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August 2002
August 1, 2002
Israeli troops led by 150 armored vehicles moved into Nablus and
entered the narrow alleyways of its Old City early Friday, apparently
retaliating for a bombing in Jerusalem that killed five Americans and
two Israelis
FBI and Postal Service agents wearing protective gloves conducted a
second search Thursday at the apartment of a former Army researcher
considered a "person of interest" in the investigation of
last year's deadly anthrax mailings.
A day after a bombing that killed seven people, including five
Americans, U.S. students opened a new summer session at Hebrew
University in mourning Thursday, saying they wouldn't be driven away
by the attack.
President Bush and a key Arab ally, Jordan's King Abdullah, found
themselves in disagreement Thursday over a possible U.S. attack to
topple Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and over the pace of American
peacemaking in the Middle East
A post-Saddam Iraq could fall into chaos if the United States and
other nations aren't prepared to take an active, expensive role in
rebuilding it. If the U.S. is going to take responsibility for
removing the current leadership, it should assume that it cannot get
the results it wants cheap,
Back to Top
August 2, 2002
The government must reveal the names of those held in the
investigation of the Sept. 11 attacks, a federal judge ruled Friday,
rejecting claims terrorists could use the information to plot new
crimes.
The Israeli army blew up two buildings with explosives labs and
arrested at least 50 Palestinians in house to house searches Friday as
troops took control of Nablus, a city Israel called "the main
factory of suicide bombings."
Secretary-General Kofi Annan welcomed Iraq's invitation for weapons
inspectors to visit Baghdad but cautioned Friday that Iraq's agenda
was at odds with Security Council resolutions on the resumption of the
inspections.
The Bush administration on Friday seized on a diplomatic opening from
Iraq by renewing a U.S. demand for unfettered international inspection
of suspected weapons sites. What the Iraqi leader must do is
unequivocally agree to inspections, "anytime, anywhere," not
propose negotiations
Back to Top
August 3, 2002
Israeli soldiers pried open boarded-up shops and searched houses in
Nablus on Saturday, pressing their latest siege to root out militant
cells Israel says are responsible for recent attacks.
Taiwan's president said Saturday the island "is not someone
else's province" but rather an independent country separate from
China — bold comments that risk enraging Taiwan's giant communist
rival.
Germany backs U.S. efforts to combat terrorism, but its
"checkbook" may not be open to support an American attack
against Iraq, Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said Saturday.
Hundreds of people marched on a provincial center Saturday to protest
what they said was a U.S. helicopter attack that killed one Afghan and
the U.S. military's detention of five others from the same village,
local officials reported.
Secretary of State Colin Powell finished off his eight-nation Asia
tour Saturday and said he has seen progress in cooperation among
Southeast Asian nations in fighting terrorism. Washington fears
Muslim extremism could fester in the region and provide al-Qaida with
an alternative base after being driven out of Afghanistan
A tribal elder who hid for weeks to avoid arrest after al-Qaida
fighters using his house killed 10 Pakistani soldiers in a shoot-out
has surrendered to local authorities. The soldiers were killed
and several others wounded in the ensuing gunbattle. Two suspected
al-Qaida fighters were also killed. Pakistani authorities
subsequently demolished Sarkakhel's two houses as a warning to
residents not to support al-Qaida holdouts
Back to Top
August 4, 2002
A Palestinian suicide bomber blew up a bus in northern Israel during
the morning rush hour Sunday, killing himself and nine passengers on a
day punctuated by violence from the rolling hills of the Galilee to
Jerusalem's Old City to the Mediterranean beach front.
War against Iraq is likely, said a senator exploring U.S. options, and
other lawmakers joined him Sunday in pressing the Bush administration
to make the case to Congress before any attack.
Two people — including an 8-year-old girl — were killed and
several others were injured Sunday when a car bomb exploded in front
of a military police barracks in southeastern Spain
The leader of a major political party said he will try to overturn
reforms granting minority rights to Kurds and abolishing the death
penalty — measures passed by parliament to boost Turkey's bid to
join the European Union
Senate leaders agreed Sunday that members of Congress should not
submit to lie detector tests as part of an FBI investigation of
intelligence leaks. "I think it's a bad idea. I think that
it's an infringement constitutionally on the legislative branch. And I
don't think there's much support for it," said Senate Majority
Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D.
The United Nations chief arms inspector said he will not go to Iraq
for technical talks until Baghdad approves the return of weapons
inspectors. In comments published Sunday in the London-based
pan-Arab Al-Hayat newspaper, Hans Blix said such a visit would only
raise expectations and potentially create a crisis if talks broke down
between him and Iraqi officials.
A tape of emergency radio transmissions on Sept. 11 shows that
firefighters reached the burning 78th floor of the south tower where
the jetliner sliced through, nearly 30 floors higher than officials
had estimated. Four people who have listened to the tape said at
least two firefighters reached the crash site and were helping the
injured
Back to Top
August 5, 2002
Israel struck back at the Palestinians on Monday following a day of
deadly attacks, firing missiles at a suspected weapons factory in the
Gaza Strip and announcing a ban on Palestinian travel in the northern
West Bank.
The Justice Department has lost track of 775 weapons and 400 laptop
computers, more than half of which may have contained national
security or sensitive law enforcement information, an internal
investigation found.
Masked gunmen firing Kalashnikov rifles burst through the front gates
of a Christian school Monday, killing six people and wounding three in
the latest attack against Western interests since Pakistan joined the
war against terrorism.
