Yahoo! News
January 7, 2002.
1,500 American troops head to Cuba
By Susanne M. Schafer, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON 7 (AP) - U.S. bombers blasted a large cache of Taliban and
al-Qaida armored tanks and weapons as part of the effort to eradicate the
remnants of the terrorist network inside Afghanistan (news - web sites),
American military officials said Monday.
Pentagon spokeswoman Victoria Clarke said American aircraft flew 118 sorties
and conducted four airstrikes in the Zawar and Khost area on Sunday.
That included the third strike in recent days of a military compound in
eastern Afghanistan where terrorist leader Osama bin Laden (news - web sites)'s
followers have been regrouping, she added.
"That would be the third time on that complex,'' Clarke told reporters.
A second senior Pentagon official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said
the strikes also were designed to hit a major weapons cache found by U.S.
military forces in the region.
"We found lots of weapons, tanks and APC's (armored personnel
carriers). So instead of going in and blowing them up on the ground - which
would take too much time - we just bombed it,'' the officer said.
The strikes were conducted by long-range B-52 and B-1 bombers, as well as
carrier-based strike planes from warships in the Indian Ocean, the officer said.
Khost is known as the headquarters of a former minister in the ousted
Taliban regime, Jalaluddin Haqqani, who is high on the U.S. most-wanted list.
Khost also was used as a training base by al-Qaida and was targeted by U.S.
cruise missiles following the bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa in 1998.
A number of al-Qaida fighters are believed to have slipped into the area after
fleeing Tora Bora, the mountain cave complex seized by U.S.-backed anti-Taliban
forces last month.
Meanwhile, Clarke said construction crews have begun beefing up the former
refugee camp sites at the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to deal with
detainees taken in the Afghan fighting.
"It will be significantly different construction,'' Clarke said.
There were 346 suspected Taliban or al-Qaida members in U.S. custody this
weekend, she said.
The Pentagon plans tight security for hundreds of al-Qaida and Taliban
captives expected at the base and is sending 1,500 military police and other
troops to build a prison there.
Already, 1,000 U.S. troops have orders for Cuba - some by way of southwest
Asia, where they will help transport the prisoners to the base, officials said.
Five hundred more soldiers will be ordered to the base in the coming weeks.
They will first build a prison on a section of the base, and then guard it,
Lt. Cmdr. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, said Sunday. Fewer than 100
prisoners are expected at Guantanamo within a week; base officials have been
told to prepare for as many as 2,000 in the coming months, Davis said.
The security is being planned with an eye toward preventing a recurrence of
the riot by al-Qaida prisoners at Mazar-e-Sharif, Afghanistan, that left
hundreds dead, including CIA officer Johnny "Mike'' Spann.
"We are cognizant of the incident that took place in Mazar-e-Sharif,''
Davis said. "Many of these people have demonstrated their determination to
kill others, kill themselves or escape.''
Meanwhile Sunday, two members of the Senate Intelligence Committee said
there is a growing belief that bin Laden, the top target in the U.S. war on
terrorism, has fled Afghanistan and slipped into Pakistan.
Sen. John Edwards , D-N.C., who is traveling with other senators in the
region, said Uzbekistan's military intelligence service believes bin Laden has
crossed the border into Pakistan. Uzbekistan, like Pakistan, borders Afghanistan
and has been a U.S. ally in the fight against the Taliban and al-Qaida.
"I fully expect the Pakistanis will do everything they can to help us
locate bin Laden,'' Edwards said on "Fox News Sunday.''
Sen. Bob Graham , D-Fla., chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee,
said bin Laden and other top officials may well have fled Afghanistan.
Fort Hood soliders called to Cuba
KEYE.
Sunday January 06 07:21 PM EST
Between 200 and 300 soldiers from Fort Hood are being deployed to assist in
the security of detainees from the war in Afghanistan (news - web sites). Army
officials said today that the soldiers will be joined by other military forces
to establish and operate a detainee facility at the U.S. Naval Base at
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for al-Qaida, Taliban and other prisoners. One group of
Fort Hood soldiers will be deployed to help evacuate and transport the detainees
to Guantanamo Bay. Another group of soldiers will head directly to the base. The
U.S. military said December 27th that it would house al-Qaida and Taliban
detainees at the base. The Fort Hood task force being sent will consist
primarily of military police units, but also will include medical,
transportation, communication and other logistical support units. The mission is
the first that Fort Hood has announced that directly relates to the war in
Afghanistan. In November, about two thousand soldiers from ! a ! brigade combat
team from the First Cavalry Division were ordered to Kuwait to reinforce
American military presence there.
Farm group's Cuba trip hits federal roadblock
By E.A. Torriero. Chicago Tribune
Nearly 100 Americans, including two former top U.S. agriculture officials,
won't make a planned trip to Cuba this week after the Illinois-based
agribusiness organization sponsoring the tour was denied travel licenses by the
Bush administration.
