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To: S100 who wrote (114784)	3/1/2002 1:44:56 AM
From: Jon Koplik	Respond to of 152472

Off topic : AP News -- Lab Studies Afghan Tissue Specimens February 28, 2002 Lab Studies Afghan Tissue Specimens By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Filed at 7:57 p.m. ET WASHINGTON (AP) -- A Pentagon agency is analyzing tissue specimens recovered from a site in Afghanistan where the CIA believes it killed three members of the al-Qaida terrorist network, an agency spokesman said Thursday. Christopher Kelly, spokesman for the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, said the institute received a small amount of ``biological material'' on Feb. 15, 11 days after the CIA attack, and it hopes to complete a genetic profile within two weeks. The material was collected by U.S. authorities in the Zawar Khili area in eastern Afghanistan at a remote site where a CIA-operated Predator drone launched a Hellfire missile at what U.S. officials believe were al-Qaida leaders. U.S. officials believe three people were killed, but they do not know the identities. Afghans in the Zawar Khili area later told reporters that the three men were innocents who had been searching for scrap metal. Kelly said the pathology institute's DNA laboratory was working with a small amount of ``tissue specimens'' recovered from the site, but he would not say whether that included bones as well as flesh. The goal is to create a genetic profile from the material, to include a determination of how many people are represented by the material and their gender. He said it was unlikely the analysis could determine their race or age. Kelly said the institute has not been told that it will be working with any ``reference specimens,'' tissue from which DNA can be extracted in order to compare it with the DNA from the Afghan samples. That would be the only way to positively identify those killed in the Feb. 4 attack, he said. The ``reference specimens'' could be blood, hair, saliva or other biological material. The FBI, whose forensics laboratory could do the work on any such specimens, has not been asked to do so, officials said. U.S. officials said Wednesday the government is seeking DNA samples from relatives of Osama bin Laden, leader of the al-Qaida terrorist network that the United States blames for the Sept. 11 attacks. The samples would be used to compare with DNA from remains recovered in Afghanistan. U.S. officials say they don't know whether bin Laden is dead or alive. They doubt he was among the three killed in the Feb. 4 CIA attack, although the government is eager to learn the identifies of those three. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld addressed the subject in an interview Wednesday with television station KSTP in St. Paul, Minn. He said he did not know whether the effort to obtain DNA samples from bin Laden family members was directly related to the effort to identify those killed in the Feb. 4 strike. ``A number of people in the government have felt for some time that it would be appropriate to try to get DNA material,'' he said. ``We have of course dealt with a great many caves and tunnels and there undoubtedly were al-Qaida and Taliban people in those caves and tunnels, and to the extent that eventually we are able to match DNA it would be helpful to know positively'' who was killed. Rumsfeld has said repeatedly in recent days that he does not know bin Laden's fate. Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., told a Wichita, Kan., broadcaster Thursday there has been some talk in intelligence circles that bin Laden was wounded. ``There's no conclusive proof one way or another,'' Roberts said after a classified meeting of the Senate Intelligence Committee. ``There's some indication he was wounded, but that's still very speculative. Obviously, we're trying hard to tie that down.'' An official familiar with the committee's discussion said the speculation stems from viewing videotapes of bin Laden. In a tape released publicly in late December, bin Laden appeared gaunt and did not use his left arm. He kept his hand hidden from view. Copyright 2002 The Associated Press