Israeli helicopters fired missiles at a suspected weapons factory in
Gaza City late Monday, injuring four people in a strike that followed
attacks on Israelis that killed 13 people in 24 hours
The White House on Monday rejected an Iraqi offer to let members of
Congress tour suspected biological, chemical and nuclear weapons
sites. Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld stressed the
difficulty of locating Iraq's weapons caches since some are
underground and others mobile. "I can't think of anything
funnier than a handful of congressmen walking around. They'd have to
be there for the next 50 years trying to find something. It's a
joke,"
Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Egyptian leaders aired their
differences on Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's leadership Monday,
but both agreed a political solution was the only way to ensure calm.
Back to Top
August 6, 2002
Israeli tanks and armored vehicles, backed by helicopters, pressed
into the Gaza Strip early Wednesday, firing at houses and prompting
hospitals to go on alert for casualties
Secretary-General Kofi Annan sought Iraq's acceptance Tuesday of a
Security Council roadmap for the return of U.N. weapons inspectors,
rejecting Baghdad's latest proposal for overcoming the impasse over
Saddam Hussein's weapons program.
One day after Beijing unleashed angry protests, Taiwan's leader backed
away Tuesday from his assertion that Taiwan and China are separate
countries, opting for a more fuzzy claim that both sides are
"sovereign" with "parity."
Israeli troops killed the suspected mastermind of a Tel Aviv suicide
bombing on Tuesday, while U.S. diplomats said the United States was
considering moving consular offices out of traditionally Arab east
Jerusalem due to security concerns.
World leaders will light an eternal flame, the governor will deliver
the Gettysburg Address, and former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani will lead a
reading of the names of 2,823 victims during a day of "simple and
powerful" observances marking the anniversary of the World Trade
Center attack.
Back to Top
August 7, 2002
Huge explosions rocked the area around Colombia's parliament and
presidential palace Wednesday as hard-liner Alvaro Uribe was sworn in
as president of this troubled country. At least 12 people were killed
and 28 wounded
Saudi Arabia will not give the United States access to bases in the
kingdom for an attack on Saddam Hussein, but the foreign minister said
Wednesday the longtime U.S. ally does not plan to expel American
forces from an air base used for flights to monitor Iraq.
Raising fresh doubts about security in this troubled capital, gunmen
assaulted a hilltop Afghan army post Wednesday, touching off a
running, three-hour gunbattle that killed 16 people on Kabul's
southern outskirts.
The Palestinians accepted Israel's proposal for a withdrawal of troops
from parts of the West Bank and Gaza Strip — even as Israeli
soldiers killed six Palestinians in separate raids Wednesday.
The body of Daniel Pearl, the Wall Street Journal journalist kidnapped
and slain by Islamic militants, left Pakistan early Thursday en route
to the United States, Pakistani aviation officials said.
Two laptop computers are missing from the military command center
coordinating the war in Afghanistan, including one with classified
information Central Command would not release further details,
such as what information was stored on the computers and what office
or person was responsible for them.
Back to Top
August 8, 2002
Ever defiant, Saddam Hussein organized a big military parade Thursday
and then warned "the forces of evil" not to attack Iraq as
he sought once more to shift the debate away from world demands that
he live up to agreements that ended the Gulf War.
The body of Daniel Pearl, the Wall Street Journal journalist kidnapped
and slain by Islamic militants, was returned Thursday to the United
States
Undaunted by a deadly mortar attack during his inauguration the day
before, President Alvaro Uribe vowed Thursday to proceed with plans to
create a force of 1 million Colombians to report on rebel groups the
government has been fighting for years
Six weeks after President Bush demanded a new Palestinian leadership,
his administration welcomed three Cabinet ministers appointed by
Yasser Arafat and reaffirmed support Thursday for establishment of a
Palestinian state.
Jurors in the trial of accused Sept. 11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui
will be drawn back to the day of the attacks through videos of the
burning and collapsing World Trade Center and family pictures of
victims.
The family of a man killed in the World Trade Center attack has
accepted a $1.04 million award from the federal victims compensation
fund, the first to acknowledge accepting such a payout. The
victim was a recent college graduate in his 20s, who was unmarried and
without children, and who earned nearly $60,000 a year in the
financial services industry. The fund, created by Congress after
Sept. 11 and run by Kenneth Feinberg, awarded the man $1.19 million
for his unfulfilled financial potential and for the family's pain and
suffering — minus life insurance and workers compensation payments.
Colombia's new president, undaunted by a mortar attack that killed 17
people in the capital during his inauguration, urged Colombians on
Thursday to put aside fear and work together for peace.
A coalition of Iraqi opposition groups will present a unified stand
when they meet Friday with State and Defense Department officials to
discuss ways of deposing President Saddam Hussein
New information warning of possible terrorist threats against bridges
has been received by United States intelligence agencies, but
officials played down its significance today, saying its credibility
is uncertain.
Back to Top
August 9, 2002
As the administration intensified contacts with Iraqi opposition
leaders, President Bush said Friday he has no timetable for deciding
on a military strike against Iraq and may not decide this year.
Two laptop computers that had been missing from the military command
center coordinating the war in Afghanistan were recovered Friday, and
a suspect was in custody
A thunderous explosion at a construction company rocked Jalalabad
Friday, devastating the surrounding neighborhood and blacking out
power to this eastern Afghan city. Up to 25 people were reported
killed and 90 injured.
