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Pressure
on Top 'Evildoers' Increasing
Excerpts
describing the plans to steadily increase the US prescence in
Afghanistan:
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Gen
Tommy Franks, the commanding officer of coalition forces in
the Afghanistan campaign, said yesterday that he was prepared
to step up pressure on Osama bin Laden and Mullah Mohammad Omar
by deploying more forces.
Gen
Franks said US Marines could open up more forward operating
bases in Afghanistan like the one they have at a desert airstrip
60 miles from Kandahar, which is codenamed FOB Rhino.
He
said he expected Northern Alliance forces to make more incursions
into the south, especially those from the west of the country
who have contacts with southern Pathan commanders.
Gen
Franks said the gradual increase of American and other forces
in Afghanistan would depend on progress in the war. He told
the New York Times: "It could well be that marines could
be positioned in any place inside the country, or army forces
could be positioned at another forward operating base at some
point.
"We're
going to continue to apply pressure. We're going to continue
to refine our intelligence, and what we know. As we do that,
the noose tightens."
American
troops need to be on hand to mount quick efforts to capture
or kill Taliban and al-Qa'eda leaders if intelligence is gained
on their whereabouts.
...
America is planning how best to attack the Tora Bora mountain
cave complex where Osama bin Laden and al-Qa'eda leaders are
believed to be hiding, it emerged yesterday.
...
Tora Bora, which can be seen from Jalalabad, rises from the
desert, through hills and forests, into snow-capped peaks that
lead to Pakistan. A
valley narrows into a labyrinth of caves, deep trenches and
wooded cliffs, making it all but impregnable.
The
Pentagon has said that Tora Bora is one of two places where
it is hunting for bin Laden. But the American and British intelligence
agencies are convinced that Tora Bora is his hideout, rather
than in the area of Kandahar in the south.
Their
belief is based on a welter of evidence, some collected by the
SAS and American Delta Force soldiers and some in the form of
signals and imagery intelligence from satellites and aircraft.
...
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Source:
Final
Fight for Kandahar Begins
Afghanistan Military Status as of 11/29/01
Excerpts
from an article describing some of the latest military activity
in Kandahar and elsewhere in Afghanistan:
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The
decisive battle for Kandahar was under way last night. Northern
Alliance commanders reported heavy fighting on the eastern edge
of the city as Mullah Muhammad Omar, the Taleban Supreme Leader,
said that the final fight had begun.
“It
is the best opportunity to achieve martyrdom,” a Taleban
official quoted Mullah Omar as saying. “Now we have the
opportunity to fight against the infidels.”
...
Around-the-clock US bombing of Taleban forces in and near Kandahar
has intensified over the past few days. US Marines have continued
to arrive at a desert airstrip within striking distance of the
city, taking the number at Forward Operating Base Rhino to more
than 1,000.
Scores
of troops from the 10th Mountain Division based in Uzbekistan
also moved yesterday to help to secure airstrips at Bagram,
north of Kabul, and at Mazar-i Sharif. ...
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Source:
- The Times
[link inactive]
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Tribute
to George Harrison
George
Harrison passed from this plain of existence at 1:30 PM, in
Los Angeles, after a long battle with cancer. The following
web site details his life and contributions to the lives of
all blessed by his presence among us:
George
Harrison
Bush
Anti-Cloning Klutziness
Excerpts
from articles describing some of the problems
with the Bush stances opposing therapeutic cloning and restricting
stem cell research:
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The
cloning of a human embryo has created an entire new source of
those miraculous stem cells that hold promise for treating a
wide variety of currently untreatable diseases — and what
is perhaps a more ethical source.
The
feat also points to the inadequacies of the Bush administration’s
policy on funding cloning and stem cell research — a policy
that holds the American public its ultimate victim.
...
The prospect of using embryos as a source of stem cells set
off an enormous debate earlier this year that was only quieted
when the president said that the federal government would continue
to finance stem cell research — but only if stem cells
produced before Aug. 9, 2001 were used in the work.
The
problem with the president’s policy is that it is hopelessly
arbitrary and inadequate. Why is it ethical to use stem cells
made from human embryos before Aug. 9, but not after?
...
As the Advanced Cell Technology announcement makes clear, the
race is on to find new sources of stem cells. Indeed, finding
ways to create stem cells that would be completely accepted
by the recipient’s body — through cloning or tricking
an egg to develop on its own — is where the action is in
stem cell research. Unfortunately, this is not where the federal
government’s science is at or where the government’s
money is.
The
federal government has already fallen behind the private sector
with respect to stem cell research. Private companies not only
are pioneering new strategies for creating cells and tissues,
but also are racing one another to nail down patents and ownership
of these technologies.
Without
a strong federal presence in stem cell research, the American
people will have to wait longer for their cures — and pay
more when they finally do arrive.
If cloned human embryos or those made by tricking an egg into
developing cannot become people, then what is the ethical objection
to creating them and using them for stem cell research?
...
The Incoherent Embryophile, by Michael Kinsley, ... the Bush
administration policy on stem cell research and on human cloning
is that embryos consisting of half a dozen cells are humans
who deserve the protection of the government from those who
would casually produce and discard these innocents for their
own selfish ends, such as curing dreadful diseases.
...
Stem cell research does not cause the creation or destruction
of a single additional embryo. It uses embryos that are routinely
discarded as part of IVF (in vitro fertilization).
Once a stem cell line is created, it can be reproduced in the
laboratory and requires no embryos at all. So Bush's ban on
federally funded stem cell research involving embryos destroyed
after Aug. 9 will not directly save any embryo's life.
His
rationale is that allowing such research implies federal government
approval of the creation and destruction of embryos, and thus
may encourage it indirectly. Meanwhile, the government encourages
and even subsidizes IVF directly, Bush praises it, and has done
nothing to stop it.
...
George W. Bush's ostensible embryophilia is morally incoherent.
Despite all the furrowed-brow posturing, which impressed the
media, and despite his claims of deep moral struggle, he hasn't
thought very hard. Either that or he isn't a person whose hard
thinking takes him very far.
Or
he is a cynic who doesn't really care about either embryos or
people awaiting the fruits of stem cell research. ...
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Sources:
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