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| Bin Laden's Fighters Train Hard On Opium |
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Posted by FoM on September 26, 2001 at 00:14:19 PT By Mohammed Ahmedullah Source: Defense Week 
Osama bin Laden's troops have a training regimen as tough if not tougher than that of the U.S. Green Berets, the British Special Air Services and the Russian Spetznatz and they do it all on dope. So says an expert who has tracked bin Laden's al Qaeda terrorist group for a decade. "Mild doses of opium are given to al Qaeda trainees to condition them to pain and suffering," said Najum Mushtaq, an Islamabad-based independent defense analyst with expertise in South Asian terrorism. "They are trained to survive without regular food for days. The training mostly involves use of small arms, setting up improvised explosive devices and wiring up cars for suicide-bombing missions." The trainees go through three to six months of theory and practice in situations of extreme hardship. This includes leaping from heights and firing in mid-jump; staying awake for several nights; target practice in dim light; running up gravel-laden paths on bare feet; and more. The only time they get to relax is in the evenings, when they recite the Koran and listen to sermons on waging jihad, or holy war, against the Americans and Israelis, Mushtaq told Defense Week. New Video Meanwhile, the Indian government has released videos seized from al Qaeda trained militants in Kashmir. The videos, shown on some Indian TV channels last week, seem to corroborate what Mushtaq has had to say on the al Qaeda training procedures. One of the video's chilling images a target-practice session with young recruits in which former president Bill Clinton is the "target." In addition, the video shows masked militants in army fatigues swinging from a rope and firing from an assault rifle at a round target on the ground. The film demonstrates unarmed combat training, fighting with knives and how to prepare timed explosives. Graduates Mushtaq said al Qaeda "graduates" are the elite among the various factions fighting in Kashmir. Some of them have been sent to Bosnia, Israel and Chechnya to help the local Muslim fighters there. They often function as the "master sergeants," training local militant groups in the art of causing maximum destruction. The al Qaeda is an all-volunteer force with recruits picked up from adrasas (religious schools) at a young age. Most of them are orphans from Afghanistan and have no families to worry about. But in recent years, well-off recruits from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and even Britain have been noticed in al Qaeda camps, said Mushtaq. Mushtaq estimates that no more than 5,000 al Qaeda fighters may be with bin Laden in Afghanistan. Their job was to fan out to areas where Islam was threatened and help the local Muslims. "There are no fixed numbers of how many graduate in each batch, but the number should be in hundreds, not thousands," said Mushtaq. Taliban Strength Contrary to the common western perception that the regular Taliban militia was a foe with substantial fighting skills, the reverse was true, he said. "They are your neighborhood bullies with Kalashnikov-AK-47 rifles," he said. "They have not been trained in a formal way and their only qualification is unquestioned loyalty to Mullah Omar, the supreme leader of the Taliban." The regular Taliban militia is not a uniformed force and has no recognized cadre structure. They also double up as police and have been responsible for much of the barbarity associated with the Taliban chopping off hands of suspected thieves, shooting at the legs of women for exposing their ankles and arresting Muslim men for not growing beards. Indian intelligence is believed to have given the U.S. information it has gathered over the last 10 years about al Qaeda activities and that of other militant outfits operating in Kashmir. India Cooperates Meanwhile, India may assist the United States in a possible assault on Osama bin Laden's hideouts. Last Tuesday, U.S. Ambassador to India Robert Blackwell met Chairman of the Indian Chief of Staff Committee Adm. Sushil Kumar, sparking speculation that the meeting was related to the use of Indian facilities by American forces. A spokesperson for the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi confirmed the meeting but declined to say whether it had anything to do with using India as a base for U.S. ground operations against bin Laden. A spokesperson for the Indian external affairs ministry said "it is known that the Indian government has offered to help in any way possible to combat terrorism." A source in India's defense ministry said India may allow U.S. forces to land troops and fighter aircraft at airfields in Kashmir and Punjab provinces before taking off for Afghanistan, which is about an hour's flying time away. News article courtesy of Mapinc. Source: Defense Week (US) Related Articles & Web Site: Holy Warriors Escalate an Old War Afghanistan Remains a Major Drug Trader Taliban To Lift Ban on Farmers Growing Opium Bush Administration Cut Faustian Deal with Taliban U.S. Drug War Pays Afghans Who Aid Terrorists Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help |
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Comment #5 posted by kaptinemo on September 27, 2001 at 04:07:13 PT:
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| This is as old as dirt. Or Marco Polo, whichever you prefer. It was Polo who brought back the tales of the Assassins, the Haschischins that were twisted into the basis for the anti-cannabis laws today. And now the corporately controlled news media, at the US Government's tacit urging, is dredging up the old drugs/fanatics/murderers spiel to whip up further anti-drug hysteria and sloppily bond it to their 'counter-terrorism' efforts. Which will allow the DrugWarriors to get richer rations of the Fed budget. So transparent. But then, the sheeple generally have poor eyesight; they must have, to not see what 's coming. [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #4 posted by mayan on September 26, 2001 at 17:29:04 PT |
| Interesting link Dave. I've suspected all along that Bin Laden might well be a scapegoat. The U.S. Government needs a concrete, identifiable enemy to garner pulic support. Unfortunately, the spoon-fed populace is actually believing the corporate-media propaganda. Support Bill Maher http://www.MillionFlagMarch.com/bill/ [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #3 posted by Cannabis Dave on September 26, 2001 at 16:41:06 PT |
| Actually, using opium is part of the culture over there. They use it like we use asprin and other OTC pain relievers. They don't have those pain meds, so they use opium. The people who train for our armed forces (esp. special forces) take large quantities of asprin etc. for the same reasons. It would be more insidious if he got them addicted to make them do anything he wanted, but that is doubtful. These are religious fanatics willing to die, so they probably use opium for the pain from training hard. By the way, our government may be lying to us about who was responsible for the WTC disaster on 09/11/01. Read this! http://www.janes.com/security/international_security/news/fr/fr010919_1_n.shtml [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #2 posted by Harvey Pendrake on September 26, 2001 at 07:42:16 PT |
| Our intelligence is good enough to know what drugs the enemy is taking (in Afganistan)...but we missed the part about them infiltrating the United States and planning a massive terrorist attack for years? Nice work. Something smells like propaganda. [ Post Comment ] |
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Comment #1 posted by xxdr_zombiexx on September 26, 2001 at 04:13:13 PT:
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| 1: It sounds like he benefitted greatly from US training. He has his own "advisors" going into countries just like the US does. The "cadre" system is something described in a manual of terrorist activities I have here supposedly typed up for the Central American theater in the early-mid 1980's. That was about the time we were also help the Mujahedin, right? 2: Opium won't stop bullets. 3: much like the US government, Bin Laden is misrepresnting his goals and tricking a generation of young men into dying for nothing. He lies, amnipulates isolated young men who have little else but their religion and the promises of a charismatic leader. [ Post Comment ] |
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