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Politics : America Under Siege: The End of Innocence -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Teresa Lo who wrote (1978)	9/14/2001 12:39:27 PM
From: Tadsamillionaire	Respond to of 27666

Bin Laden's long reach into Israel Friday, September 14, 2001 Elul 26, 5761 Israel Time: 19:33 (GMT+3) By Amos Harel Osama bin Laden. The incident that occured at the Rafah international crossing on June 1, 2000, did not attract much attention at first, with news giving the story only a few lines: A confrontation broke out between Israeli security guards and Palestinians as a result of the latters' insistence to arrest a young Palestinian who had crossed into Rafah from Egypt. During the ensuing clashes, 10 Palestinian policemen were injured by rubber-coated bullets fired by the Israeli soldiers, and the Shin Bet security service agents managed to leave the area with their prisoner. Only gradually did the behind-the-scenes story begin to emerge. The incident was so serious that the head of the Palestinian security apparatus in the Gaza Strip, Mohammed Dahlan, turned it into a justification for a long-lived vendetta with the Shin Bet. The Rafah prisoner was Nabil Ukal, a 27-year-old resident of the Jabaliya refugee camp in the Gaza Strip. The Shin Bet, just like their counterparts working for Dahlan, knew the exact reasons for insisting on holding the prisoner. Ukal was supposed to have served as a key figure and first representative in the territories of the international terrorist organization headed by the wealthy Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden. In October, 1997, Ukal left the Gaza Strip for religious studies in Pakistan. There, he joined one of the organizations affiliated with bin Laden and underwent paramilitary training in Afghanistan. Under orders from Halil al-Dich, a senior member in the organization, Ukal was sent to the territories to set up the paramilitary infrastructure for operations in the territories. These activities were also meant to include the participation of Israeli Arabs. Ukal returned to the Gaza Strip in 1998 and remained in contact with bin Laden activists in Jordan and Britain, receiving instructions through electronic mail. Upon his return to the Gaza Strip, Ukal is also known to have met with the spiritual leader of Hamas, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, informing him of the training that he had undergone in Afghanistan. Yassin, in turn, provided Ukal with the sum of $10,000 for his activities. At the Shin Bet security service, the assessment is that Yassin was not aware that Ukal was an operative for Bin Laden. For his part, Ukal sought to recruit Israeli Arabs. He met with two Islamic Movement activists in Umm al-Fahm, but with no success. The two were held by the Shin Bet at a later date, but were subsequently released after questioning. When charges were brought against Ukal in the military court at the Erez Crossing in the Gaza STrip, he was indicted for planning to carry out a large-scale attack in the center of the country, sending suicide bombers and attacking Israel Defense Forces soldiers. While Ukal was in detention, his colleagues were busy gathering intelligence information, testing explosives and gathering explosive materials. Ten of the members of the bin Laden cell in the territories were arrested by the Shin Bet and the Palestinian Authority during the weeks before the outbreak of the intifada. A senior officer in the security service acknowledged that the unveiling of bin Laden's plans in Israel occured as much as three years too late. Is Israel still bin Laden's target? The security services feel that Israel remains a target for bin Laden. His motivation may increase as a result of criticism, voiced inside the organization, about the failure to sufficiently support the Palestinians in their struggle against Israel. Officials at the IDF's General Staff believe that Israel is better prepared to handle attacks of the sort experienced by the United States on Tuesday. "For years, we have taken stringent security measures in order to prevent attacks against our strategic assets. The hijacking of aircraft and the penetration of our airspace are things that have been taken into account," a member of the General Staff said yesterday. "There will be a need to reassess the philosophy of our preparedness in view of the lessons from New York. A process of studying the lessons and refreshing the orders [for security] has already begun," he continued. Yoram Shweitzer, a researcher on the subject of terrorism at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya, is sure that Israel is still a target. "[Bin Laden's] statements, like the operations that have been prevented, reflect this clearly," he said. While the trial of Ukal is still continuing, there is no available information on the arrests of other terrorists linked with bin Laden. However, Chief of Military Intelligence Major General Amos Malka said recently that "bin Laden has already tried and will surely try to reach Israel again. He will do this by trying to infiltrate here or by trying to recruit people from the territories. He will try different creative ways." test.haaretzdaily.com

To: Teresa Lo who wrote (1978)	9/14/2001 12:39:34 PM
From: Trumptown	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 27666

>>would it be right to ask our fathers, brothers and neighbors to die for this mission?<< Would it be right for those who have already died in the name of freedom, to have died in vein? SR

To: Teresa Lo who wrote (1978)	9/14/2001 12:48:56 PM
From: joseph krinsky	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 27666

I don't think that's the answer. sealing off borders and isolating doesn't make the problem go away. there's probably only one sure way to make the problem go away, and that is make sure it goes away. talking about it, and hiding from it isn't going to accomplish that.

To: Teresa Lo who wrote (1978)	9/14/2001 1:24:54 PM
From: Gary E	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 27666

It very well may be a way to teach them ..... As bizarre as this statement might seem, we might seriously consider and be better off to turn our backs on them now, seal off our borders But how about forcing the "them" to rout out their own kind...We are sealed off from "them" and we seal their borders off...no air traffic from their countries, shoot them down on a first try...should "them" object, so what...next you start the destruction of their country, see just how they like it...sooner or later they will either turn over the bad guys..or their country is burnt toast..... To the Right of Atilla the Hun Hal

To: Teresa Lo who wrote (1978)	9/14/2001 2:40:12 PM
From: Lola	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 27666

Their biggest border is with Pakistan. Pakistan has to be completely with the U.S. or against it. With India sitting on the other side just dying to take Pakistan out if they don't cooperate, Pakistan's choices are limited. Pakistan has to be willing to die to protect Afghanistan ... are they willing to do that ... because they will be first to go if they are ... IMO of course. Lola:)

To: Teresa Lo who wrote (1978)	9/14/2001 3:03:01 PM
From: Lola	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 27666

As bizarre as this statement might seem, we might seriously consider and be better off to turn our backs on them now, seal off our borders and get on with the business of living. We CAN'T seal off our borders and get on with the business of living. Business has come to a screeching halt. Life has stopped for us ... they are already here! There's bomb threats all over the place ... things are much worse than most of us would want to believe. Lola:)

To: Teresa Lo who wrote (1978)	9/14/2001 9:17:38 PM
From: bela_ghoulashi	Respond to of 27666

"...this has been going on in the region for at least a thousand years..." Longer, but that's quibbling. In any case, this is precisely the reason cries for the United States to look to its own evil dealings in this part of the world for answers is so bogus. The hatred would be there regardless. Those who hate us don't hate what we've done so much as they hate what we are, because of what they are. That cannot be changed. That entire region of the world is built built on atrocities, centuries of them, greater than any we could possibly have committed there ourselves. If we weren't here for them to hate and attempt to destroy, they'd simply hate and attempt to destroy each other. There is nothing we can do, no action we can take, or lack of action, that will not make us a lightning rod for hatred and venom of one kind or another, from one faction or another. We need to get this through our skulls. We need to be clear about this going into it. And there is no action we can take that could possibly be worse than doing nothing. Because the genie is out of the bottle now and they will not stop. We will have to stop them.