The Justice Department argued Friday that a three-judge appeals panel
ignored Supreme Court rulings when it found that reciting the Pledge
of Allegiance in public schools is unconstitutional.
On the eve of the Palestinian security minister's talks with the CIA
director, a Palestinian official said Friday his side was
"exerting every possible effort" to achieve peace.
Palestinian Cabinet Secretary Ahmed Abdel Rahman rejected Israeli
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's charges that the Palestinians were not
ready to make peace.
The Bush administration is appealing a judge's order that the Justice
Department must reveal the names of all those held in the
investigation of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. U.S. District
Judge Gladys Kessler ruled last week that the Justice Department has
not proven the need for a blanket policy of secrecy about more than
1,000 people picked up since the jetliner attacks.
Assailants hurled grenades at worshippers leaving church Friday,
killing three Pakistani women and reinforcing fears that Islamic
militants are targeting Christians and Westerners in Pakistan in
retaliation for the government's support for the U.S.-led war on
terrorism.
The FBI has sent a team of behavioral scientists to create
psychological profiles of suspected al-Qaida imprisoned at the U.S.
Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba
Back to Top
August 10, 2002
President Bush said Saturday he is consulting with Congress and U.S.
allies about Iraq and he branded Saddam Hussein "an enemy until
proven otherwise."
CIA director George J. Tenet held a pivotal meeting Saturday with
Yasser Arafat's interior minister as the Palestinians push for
completion of a U.S. plan to improve security on the West Bank.
Dr. Steven J. Hatfill, a former Army researcher under scrutiny in the
FBI's anthrax probe, plans to make his first public statement
addressing his involvement in the investigation on Sunday. Law
enforcement officials have said that Hatfill, 48, is not a suspect and
that no evidence links him to the anthrax letters last fall. They have
described him as a "person of interest" in their
investigation.
A construction company warehouse that blew up, killing at least 14
people and devastating an Afghan neighborhood, held stocks of
explosives for road building that may have detonated accidentally
A key aide to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat called an Israeli
military withdrawal the best way of ensuring the American vision of a
Palestinian state — one of the topics discussed during meetings in
Washington
Back to Top
August 11, 2002
A bioweapons expert under scrutiny for the anthrax attacks fiercely
denied any involvement with the tainted letters and said Sunday he had
cooperated with the investigation only to see his life and work
destroyed through speculation and innuendo
US Airways, hard hit by slumping travel after the Sept. 11 terrorist
attacks, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Sunday
Members of Congress said Sunday that President Bush has not yet made
his case for an invasion of Iraq, although they would support him if
there is evidence Saddam Hussein may use weapons of mass destruction
Pending a final environmental review, the Energy Department is
expected to move as much as several tons of plutonium and
weapons-grade uranium from a federal research laboratory in New Mexico
to Nevada because of security concerns
Police seized weapons and explosives in two early morning raids Sunday
as provincial authorities and central government officials disagreed
over whether a deadly blast was the work of terrorists or simply an
accident
Sixteen suspected al-Qaida fighters who fled Afghanistan were handed
over by Iran to Saudi Arabia, which is interrogating them
As the first anniversary of the Sept. 11 tragedy approaches, plans for
the World Trade Center site are in disarray, tainted by criticism that
they're boring and small-minded. The negative feedback,
especially from the loved ones of survivors, has the attention of
state and city officials, who say they will pursue more creative
alternatives to plans put together by the prestigious architectural
firm of Beyer Blinder Belle.
Investigators in Pakistan suspect that members of the pro-al-Qaida
Jaish-e-Mohammed group were involved in recent attacks against
Christians. Suicide squads from outlawed extremist groups are
planning more attacks on important Pakistani officials, foreigners and
Christians to destabilize military ruler Gen. Pervez Musharraf's
government because of its ongoing support for the U.S. war against
terrorism
Back to Top
August 12, 2002
A senior Iraqi official said Monday there is no need for U.N. weapons
inspectors to return to Baghdad and branded as a "lie"
allegations that Saddam Hussein still has weapons of mass destruction.
President Bush plans to announce at an economic forum Tuesday that he
will not release $5.1 billion officially earmarked for combatting
terrorism — some of which Congress designated for purposes unrelated
to homeland security
A military court on Monday approved the expulsion of three Palestinian
relatives of suspected terrorists from the West Bank to Gaza, the
Israeli military said
Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill doesn't see the U.S. economy falling
back into a recession, despite stock market turbulence, Americans'
eroding confidence and a fitful recovery.
Investigators probing last fall's anthrax attacks have no physical
evidence linking Dr. Steven J. Hatfill to the crime, but they are not
prepared to clear him
A federal judge gave US Airways approval Monday to continue operations
temporarily while it tries to reorganize its finances under bankruptcy
protection. US Airways, the nation's seventh-largest carrier,
became the first major airline to declare bankruptcy since last year's
terrorist hijackings. The filing came 11 months to the day after the
industry was rocked by the attacks.
Pakistan's main opposition alliance accused President Gen. Pervez
Musharraf on Monday of pre-election "rigging" by ordering
provincial government officials to help parties that favor him.
Back to Top
August 13, 2002
Seeking to stem 18 months of heavy losses, American Airlines said
Tuesday it would cut 7,000 jobs and trim more flights as it tries to
slim down and compete better with low-cost carriers. American,
the world's largest carrier, said the restructuring, plus earlier
cost-cutting steps, would save $1.1 billion a year and help ensure its
long-term survival. The company has lost $2.8 billion since the
beginning of last year, with the heaviest losses coming after Sept.
