2002 continues...

...the al-Qaeda has followers in at least 60 countries; the prisoners themselves originate from 14 different countries...an abandoned cache of weapons was found in eastern Afghanistan...sources say that an al-Qaeda training camp in Indonesia, with plans to blow up American targets in Singapore...some prisoners have battle injuries, but also diabetes, malaria & TB...some have never seen a doctor in their life...Taliban & al-Qaeda soldiers will be imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba at a place called Camp X-ray!...the ratio of guards to prisoners will be 2 to 1...20 prisoners were shipped to Cuba on 1/11/02...they are chained & sedated, and are said to be suicidal & dangerous...when leaving Afghanistan, the plane was shot at by snipers who had penetrated the Kandahar airport security...having arrived in Cuba, the unlawful combatants (new term) will be placed in 6' x 8' cells made of chainlink, with a cement floor and a wooden roof, and will be fed 3 meals per day based on their culture...they also received 2 towels, soap & a prayer mat...later reports say that one of the towels is to be used as a prayer mat...the detainees have sandlas & a jumpsuit; they will be outside for at least three months...one has had surgery to repair a broken arm...the area has been sprayed to kill mosquitos...1/13/02: the prisoners are getting thorough medical exams; some of them are testing positive for TB...they are later fingerprinted, photographed & interrogated; some have broken down and revealed plans of sending additional Taliban or al-Qaeda soldiers to the US to kill more Americans...

...the prison, which is on the eastern tip of Cuba, will be capable of holding 2000 prisoners when completed...the area, known as GETMO, is separated from the rest of Cuba by barbed wire...this land was taken by the US in 1898, then a treaty was made to pay Cuba $2000/year to use this location as a base in the Carribean...the base survived the tense years following the Bay of Pigs incident and the Cuban Missle Crisis...1/14/02: 30 additional prisoners shipped to Camp X-ray, no problems this time at the Kandahar airport...1/15/02: 7 intruders found at the Kandahar airport...as of , 1/15/02, there are 380 detainees at that location...1/16/02: another group of 30 prisoners shipped to Camp X-ray, bringing the total to 80...both the Taliban & al-Qaeda prisoners say they will each kill an American before leaving there...on the other hand, a man surrendered himself at the Kandahar airport, claiming to be a Taliban financier of a major opium trade network...1/17/02: another 30 detainees arrive, total climbs to 110...one of them was a Chief of Staff of the Taliban army...all this is part of America's New War...

...Camp X-ray will be visited by the Int'l Red Cross to determine if inhuman conditions exist...the US states that it is guided by the rules of the Geneva Convention, since the United States says that these people are not prisoners (of war), but detainees...that the detainees are receiving adequate treatment...Amnesty Int'l says that the outdoor conditions resembles cages...1/20/02: one of the detainees bit the arm of a guard, but did not cause serious injuries...

...1/17/02: the US government released photos and video excerpts of five suspected al-Qaida members delivering what Attorney General John Ashcroft described as martyrdom messages from suicide terrorists., and called upon people worldwide to help identify, locate and incapacitate terrorists who are suspected of planning additional attacks against innocent civilians. These five videotapes had been recovered from the rubble of the home of Mohammad Atef, believed to have been Osama bin Laden's military chief. Officials say Atef was killed by a U.S. airstrike in November...the videotapes depict young men delivering what appear to be martyrdom messages from suicide terrorists. An analysis of the audio suggests the men may be trained and prepared to commit future suicide terrorist acts.

The government had tentatively identified four of the five men depicted in the video as: Abd Al-Rahim, Muhammad Sa'id Ali Hasan, Khalid Ibn Muhammad Al-Juhani and Ramzi Binalshibh. Ashcroft said not much is known about any of them except Binalshibh, a Yemeni who officials allege was an associate of the September 11 suicide hijacker Mohammed Atta. He was named along with Atta and the 18 other hijackers as an unindicted co-conspirator.

Ashcroft said the public release of the video footage and photos was part of an effort to help freedom-loving people become the best line of self defense. Whether or not the attack would be imminent is something we can't determine. The right time to release is in advance of any attack, if there is to be an attack.

