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

To: John Hunt who wrote (12061)	12/21/2001 11:09:06 AM
From: John Hunt	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 27666

Navy swoop in Channel terror alert [ The Royal Navy intercepted a cargo ship in the Channel today amid fears that it was carrying "terrorist material". Customs and Excise and Anti-Terrorist Branch officers boarded the vessel in international waters, believed to be off Beachy Head in East Sussex at 8am. Police were acting on intelligence that the 450ft ship, laden with sugar, may have been carrying explosives or biological weapons - possibly anthrax. Officers are carrying out a thorough search of the ship, which had sailed from Mauritius. However they would not say whether they had found anything suspicious. One senior source said: "Everyone is acting on good faith on this and we could not afford to ignore serious intelligence warnings. "The ship was bound for London and we could not take the risk of allowing it to sail right into the centre of the city. We had our suspicions about the ship following information that came to us. The information was linked to international terrorism." The Ministry of Defence said that HMS Sutherland, a heavily armed frigate with "potent capabilities against submarines, aircraft and ships", was involved in the operation. The crew of the suspect ship are understood to be from India. A Scotland Yard spokesman said they were being interviewed and were "co-operating fully". There was no immediate danger to people living in the area, he added, and the ship was boarded in "international waters in accordance with international law". A Met spokeswoman added: "At this stage it is not possible to say how long officers will remain aboard the vessel or how long the inspection will take to complete." A spokeswoman for the Royal Navy said: "We assisted Customsand Excise in boarding a ship that needed to be stopped. We acted on information from Customs. We are not in a position to say any more at this stage." Detectives believe the most potent threat to London comes from Islamic extremist groups or individuals who may try to carry out an attack against civilians in retaliation for the military success of the Western alliance in Afghanistan. An internal memo has warned senior commanders across London to be on the alert for the possibility of suicide attacks. The security services are alert to the possibility of every type of attack in Britain, ranging from threats to airlines, car bombings, assassination attempts and suicide attacks along the lines of those more commonly associated with Israel. Thousands of extra police have been on anti-terrorist patrol in central London. The operation comes after Scotland Yard warned the capital was on full alert for the possibility of a doublepronged Christmas terror campaign. Anti-terrorist detectives fear London could be the target for both Islamic extremists and renegade Irish terrorists trying to disrupt the peace process. The Met has issued an urgent appeal to Londoners to remain vigilant for the possibility of an attack. ] thisislondon.co.uk

To: John Hunt who wrote (12061)	12/21/2001 11:55:50 AM
From: Runner	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 27666

The military official said the tight rules of engagement (ROE) are part of an overall policy of Army Gen. Tommy Franks, the campaign's commander, to keep civilian, or collateral, casualties as low as possible. He does not want a group of civilians mistaken for al Qaeda troops and mistakenly killed. Gen. Franks heads the Central Command at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Fla. The military official said, "people moving at night, that's not the Afghan people. They're either al Qaeda or drug runners. So kill them." "You wonder how a lot of them have sneaked out of Afghanistan? This is how." How stupid is that?! The English couldn't do it. The Russians couldn't do it. We have brought the warriors of the Kyber Pass to their knees in 6 weeks and we let them slither out of their holes at night.