11.
Iran is allowing al-Qaida terrorists to cross its borders from
neighboring Afghanistan, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said
Tuesday, suggesting that Tehran is at cross-purposes with the Bush
administration's campaign to round up al-Qaida's leaders.
The two Koreas held productive talks on key projects Tuesday, but
North Korea threatened to withdraw from an agreement with the
United States to freeze its suspected nuclear weapons program in
exchange for two reactors.
Israel's Supreme Court temporarily blocked the expulsion of relatives
of Palestinian terror suspects from the West Bank to the Gaza Strip on
Tuesday, as troops demolished the homes of two Palestinian
militiamen. House demolitions and expulsion orders are part of
Israel's intensifying effort to prevent attacks by punishing the
assailants' families. Human rights groups say the measures amount to
collective punishment and violate international law.
President Mohammad Khatami of Iran struck out at President Bush and
other senior American officials at a news conference here today,
saying they had "misused" the Sept. 11 attacks on the United
States "to create an atmosphere of violence and war" across
the world that could sow the seeds for still more destruction.
Back to Top
August 14, 2002
United Airlines warned Wednesday that it will file for bankruptcy,
The announcement steps up the pressure on unions that so far have
balked at pay cuts United says are necessary to stem massive losses.
The warning comes three days after US Airways filed for Chapter 11
bankruptcy and a day after American Airlines announced severe
cutbacks. court protection this fall unless it succeeds in lowering
costs through a dramatic restructuring.
In the theatrical opening to the groundbreaking trial of a Palestinian
leader, Marwan Barghouti raised his manacled hands Wednesday and
denied Israeli charges that he orchestrated more than three dozen
attacks against Israelis.
U.S. intelligence agencies detected signs that Iraq may be moving
material or equipment out of a suspected biological weapons facility
near Baghdad. U.S. officials who spoke on condition of anonymity
said spy satellites spotted trucks at the Taji complex, which includes
the suspected biological weapons facility as well as a missile
production plant.
South and North Korea agreed Wednesday to hold family reunions and
resume contacts on a range of issues, signaling the resumption of
their reconciliation process after months of tension.
Back to Top
August 15, 2002
A federal judge ruled Thursday that the Bush administration does not
have to immediately reveal the names of those detained in the
investigation of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. U.S. District Judge
Gladys Kessler issued a stay of her earlier order to give government
lawyers more time to appeal. Kessler said the stay will remain in
effect until a federal appeals court has ruled in the matter
More than 600 family members of Sept. 11 victims filed a 15-count,
trillion-dollar federal lawsuit Thursday against Saudi officials and
institutions, charging they financed Osama bin Laden's terrorist
network. The suit, modeled after action filed against Libya in the Pan
Am flight 103 disaster, seeks to cripple banks, charities and some
members of the Saudi royal family — as well as vengeance for the
families of those who perished
The last time Peter M. Murphy was in his Pentagon office, he was
scrambling through the smoke to escape a terrorist-hijacked jetliner
that slammed into the building. The reoccupied areas are all on
the fourth floor of the Pentagon's outer ring, above the spot where
hijackers flew American Airlines Flight 77 into the building. The
plane pierced three of the five rings of offices in the Pentagon and
collapsed part of the five-story outer ring, killing 125 people in the
building and all 64 on the plane.
The ruling Revolutionary Command Council on Thursday nominated
President Saddam Hussein for another term. INA said the council,
Iraq's top decision-making body, re-nominated Saddam because "his
leadership of the revolution and the state ... has been a strong
guarantee for protecting Iraq's independence and continuing on the
march to development despite the imperialist and Zionists' plots and
the unjust embargo imposed on our people
Palestinians threatened new reprisals Thursday after a civilian was
shot and killed when Israeli troops forced him to carry a message to
Hamas militant who depended on a wheelchair. Israeli forces then
bulldozed the militant's house, killing him in the rubble.
Back to Top
August 16, 2002
Turning aside government objections, a federal judge Friday postponed
the trial of accused Sept. 11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui until
Jan. 6 after concluding the defense couldn't be ready this fall.
The head of the troubled Immigration and Naturalization Service
announced Friday that he'll retire at the end of the year, culminating
a short term at the helm of an agency that critics said was
ill-prepared for Sept. 11 and slow to react.
President Bush said Friday that although he is listening to the Iraq
debate, his decision on how to oust Saddam Hussein will be based on
fresh intelligence reports and on how to protect America and its
allies.
Israeli soldiers destroyed two houses belonging to suspected West Bank
militants Friday and reportedly arrested a Palestinian sniper they
link to the shooting death last year of an Israeli baby.
Israel is urging U.S. officials not to delay a military strike against
Iraq's Saddam Hussein saying Israeli intelligence officials have
gathered evidence that Iraq is speeding up efforts to produce
biological and chemical weapons. The United States has been
considering a military campaign against Iraq to remove Saddam from
power, listing him as one of the world's main terrorist regimes.
However, there is considerable world opposition to a U.S. strike.
American troops will be needed in Afghanistan for many years to ensure
that the war-ravaged country does not revert to a haven for terrorists.
Noting that the United States has long-term military commitments in
many countries, General Franks singled out Korea, where tens of
thousands of American forces have been stationed for half a century.
Back to Top
August 17, 2002
Iraq and Russia are close to signing a $40 billion economic
cooperation plan, Iraq's ambassador said Saturday, a deal that could
put Moscow at odds with the United States as it considers a military
attack against Baghdad.