FBI Director Robert Mueller said the videos came from a trove of valuable information discovered within Afghanistan. He said the tapes are still being analyzed to determine when they were made. There was no evidence any of the men had entered the United States, although at least one had tried.

Every piece of information is potentially valuable; the principle is simple: An informed and enlightened public works. We have a long way to go. We're further down the road then we were before, but this is no time for us to take our foot off the accelerator. Ashcroft also said the release of specific photos allows the American people to be a constructive part of the investigation.

The al-Qaida video was found by U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan. The videos retrieved by U.S. special forces provide first-time images of suspected terrorists. The video is among items found in Afghanistan and elsewhere that US investigators are combing through for clues about al-Qaida, Osama bin Laden and potential new terrorist attacks. In Australia, a tape from Afghanistan showing al-Qaida militants practicing a mass assassination of world leaders at a golf tournament and plans for an attack on a motorcade in Washington was analyzed by U.S. defense officials.

...1/17/02: Colin Powell says as a show of solidarity, the US will free $240 million of frozen funds to Afghanistan...America will offer support to the rebuilding of that nation...Afghanistan will never again be a stepping stone for terrorism...the last day Marines will patrol the Kandahar airport, the duty has been turned over to the US Army...3 marines injured while burning trash (lethal garbage?)...Saudi Arabia would like the US military forces to withdraw from their country, since they are seen as a liability to this Middle East country...the US is building camps in the Phillipines to train people against combat terrorism...that country has been battling Muslim seperatist groups...

...1/18/02: Pakistan's president said he believes Osama bin Laden is dead, the victim of kidney failure during the U.S. bombing campaign against Afghanistan, CNN said Friday. I think now, frankly, he is dead for the reason that he is a patient, a kidney patient, President Pervez Musharraf said in an interview with CNN broadcast Friday.We know that he donated two dialysis machines into Afghanistan. One was specifically for his own personal use.
Tommy Franks, commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, said he was aware of the Musharraf statement, adding, I haven't seen anything in intelligence that would confirm or deny that.We really don't know where he is, whether he's in Afghanistan or whether he may have left. But we know this, the world is not a large enough place for him to hide. He might today, he might hide tomorrow, but it's not large enough for him to hide in.

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said Friday that U.S. officials do not know whether bin Laden has died, but added, I don't think the president would view that as an unwelcome event.

However, U.S. intelligence has some evidence that bin Laden survived the destruction of many of al-Qaida's camps and caves. The United States hopes prisoner interrogations and other intelligence sources will warm up the trail to bin Laden.

Bin Laden has long been rumored to be suffering from several illnesses, including kidney and heart trouble. None of the ailments has been confirmed.

The 44-year-old terror suspect last appeared in a videotape broadcast Dec. 26, during which he praised the perpetrators of the Sept. 11 terror attacks in the United States. Bin Laden looked pale and gaunt on the tape.

I don't know if he has been getting all that treatment in Afghanistan now, Musharraf said of bin Laden. And the photographs that have been shown of him on television show him extremely weak.

Musharraf did not indicate whether he had intelligence reports to back up his suspicions. And if bin Laden is alive, Musharraf said he believes he is in Afghanistan.

Last month, Musharraf told Chinese television there was a great possibility that bin Laden was dead. He suggested that bin Laden could have been killed in the U.S. bombing of the Tora Bora region of in eastern Afghanistan.

A search of the area by U.S. special forces turned up no trace of bin Laden.

President Bush launched airstrikes against Afghanistan on 10/07/01 after the Taliban refused to surrender bin Laden. Despite the collapse of the Taliban last month, the U.S.-led coalition has been unable to find bin Laden.

...1/20/02: 2 Marines were killed in a helicopter crash in northern AFG, 40 miles south of Bagram...there were 7 passengers on board...1/21/02: dramatic pictures of gagged and manacled al Qaeda and Taliban prisoners at a U.S. prison camp in Cuba have stirred controversy in Europe and the Middle East. Media commentators and human rights advocates say the images have shifted the focus of moral condemnation from the carnage of the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States to the makeshift Guantanamo Bay penal colony. (The images) should raise questions with all people who are attached to human rights. We're supposed to be better than terrorists, said the president of the Strasbourg-based Council of Europe's parliamentary assembly, Lord David Russell-Johnston.