way out of defying America's demand that they hand over bin Laden - by claiming he had gone missing. But US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld accused them of lying - and he repeated America's vow to hunt him down and bring him to justice.
Taliban fighters responded last night by building bunkers, setting up anti-aircraft batteries and arming men in key border areas to defend against possible attack.
Their arsenal includes deadly Stinger anti-aircraft missiles - which America itself supplied the Soviet occupation.
An unmanned US spy plane went missing over northern Afghanistan yesterday.
The Taliban immediately insisted they had shot it down.
But Pentagon chiefs dismissed the claim and said the aircraft may simply have had technical trouble.
It was said to have been gathering intelligence for the CIA.
Earlier, Bush lifted sanctions against Pakistan and India as a reward for their backing of US action following the carnage in New York and Washington which has left an estimated 6,750 people dead or missing.
The sanctions were imposed in 1998 after the rival nations successfully tested nuclear weapons.
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw is due to visit Iran today to discuss co-operation in a war on terrorism with the anti-Taliban Islamic state.
ISRAELI Prime Minister Ariel Sharon cancelled truce talks with the Palestinians yesterday, blaming continuing violence in Gaza and the West Bank.
9 out of ten
back Bush
A RECORD 90 per cent of Americans back President Bush's handling of the crisis.
His approval rating in a Gallup poll yesterday beat the old record of 89 per cent, held by his dad after the 1991 Gulf War.
The president joined Marines for a ceremony at Camp David as the flag flew above half-mast for the first time since the attacks, ending official mourning.
Bin Laden dodged
US strike
TERROR chief Osama bin Laden escaped a US missile strike by minutes, it was revealed yesterday.
More than 60 Tomahawks slammed into targets across Afghanistan in a bid to kill the fanatic in 1998.
One destroyed a house where bin Laden had met henchmen less than an hour earlier.
The hit - from warships in the Gulf - was ordered by then president Bill Clinton to avenge the bombings of two US embassies in East Africa. Bin Laden was behind the massacre, which killed 224.
Lebanon against
terrorists
LEBANON yesterday pledged support for the global war on terror - and insisted it should not be targeted.
The Middle Eastern state has been home to groups seen as terrorists by the US - as has its political master, Syria.
But Lebanese PM Rafik al-Hariri said after talks with French leader Jacques Chirac: "The issue of Lebanon and Syria is not on the table. We are a country that has suffered from terrorism."
Former Soviet republic Kazakhstan also vowed to join the coalition against terror.
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Best Regards, J.T. |