The USS John F. Kennedy returned home Saturday to thousands of joyous
family members welcoming home sailors who spent six months fighting
the war on terrorism.
Palestinians in the divided West Bank city of Hebron chafed against
the Israeli curfew reimposed Saturday while a report of an army
contingency plan to expel Yasser Arafat further inflamed
Israeli-Palestinian tensions.
The powerful Afghan defense minister said Saturday he and President
Hamid Karzai are a "team" working toward a united
Afghanistan, and news reports of an explosive rift between them are
"irresponsible."
Two British peacekeeping soldiers died of gunshot wounds late Friday
in Kabul, but the local British command said enemy fire was not
involved. Only the two soldiers were involved in the shooting,
it said, and they were not publicly identified immediately. "No
other person or party is thought to have been involved in this
incident," said Col. Simon Levey, commanding officer of British
forces here.
Pakistan is seeking the release of dozens of its nationals held at the
U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, because of alleged links to
Osama bin Laden's terror network. A team of Pakistan
anti-terrorism experts visited Guantanamo recently to interrogate
Pakistanis and others held there. Most of the 40 to 45 Pakistani
prisoners there were not hardcore al-Qaida members but simply ordinary
people who went to Afghanistan to fight for the Taliban
The Bush administration has reportedly approved a plan designed to
initiate an evacuation of the nation's more than 2 million federal
workers within 15 minutes if there is a broad attack or threat from
nuclear, chemical or biological weapons.
Back to Top
August 18, 2002
Israeli and Palestinian security officials reached agreement Sunday on
a plan for Israeli troops to withdraw from parts of the Gaza Strip and
from the West Bank town of Bethlehem,
A confidential U.N. memorandum found evidence to justify a
"full-fledged criminal investigation" into the deaths in
Afghanistan of hundreds of Taliban prisoners held by the U.S.-backed
northern alliance
If President Bush orders military action against Iraq, he will fully
explain to Americans his decision to try to remove Saddam Hussein from
power
The U.S. Postal Service tested two New Jersey mail processing centers
for anthrax Sunday as federal authorities investigate whether spores
found in a Princeton mailbox had been there since tainted letters
surfaced last fall.
Bahrain, a key U.S. ally in the Persian Gulf region, joined Iran on
Sunday in opposing American military action against Iraq.
"Iran and Bahrain declare their determined opposition to any
unilateral military action against Iraq," said a joint statement
issued at the end of a two-day visit to Tehran by Bahrain's king,
Sheik Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa.
Managers at some major airports believe big travel problems could lie
ahead come the Dec. 31 deadline to begin inspecting every piece of
checked luggage for explosives. They also are raising questions about
whether the bomb-screening equipment is sophisticated enough and in
adequate supply.
Back to Top
August 19, 2002
Israel withdrew its soldiers from Bethlehem early Tuesday, part of the
first Israeli-Palestinian security agreement in a year that tests the
waters for more handovers.
The medical examiner's office on Monday released the first
comprehensive accounting of World Trade Center victims — a list of
2,819 names that reduces the toll by four, the first change in the
overall number in months.
Abu Nidal, a Palestinian schoolteacher-turned-terrorist mastermind,
was reported Monday to have died in Baghdad of multiple gunshot wounds
after directing two decades of killings across half the world.
Managers of 133 airports that handle three-fourths of the nation's air
travelers asked the Senate on Monday to extend the year-end deadline
for screening all luggage for bombs
Thousands of people waved Afghan flags and cheered as soldiers, tanks
and armored vehicles paraded by Monday to mark this former Taliban
stronghold's first Independence Day celebration in two decades.
Back to Top
August 20, 2002
Without firing a shot, masked German police commandos freed two senior
diplomats from armed men who stormed the Iraqi embassy Monday,
bringing a bloodless end to a five-hour hostage drama by a previously
unknown group opposed to Saddam Hussein.
Israeli undercover soldiers shot and killed the brother of a radical
Palestinian leader after he fired at them first, the military said
Tuesday, as violence marred the first day of a security arrangement
designed to lead to a truce after nearly two years of fighting
As much as President Bush wants to see Saddam Hussein toppled, the
United States does not condone hostage-taking in pursuit of that goal.
The Iraqi dissidents who occupied their country's embassy in Germany
for five hours Tuesday to press for Saddam's ouster "undermine
legitimate efforts by Iraqis both inside and outside Iraq to bring
regime change to Iraq
Investigators believe the San Diego-based Sept. 11 hijackers who
helped crash an airliner into the Pentagon initially were sent to
California to pinpoint targets in the Navy's largest West Coast port
U.S. troops seized a large number of weapons along the Pakistani
border and arrested four people in a sweep of a pro-Taliban village in
separate operations in southeastern Afghanistan The weapons were
found in three hide-outs in the village of Shkin in Paktika province,
Col. Roger King told reporters. The largest, recovered Saturday with
the help of Afghan militiamen, included rocket-propelled grenades,
anti-tank and anti-personnel mines, a 12.7 mm machine gun and assorted
munitions.