The denial comes as American foodstuffs worth $30 million are arriving on
the island.
"We're perplexed and disappointed," said Walter J. Armbruster,
president of the non-profit Farm Foundation based in Oak Brook and founded in
1933 to improve farming, especially in rural areas.
In denying the Farm Foundation's travel application, U.S. Treasury officials
said the group's delegation was too large, contained too many spouses and family
members, and was scattered in focus, said consultants arranging the trip who
talked to U.S. officials.
Full
story at Chicago Tribune
Cuban Spy Couple Sentenced to Jail
By Alex Veiga, Associated Press Writer
MIAMI 4 (AP) - A couple who pleaded guilty to spying for Cuba during the
1990s were sentenced Friday to federal prison terms - seven years for him and
31/2 years for her.
George and Marisol Gari were members of the Wasp Network, a Cuban spy ring
whose mission was to infiltrate and collect information on Cuban exile groups
and U.S. military installations.
Five other members of the spy ring were sentenced last month to prison terms
ranging from 15 years to life.
Prosecutors said the Garis engaged in espionage from 1991 to 1998 under the
code names Luis and Margot. Marisol Gari used a former job at the Postal
Service's Miami International Airport distribution center to get mail going to
and from targeted Cuban-Americans.
George Gari, a former Lockheed Martin equipment tester, was ordered to apply
for work at the U.S. Southern Command headquarters in Miami in an unsuccessful
infiltration attempt.
The Cuban government maintains it has the right to seek information on exile
groups in the United States to protect itself against potential terrorism.
Marisol Gari pleaded guilty in September to one count of conspiracy to act
as an unregistered agent for Cuba. She is not a U.S. citizen and could be
deported after she completes her sentence.
George Gari, who was born in New York but moved with his family to Cuba as a
child, pleaded guilty to one count of acting as an unregistered agent for Cuba.
The couple has two young children.
"I think it was a fair sentence in view of the seriousness of the
crime,'' said Louis Casuso, Marisol Gari's attorney. "My client was happy
with it.''
Sens.: Guantanamo OK with Castro
By Anita Snow, Associated Press Writer
HAVANA 4 (AP) - President Fidel Castro (news - web sites) will not oppose
using the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay to house detainees from the war on
Afghanistan (news - web sites), two U.S. senators said Friday.
Castro "is not raising objections to the use of Guantanamo,'' Sen.
Arlen Specter, R-Pa., said before he and Sen. Lincoln Chafee, R-R.I., completed
a two-day visit.
The U.S. military said Dec. 27 that it would house an undisclosed number of
al-Qaida and Taliban detainees at the base in Cuba's extreme southeast.
Last week, the Foreign Ministry said Cuba had no opinion of U.S. plans
concerning Guantanamo because it has no jurisdiction over the base, even though
it opposes its presence on Cuban soil.
Specter and Chafee met with Castro for 61/2 hours Thursday. They said the
Cuban leader also told them he was interested in cooperating with the United
States on drug interdiction efforts and the war on terrorism.
The senators' trip is one of many here this month by American policy makers
and business people.
Six members of the House of Representatives arrived Thursday, as did Sally
Grooms Cowal, president of the Cuba Policy Foundation, one of the best-known
anti-embargo groups in the United States.
They are among nearly 2,000 Americans traveling to Cuba in January under
licenses from the U.S. Treasury Department (news - web sites).
After meeting with Castro late Thursday, Specter said "there are areas
in which Cuba can assist'' in the war on terrorism.
"Cuba has vast intelligence sources around the globe,'' he said.
While Cuba has opposed U.S. military action in Afghanistan, it condemned the
Sept. 11 terror attacks in New York and Washington and said it supported efforts
to eliminate international terrorism.
The State Department's inclusion of Cuba on its terrorism watch list is
something that needs to be "examined and re-examined,'' Specter said.
A decade after renouncing support of foreign rebellions, Cuba remains on
that list largely because a number of U.S. fugitives - mostly former Black
Panthers - live on the island.
On the issue of drugs, "it is unconscionable not to take up Fidel
Castro's offer'' of assistance in joint interdiction efforts, Specter said.
Specter has tried unsuccessfully several times to pass legislation funding
joint U.S.-Cuba drug interdiction programs. He and Chafee met Thursday with
Cuba's justice minister and the head of the country's anti-drug program.
Specter said Cuban officials were puzzled about why the U.S. government
would not work with Cuba on anti-drug programs but provide $4 million to the
Taliban government in Afghanistan for interdiction efforts. Afghanistan is one
of the world's most important sources of opium poppies, used to produce both
opium and heroin.
The senators also said they also talked with Castro about the need for
democracy and free, competitive elections in Cuba.
"That part of the meeting was a bit undiplomatic,'' Specter admitted.
He said Castro responded that many countries - including Japan and Latin
American countries - hold elections differing from those in the United States.
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