Possibly because Afghanistian are suffering from drought. It is quite possible that animals died due to lack of water??

A dog that wagged the tail. Could it be possible that our own amerika government with their various chem/bio companies ready to release the stuff in our own country just to make things worse?

Hey, Lehder, I'll second the motion. It is the best idea I have read in a long while. Step down Mr. Bush.

http://www.janes.com/security/international_security/news/fr/fr010919_1_n.shtml

The onset of the bitter Afghan winter by early next month will blunt any significant military offensive by the country's US-supported Northern Alliance against the Taliban regime in Kabul. Weather conditions may also limit US military operations designed to apprehend Osama bin Laden or strike at key Taliban positions. ....The Taliban army, meanwhile, is conditioned to fighting in extreme cold, having done so for years. Its battle-hardened cadres are familiar with the bleak countryside, off which they have lived with relative ease. http://www.janes.com/security/international_security/news/misc/janes010926_1_n.shtml

While Afghanistan's Taliban regime is known to possess a handful of 'Scud' launchers, the greater concern of US and allied military planners is tracking the movement of terrorist groups in the rugged terrain of the region. For this, they are likely to call on another technology in its infancy, the unmanned air vehicle (UAV), as well as more traditional manned reconnaissance platforms. http://www.janes.com/defence/air_forces/news/jdw/jdw010921_2_n.shtml

President George Bush described the forthcoming effort as a "task that does not end", and "a lengthy campaign, unlike any other we have seen".

"Our war on terror begins with al-Qaida [the terrorist group headed by Osama Bin Laden], but it does not end there. It will not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped, and defeated." http://www.janes.com/defence/news/jdw/jdw010921_1_n.shtml

General Musharraf came to power with the support of Pakistan’s military. He is extremely vulnerable if the army, or at least a significant element of it, turns against him. If he were to be ousted during an anti-Western, pro-Taliban uprising organised by an alliance between Kashmiri militants and nationalist military officers, then the prospect of a full-scale regional conflagration might become very real. http://www.janes.com/security/international_security/news/jid/jid010920_1_n.shtml

The pain in America is so deep that any similar failure would not only destroy the Bush presidency but could also humiliate the American military machine. Contrary to popular expectations, which predicted a similar knee-jerk reaction, the administration is carefully evaluating its strategies and is adopting small, measured and incremental moves.

The calculation at each stage is that the operation must be regarded as a success not only by ordinary Americans but by the world at large. Bush’s fight is for credibility at home and abroad, in almost equal measures.

http://www.janes.com/security/international_security/news/fr/fr010918_1_n.shtml

==================== I wish to say that I do NOT believe that the G knowingly allowed the attacks to occur. Patterns sometimes appear, like the "canals" on Mars, that aren't there. I do think that elements of the government are shamelessly exploiting the attacks to further america's repression. I do think the G was and remains criminally incompetent, obsessed with its holy jihad against drug users, and that its general obsession with imposing a stupid and racist "morality" on its own diverse citizens and all the cultures of the world has brought the u.s. to the present dangerous inflection point. I absolutely do not trust in the competence of the people who brought us here to handle our situation. Though it does no good, I'd like to tell our leaders, in the words of Ron Godbey in speaking to a New Mexico legalization proponent, "STEP DOWN." Let others take over. Hold new elections, after holding DEBATES.

I also think that the Bush presidency is doomed. He has committed us to "years" (see above) of warfare. There is no possibility that the people in charge of our country, who cannot do anything right, can possibly manage such complex and dangerous military, political and domestic turmoil for "years". Besides all the international problems, the economic and political problems here have only begun to show themselves: commerce cannot proceed in any enterprises with planes, trucks and borders all closed or badly impeded. Domestic terrorist groups - racist groups - will be inspired to make attacks too.