Surrounded by his key lieutenants and masked, gun-toting bodyguards,
Osama bin Laden declared "holy war" against the West
in a 1998 press conference that was videotaped by al-Qaida and aired
Tuesday by CNN. However, a Pakistani journalist who attended the
press conference, held at an al-Qaida camp near Khost in southeastern
Afghanistan, recalled that the taciturn bin Laden showed passion only
when he spoke on two issues: U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia and Israel's
control of Jerusalem
Iraq confirmed Abu Nidal's death, saying Tuesday that the feared
Palestinian terrorist leader had committed suicide. On Monday,
two senior Palestinian officials said Abu Nidal — a feared terrorist
who targeted Israel, Palestinian Liberation Organization figures and
Arab officials for associating with Israelis — had been found dead
of gunshot wounds three days earlier in his Baghdad house.
The Afghan government will send an investigative team to the site of a
reported mass grave of hundreds of captured Taliban fighters
suffocated in shipping containers in last fall's war, the Foreign
Ministry said Tuesday. The U.N. mission here, meanwhile, said
its investigation of the alleged mass killing was suspended earlier
this year until a program could be devised to protect eyewitnesses
against reprisals.
A man accused of providing fake identification to two of the Sept. 11
hijackers was arrested at New York's Kennedy Airport after returning
from Egypt. Mohamed el-Atriss was taken into custody by U.S.
Customs agents when they noticed a warrant from Passaic County.
El-Atriss flew `to Egypt in late July, hours before Passaic County
authorities came to arrest him in a July 31 raid on his home and
businesses
Back to Top
August 21, 2002
President Bush, confronting skittish allies overseas and naysayers at
home, asserted Wednesday that ousting Iraq's Saddam Hussein "is
in the interests of the world" but indicated the United States is
in no hurry
Despite widespread criticism, President Gen. Pervez Musharraf
unilaterally amended the Pakistani constitution Wednesday, granting
himself sweeping powers — including the right to dissolve parliament
— and extending his term in office
Israeli forces arrested five members of an Islamic militant group,
including a house painter, and accused them of planting a bomb at
Hebrew University that killed five Americans and four Israelis
A top Iraqi Kurdish official said Wednesday that Arab radicals linked
to al-Qaida were experimenting with chemical weapons for terror
attacks in a laboratory in a remote part of Iraqi Kurdish territory.
Back to Top
August 22, 2002
Nine Sept. 11 victims' families have accepted checks from the federal
government's compensation fund. The families that accepted the
cash payout came from a pool of 25 applicants who received notice of
their award in July from the Justice Department, which oversees the
fund. Four are appealing their award and twelve have yet to respond
Zacarias Moussaoui, who has derided his court-appointed lawyers as
"bloodsuckers," is working through an intermediary to get
legal help from the attorneys he despises as he prepares for his Jan.
6 trial as an accused Sept. 11 conspirator
Despite his abrupt move to grab more power, Pakistani President Pervez
Musharraf is "still tight with us in the war against terror
The Palestinian Authority's security chief opened talks with 12 rival
Palestinian factions Thursday seeking to forge a united front and get
militant groups to stop bombing and shooting attacks in Israel.
Several small weapons caches have been found and three people detained
during a hunt for al-Qaida members that began last weekend in
southeastern Afghanistan
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August 23, 2002
A federal judge Friday denied a request by suspected Sept. 11
conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui to see classified material, saying she
won't let someone who prays for destruction of the United States
jeopardize national security.
The Palestinians have rejected a U.S. proposal to have their
parliament choose a prime minister who could balance the power of
Yasser Arafat — and an official said Friday that sharp disagreements
with Washington could jeopardize Palestinian elections planned for
January
A man accused of providing phony IDs to two of the Sept. 11 hijackers
pleaded innocent Friday to making and selling hundreds of fake drivers
licenses, identification cards and other government documents.
President Bush will meet next week with Saudi Arabian Ambassador
Prince Bandar as strains between their two countries complicate the
president's plans to oust Iraq leader Saddam Hussein
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August 24, 2002
A 21-year-old Saudi man sought by the FBI on suspicion of associating
with the Sept. 11 hijackers has surrendered to Saudi authorities
A doctor suspected of hatching an elaborate plot to blow up dozens of
mosques and an Islamic education center had enough expertise and
firepower to carry it out, police said Saturday.
Security forces discovered a suspected al-Qaida chemical laboratory in
a Kabul neighborhood Saturday complete with explosives and suspicious
documents
Israeli troops patrolling the West Bank city of Jenin killed one
Palestinian militant and wounded two others in a shootout Saturday,
hospital officials said, in one of several clashes overshadowing an
agreement turning some Gaza Strip security duties over to
Palestinians.
FBI agents investigating the leak of classified information have asked
members of the Senate Intelligence Committee for telephone records,
schedules and other documents indicating any conversations lawmakers
had with reporters.
German investigators said Saturday they believe that Mohamed Atta and
two other Sept. 11 hijackers trained at al-Qaida camps in Afghanistan
from late 1999 to early 2000, providing their most detailed evidence
yet of a link between the Hamburg terror cell and Osama bin Laden's
network.
Pakistan is urging the United States to release 55 of the 58 Pakistani
militants imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, because the government
believes they have no ties to al-Qaida
The trial of three militants accused in the car-bombing of the U.S.
consulate, which killed 12 Pakistanis and injuring 50 people, opened
Saturday with testimony from a police officer.
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August 25, 2002
Republicans sounded a mixed message Sunday for President Bush about
whether, when and how to use military action to remove Saddam Hussein
from power.
Government officials, environmental activists and business leaders
promised Sunday the upcoming World Summit on Sustainable Development
will be about action — not just words — to save the environment
and combat poverty.
