Fw: Translation of an article from a turkish newspaper

----- Original Message -----
From: Des
To: workersdemocracy@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Thursday, September 20, 2001 11:58 AM
Subject: [workersdemocracy] Translation of an article from a turkish newspaper


The following is a translation from an article appearing in a Turkish Newspaper
The United States is going to war to avenge itself for the catastrophic
hijack-suicide attacks against the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon. The
first stage of the conflict, according to initial, conservative estimates, could
last two to three years. Its success will determine the scope and timeframe of
the second phase.
The U.S. 82nd and 101st airborne divisions, or nearly half of the airborne
combat forces at the immediate disposal of U.S. President George W. Bush, are
currently being airlifted to bases in Pakistan. The bulk of these forces will be
moved to the northern Punjab region of Pakistan and take up position near the
city of Dera Ismail and in the valleys at the foot of the Suleiman mountain
range, across from their main target - the Afghan city of Kandahar.
The United States also intends to lay siege to, or capture, the Afghan cities of
Medan, Galdek and Maroof as well as the Arghastan Valley, where, according to
intelligence provided by Russia, India and Israel, Osama bin Laden's forces have
been concentrated in recent months. The U.S. operations will include air
bombardments and missile strikes against Afghanistan's principal cities: Kabul,
Jalalabad and Kandahar.
Afghanistan is not the only target. Washington is planning a three-stage
offensive against Iraq with the participation of U.S., British and Turkish
forces. The Turkish army is on a state of war alert. The Turkish army is poised
along its border with Kurdish northern Iraq. It intends to invade the Shouman
region and capture the cities of Biyar and Tiwal in the Urman district. The two
cities are controlled by Jund al-Islam, a radical Muslim group funded by bin
Laden.
The United States now understands that the 200 Taliban fighters who arrived
there in mid-July, puzzling many observers, were members of bin Laden's general
staff, pulled out of Afghanistan two months earlier as part of his preparations
for Tuesday's terror attacks in New York and Washington. Now they will be
quarries of a US-Turkish hunt in one prong of the thrust into Iraq.
A simultaneous attack second attack will be spearheaded in the Basra area by
some 30,000 British soldiers, currently being airlifted into bases in Oman.
Two-thirds of that force were present in Oman on Saturday. U.S. and British
planes already based in Kuwait, and in Saudi Arabia will provide air cover for
the British forces operating in Basra - if the Saudi government agrees to its
air bases being used in the U.S. operation.
Prong three of the Iraqi wing of the multiple offensive will target the central
region, including Baghdad. Airlifted infantry and armor, as well as missiles and
tanks, will be used in an effort to destroy the Iraqi infrastructure and topple
Saddam Hussein's regime.
No final decision has been made on a timetable for the three assault waves into
Iraq. These operations, lasting between two and three weeks, are only the first
steps in the coming conflict, which Bush has described as "the first war of the
21st century".
Bin Laden had not been blind to the likelihood of U.S. retaliation. According to
U.S. intelligence estimates, he and his cohorts have been preparing for months
for the assaults and have readied their response. Intelligence specialists
believe bin Laden and his associates -- including the Egyptian Islamic Jihad,
the terror master's main operational arm -- will carry out a series of attacks
on U.S. army bases, especially air and naval facilities, in the United States,
Europe and the Middle East.
Members of bin Laden's group have been trained by the U.S. army and some still
serve in various U.S. military units, raising the prospect that attacks could be
launched from within the bases themselves.
Bin Laden's men will make a supreme effort to attack aircraft carriers, along
with such strategic targets in the United States, such as CIA headquarters in
Langley, Virginia or FBI headquarters in Washington.
Before the Tuesday's calamities, this scenario would have sounded fantastic.
Other targets may include atomic energy stations, where the highest state of
alert is already in effect. U.S. military units rushed to the stations have set
up defensive perimeters around them. Oil fields and terminals -- including, for
the first time, fields in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait -- are other potential
targets.
Bush's ability to wage a drawn-out war will largely depend on the toll bin
Laden's reprisals take in terms of lives and U.S. public support for the
president's military campaign. The main question will be not who will win, but
the price the victor will pay for his victory -- and the loser's winnings, if
any, on his way to defeat. That defeat may not even be final or lasting. It's
also important to consider two potential features of the first stage of this
war.
1. It is only a start. Even if the U.S. military actions in Afghanistan and Iraq
are successful -- and there is no guarantee of this -- bin Laden and the
Egyptian Islamic Jihad will still have large pockets at their command in Yemen,
Bosnia, Kosovo, Albania, Macedonia and several former Soviet Moslem republics.
The largest contingent of bin Laden-funded Islamic extremist fighters are
deployed in the Faragna Valley which lies athwart regions of Krygyzstan,
Tadjikistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.
Last year, Bin Laden's forces opened up a corridor from Faranga to the Sinkiang
province of northern China, linking up the Moslem fighters in that strategic
valley and militant Chinese Moslem groups of the Chinese Uighur tribes. These
tribes are undergoing combat training in special training camps that bin Laden
established in Afghanistan and Kazakhstan.
There is no knowing now how US strategists mean to deal with these the forces
bin Laden maintains in these far-flung regions. They cannot be left out of the
American equation because as long as they exist, bin Laden retains an
operational capability.
Will they be left to the Russians and Chinese? Perhaps the Moslem governments of
Asia Minor will invite the U.S. forces or NATO to do the job?
2. This war opens up the potential for nuclear, chemical and biological weapons
us. Some U.S. leaders have emphasized since Friday night that the United States
will employ its "entire arsenal" in the coming campaign. Even British Prime
Minister Tony Blair, speaking in parliament on Friday, September 14, noted the
danger the West faces from terror attacks could include nuclear, chemical and
biological weapons.
Israel has voiced strong support for the formation of an anti-terror coalition.
But at this stage, the Bush administration prefers to bring Syria in, which
means excluding Israeli from its anti-bin Laden alliance, in the hope of
providing manoeuvring room for Saudi Arabia to collaborate.
Getting Damascus on board would also sever the Syrian-Iraqi link that has
recently grown stronger, as well as snapping its connection with the militant
Lebanese Hizballah. Those Shiite extremists would have no option but to break
away from a Syrian government that goes to war against bin Laden.
Some Israeli media reported that Washington wants the Palestinians in the
coalition fighting bin Laden. Washington sources believe that view is confined
mainly to secretary of state Colin Powell, who believes Palestinian
participation might pave the way for other Arab countries to join. It might even
help encourage certain European nations made cagey by their large Moslem
populations and economic and strategic links to oil states in North Africa and
the Middle East, to take up arms against the Saudi terrorist leader. Israeli
prime minister Ariel Sharon, who strongly opposes a Palestinian role in the
US-led bloc of nations against bin Laden, made his views clear to President Bush
when they talked over the telephone on Friday but has agreed to withdrawal of
Israeli forces from Palestinian territory in exchange for a Palestinian cease
fire. The next day, Abu Ala, Palestinian parliament Speaker, termed the suicide
terror attacks in New York and Washington saddening. But, he said, the world
must understand that the real terrorism was that committed by Israel against the
Palestinians.



Yahoo! Groups Sponsor
ADVERTISEMENT




Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.