To the G: 1. concentrate on finding the terrorists who have infiltrated us here. DO NOT pass additional repressive legislation. The tools you have are enough. Forget about saving and punishing the world - it's beyond you. 2. end the war on drugs. immediately. 3. free the media to report the truth and allow all views to be aired on TV. 4. get the hell out of education. get out altogether. 5. respect states' rights. There are fifty of them, not one. 6. get your armies the hell out of pakistan, saudi arabia etc. 7. admit your incompetence, announce your resignations effective Jan 20. Allow televised debates and hold new elections. Be all that you can be: cowboys. Go back to Texas, have fun, do a little bushhogging. Step Down.

Source: Washington Times
Author: Bill Gertz
Published: September 26, 2001
Copyright: 2001 News World Communications
Website: http://www.washingtontimes.com/

U.S. intelligence agencies have uncovered new information that Osama bin Laden and his terrorist group, al Qaeda, are acquiring from the Russian mafia components for weapons of mass destruction.

Bin Laden, the key suspect in the Sept. 11 terror attacks, also is believed by U.S. intelligence to have a secret nuclear weapons laboratory inside Afghanistan, say officials speaking on the condition of anonymity.

There is no hard evidence that bin Laden or his followers have actually produced chemical, biological or nuclear weapons. A CIA spokesman declined to comment.

But a U.S. official said contacts between bin Laden and the Russian mafia, and efforts to obtain materials used to make weapons of mass destruction, could not be ruled out because of Afghanistan's porous borders. This official suggested that the reports about the contacts could not confirmed independently by U.S. intelligence agencies. Bin Laden has worked with Russian mafia groups in obtaining chemical and biological weapons materials and nuclear components, according to officials familiar with intelligence reports on the contacts.

"There are signs they have been supplying [bin Laden] with chemical and biological materials and nuclear components," said a second official familiar with the reports.

Transporting and then using weapons of mass destruction is difficult, though al Qaeda's use of suicide attackers makes the use of deadly chemical, biological or nuclear weapons somewhat easier, those familiar with terrorist tactics and capabilities say.

U.S. intelligence agencies have information that bin Laden is operating a secret nuclear weapons laboratory somewhere in Afghanistan. The laboratory is believed to be where bin Laden associates are working on developing nuclear or radiological weapons. Radiological weapons are bombs that kill by spreading radioactive material. This is believed to be one of the sites sought for U.S. military strikes, expected in the next several weeks.

A recent foreign intelligence service report stated that al Qaeda has obtained some type of nuclear device, but U.S. intelligence officials said they could not confirm that report. The new intelligence report on bin Laden's contacts with the Russian mafia provide new details on al Qaeda's efforts to obtain weapons of mass destruction.

An FBI court document made public in 1998 in New York stated that al Qaeda has tried to purchase enriched uranium since 1993 "for the purpose of developing nuclear weapons." The State Department's latest report on international terrorism says that al Qaeda "continued" to seek chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear capabilities.

Intelligence officials say classified analysis of the types of chemicals and toxins sought by al Qaeda indicate the group probably is trying to produce the nerve agent Sarin, or biological weapons made up of anthrax spores. Sarin can be produced from the components used to make fertilizer and kills by disrupting the central nervous system. Anthrax is a highly lethal biological weapon that causes death after spores are ingested.

At its height during the Cold War, the Soviet biological weapons program employed some 65,000 persons, and U.S. officials have feared for years that some of the out-of-work biological weapons scientists would sell their expertise to terrorists like bin Laden.

The FBI has obtained specific threats since the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon that terrorists plan to retaliate for any U.S. strikes on Afghanistan or terrorists around the world by using chemical or biological weapons, the officials said.

Russian crime groups also have provided bin Laden's Islamic extremists with small arms, the U.S. intelligence officials say. They also are believed to help bin Laden launder the proceeds from drug trafficking.

Larry Johnson, a former State Department counterterrorism official, says contacts between the Russian mafia and bin Laden could be related to drug trafficking and that cooperation between the two is not surprising.

"There has been evidence in the past of links between the Taliban militia and the Russian mob on opium," Mr. Johnson says, noting that the Taliban has been a major patron of bin Laden.