Afghan authorities are considering releasing hundreds of foreign
prisoners, many of them suspected al-Qaida fighters, but those
guarding them argue the men are still dangerous terrorists who should
remain behind bars.
Israel's Supreme Court is increasingly being called on to determine
how far Israel can go in policies aimed at stopping Palestinian
violence, with the judges this week considering whether the military
can expel relatives of Palestinian terror suspects from the West Bank.
A bomb exploded Sunday in a drainage ditch in front of a United
Nations' guest house in the Afghan capital, injuring at least two
Afghan civilians. There was no damage to the U.N. International
Committee Association guest house, which is home to 45 foreigners
employed by the United Nations
The Saudi Interior Ministry on Sunday confirmed it is holding a
21-year-old Saudi man the FBI is seeking for alleged links to
the Sept. 11 hijackers. Authorities are interrogating Saud
Abdulaziz Saud al-Rasheed "and if it is proven that he was
connected to terrorism, he will be referred to the sharia (Islamic)
court
The top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee said Sunday she
was unaware of any request by the FBI that committee members
turn over records as part of an investigation into the leak of
classified information. Agents have asked members of the Senate
Intelligence Committee for telephone records, schedules and other
documents indicating any conversations that lawmakers had with
reporters.
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August 26, 2002
Vice President Dick Cheney warned Monday that the United States could
face devastating consequences from any delay in acting to remove
Saddam Hussein as president of Iraq.
Seven Israeli Arabs have been arrested as suspected accomplices in a
deadly suicide bombing, police said Monday, heightening concern of a
growing alliance between members of their community and Palestinian
militants.
Saying its original investigations were incomplete, the FBI plans this
week to go back inside an anthrax-contaminated building owned by
tabloid publisher American Media Inc., where an employee was fatally
infected last fall
Israel's Supreme Court on Monday heard appeals against a new Israeli
measure — expelling relatives of Palestinian terror suspects from
the West Bank to the Gaza Strip — and the court's chief justice
pledged a quick ruling.
Some private companies that screen airline passengers are charging
more for their services now that the government is footing the bill,
says a federal report that found one company nearly doubled its rates.
The Transportation Department's inspector general also found cases
where the companies billed the government for absent employees and
work that was never completed. And it found lax oversight by
government officials.
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August 27, 2002
President Bush confronted Saudi Arabia's top diplomat Tuesday over
Iraq and other issues chilling relations between the uneasy allies,
calling Saddam Hussein "a menace to the world."
A suspicious powder spilled from an envelope opened Tuesday at Al
Gore's Nashville office in what one FBI agent referred to as an
"anthrax hoax case."
Israel would allow the Palestinian parliament to convene a special
session to set a date for elections and discuss political reforms
Two men listed for months as missing in the Sept. 11 attack on the
World Trade Center have been discovered alive in area hospitals, In
addition, the city medical examiner's office said a revised list of
the missing and dead is expected to reflect at least five similar
cases when it is released next week.
Two military jets escorted a US Airways flight to Baltimore-Washington
International Airport after a "miscommunication" Tuesday
between the pilot and air traffic controllers
Federal agents wearing protective gear entered the quarantined home of
The National Enquirer on Tuesday to start preparations for their new
detailed search for clues to the source of deadly anthrax
contamination.
America's allies in the Arab world fear a U.S. strike on Iraq would
thrust their already unstable neighborhood into chaos, and they and
others are urging Baghdad to act to avoid war — even as U.S.
rhetoric grows tougher.
Although post-Sept. 11 legal challenges are just coming to judgment
nearly a year after the terror attacks, the early going has produced
more defeats than victories for Bush lawyers. In a handful of cases,
judges have cast skeptical eyes on administration arguments that
threats to national security justify maximum secrecy or a lessening of
previously recognized freedoms.
Small business owners downtown are still trying to get back on their
feet after the Sept. 11 attack and an economic slowdown. An estimated
1,200 to 2,000 small businesses, including about 600 in the twin
towers, have been wiped out, according to From the Ground Up, a small
business advocacy group
The federal appeals court in Cincinnati declared yesterday that the
Bush administration acted unlawfully in holding hundreds of
deportation hearings in secret based only on the government's
assertion that the people involved may have links to terrorism.
The decision, which was laced with stinging language questioning the
administration's commitment to an open democracy, is the first major
appellate ruling on the government's legal tactics concerning Sept.
11.
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August 28, 2002
Intelligence agencies have received "credible reports" that
terrorists are planning to strike in Pakistan on or around the
anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks in New York and Washington
Israeli forces fired cannons at large metal tubes floating in the
Mediterranean on Wednesday, trying to intercept a suspected weapons
shipment headed for the Gaza Strip.
The Bush administration is casting Iraqi President Saddam Hussein as a
menace who cannot be appeased and suggesting that it may not wait for
full allied support before launching an attack.
Federal grand juries charged six men with conspiring to support Osama
bin Laden's al-Qaida network Wednesday as the government escalated its
efforts to stifle the flow of money and assistance from U.S. soil to
overseas terrorist groups
Four Palestinians, including a mother and two of her sons, were killed
early Thursday when Israeli tank shells landed in a Beduin encampment
near an Israeli settlement
The top Republican on the Senate Armed Services committee said
Wednesday he wants Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld to appear
before the panel to discuss how prepared U.S. forces are for a war
against Iraq.
Italy froze 25 bank accounts linked to the Al-Qaida terrorist network
Thursday, in a coordinated move with the U.S. government, the 25
accounts belong to 11 individuals and 14 companies. This
operation brings to a total of $112 million the assets frozen globally
since Sept. 11, the Ministry said, adding 234 supporters of the terror
network have been uncovered.
The State Department will host a two-day conference next week to
explore the roots of anti-Americanism worldwide. Spokesman
Richard Boucher said about 20 scholars from the United States and
abroad will share their thoughts with 50 State Department
officials. The conference is the culmination of a project
conducted by the department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research.
German authorities filed charges on Wednesday against a man who has El
Motassadeq, 28, was arrested at his Hamburg apartment on Nov. 28.
Investigators believe he had "intensive contacts" with Sept.
11 hijackers Mohamed Atta, Marwan Al-Shehhi and Ziad Jarrah who had
all lived in Hamburg. been in jail since last fall on suspicion he was
connected to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
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August 29, 2002
Osama bin Laden was probably killed
in a US air attack in eastern Afghanistan earlier this year,
Pakistan's security officials have concluded in their latest
assessment of the whereabouts of leaders of Qaeda'. According to
senior government officials, the presumed mastermind behind the
September 11 attacks - who was said by some analysts to be suffering
from a serious kidney ailment at the time - is unlikely to have
survived the intense US bombardment of the militants' mountainous Tora
Bora camp in eastern Afghanistan.
German authorities have evidence the Hamburg al-Qaida cell that
included three of the Sept. 11 suicide pilots was planning an attack
on the World Trade Center as early as April or May 2000, the country's
federal prosecutor said Thursday. Announcing charges against Mounir El
Motassadeq, the only person apprehended in Germany in connection with
the attacks, federal Prosecutor Kay Nehm said the Hamburg hijackers
were planning an attack on the United States in October 1999 and had
chosen their target six months later.
Efforts to stem funding to the al-Qaeda terrorist network have stalled
according to a United Nations draft report. The report, written
by a UN panel responsible for monitoring the enforcement of an arms,
travel and financial embargo against al-Qaeda and related terrorist
groups, alleges that some $10m has been blocked to the group in the
past eight months and that $112m in assets belonging to the network
and its associates have been frozen. The al-Qaida terror network
has the money and recruits to strike again whenever and wherever it
wants because a global campaign and U.N. sanctions have failed to stop
the financing and support for Osama bin Laden's backers
The Bush administration struggled Thursday with an increasingly
skeptical Congress and international community as it tried to gain
support for deposing President Saddam Hussein of Iraq.
The Bush administration backed off a proposal Thursday to restrict
foreign air carriers from flying over the three Sept. 11 crash sites
during the anniversary of the attacks
Negotiations can still avert a possible U.S. attack on Iraq, Iraq's
vice president said as his country pressed ahead with its diplomatic
campaign and the United States got more advice to proceed with
caution. "There's still room for diplomatic solutions to
avert a war with the United States," Ramadan said during a brief
visit to the northern Syrian city of Homs. Iraq, he added, was ready
for dialogue, not surrender.
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August 30, 2002
Iraq's vice president said Friday that his country will not fall as
easily as Afghanistan did, warning that Iraqis will fight "tooth
and nail" against any U.S. invasion. The Iraqi military is
digging in to protect Baghdad in what U.S. officials describe as the
biggest buildup of defenses around the city since the Gulf War.
The Palestinian security chief called for an end to suicide bombings
against Israel, denouncing "murders for no reason," in an
interview published Friday in an Israeli newspaper.
For the sixth time in a week, coalition aircraft bombed an Iraqi
defense facility in one of the no-fly zones patrolled for a decade by
U.S. and British pilots. Coalition aircraft used
precision-guided weapons Friday to strike a surface-to-air missile
site in the southern zone near Al Kut, 150 miles southeast of Baghdad,
U.S. Central Command said in a statement. Officials said it was a
response to Iraqi attacks on a pilot patrolling the zone.
Overnight discussion at the World Summit turned heated when the
European Union said government ministers, not summit negotiators,
should debate contentious issues including the environment and poverty
Despite a reduction in fighting, American troops are chipping away at
al-Qaida forces, and even if they don't capture Osama bin Laden,
"we are going to shut down his terrorist apparatus
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August 31, 2002
An Israeli helicopter fired missiles at a car Saturday, killing five
Palestinians including a militant and two children, witnesses said.
Elsewhere in the West Bank, a Palestinian gunman infiltrated a Jewish
settlement, wounding two people before he was killed.
Germany has told the United States it will withhold evidence against
Sept. 11 conspiracy defendant Zacarias Moussaoui unless it receives
assurances that the material won't be used to secure a death penalty
against him,
John Walker Lindh's lawyers say he is telling federal agents
everything he knows, and he wants Americans to forgive him for joining
the Taliban military.
A Swedish man of Tunisian origin who was arrested with a gun in his
carryon luggage at a Swedish airport once attended a U.S. flight
school and has a criminal record. The 29-year-old suspect,
identified by his lawyer as Kerim Chatty, was being held on a
preliminary charge of planning to hijack a plane and illegal
possession of a firearm after he was detained Thursday
Caught between American leaders' increasingly stern talk on Iraq and
doubts at home about the wisdom of going to war, Prime Minister Tony
Blair said Saturday he didn't yet know how best to ensure Saddam
Hussein does not maintain weapons of mass destruction. The prime
minister insisted the world would not stand by while the Iraqi leader
violated U.N. resolutions on the weapons, but said he had not decided
whether military action was the way to stop him.
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