Re: US plans to topple Taliban (Guardian UK article) (fwd)

The whole text:



ZURICH, Switzerland (Reuters) - International
                    public opinion opposes a massive U.S. military
                    strike to retaliate for attacks on America by
                    hijacked aircraft, according to a Gallup poll in 31
                    countries whose results were released Friday.

                    Only in Israel and the United States did a
                    majority favor a military response against states
                    shown to harbor terrorists, the survey found.
 People questioned elsewhere preferred to see suspected terrorists
 extradited and put on trial.

 ``Around 80 percent of Europeans and around 90 percent of South
 Americans favor extradition and a court verdict. By European
 comparison, calls for a tough military response were above average
 among the French (29 percent) and the Dutch (28 percent),'' said Swiss
 polling firm Isopublic, which conducted the survey.

 Seventy-seven percent of Israelis backed military action, while 54
percent
 of Americans were in favor, it said.

 The surveys, which polled 16,231 people worldwide, were conducted
 from Monday to Wednesday, about a week after the Sept. 11 attacks on
 the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon (news - web
 sites) outside Washington that left more than 6,000 people dead or
 missing.

 U.S. officials have named Saudi-born dissident Osama bin Laden (news -
 web sites) as the prime suspect and have threatened military action if
 Afghanistan (news - web sites), where bin Laden lives, does not hand
him
 over.

 Clear majorities of between 70 and 80 percent supported limiting any
 strike to military rather than civilian targets, the survey found.

 Asked if their own countries should support a U.S. military assault,
people
 in NATO (news - web sites) countries other than Greece tended to
 agree.

 Four out of five Danes backed the idea, followed by 79 percent in
Britain
 and 73 percent in France. Greeks were the least enthusiastic with only
29
 percent, below 53 percent in Germany and 58 percent in Norway and
 Spain.

 The survey was done in Argentina, Austria, Bosnia, Britain, Bulgaria,
 Croatia, Denmark, Ecuador, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece,
 Israel, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands,
 Norway, Pakistan, Peru, Portugal, Romania, South Africa, South Korea
 (news - web sites), Spain, Switzerland, the United States and Zimbabwe. 


Mark Douglas Whitaker wrote:
> 
> Gallop polls do show the world in two camps, though far from what the
> Resident Bush has in mind: everybody against the United States and Israel.
> Israel for war: 74%; United States (only) 54%. Everybody else all over the
> world: pro war only in the single digits.
> 
> http://www.gallup-international.com/terrorismpoll_figures.htm
> 
> http://search.news.yahoo.com/search/news?p=gallup&n=20&c=news
> 
> http://www.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=66015&group=webcast
> 
> At 05:38 AM 9/21/01 -0400, you wrote:
> >       Secret memo reveals US plan to overthrow Taliban regime
> >
> >Special report: terrorism in the US
> >
> >Special report: Afghanistan
> >
> >Ian Traynor in Tajikistan and Gary Younge in Washington
> >
> >Guardian
> >
> >Friday September 21, 2001
> >
> >The US government is pressing its European allies to agree to a military
> >campaign to topple the Taliban regime in Afghanistan and replace it with an
> >interim administration under United Nations auspices.
> >
> >Diplomatic cables from the Washington embassy of a key Nato ally, seen by
> >the Guardian, report that the US is keen to hear allied views on
> >"post-Taliban Afghanistan after the liberation of the country".
> >
> >The embassy cable reveals that the US administration is bent on force to
> >evict the Taliban from power because of the shelter it has offered Osama bin
> >Laden, named by the White House as prime suspect for the New York and
> >Washington atrocities on September 11.
> >
> >The Guardian has also learned that two large US Hercules transport aircraft
> >landed in Tashkent, capital of the former Soviet republic of Uzbekistan, on
> >Tuesday loaded with surveillance equipment to be installed along the
> >northern Afghan border.
> >
> >The secret landing represented a radical departure since it appeared to
> >herald the deployment of squadrons of US fighters at Uzbekistan's sprawling
> >airfield at Termez, directly on the border. Such a build-up would incur the
> >wrath of Russia which views the central Asian republics as its backyard.
> >
> >The Pentagon yesterday continued its move to a war footing, with orders for
> >up to 130 heavy bombers, fighters, aerial refuelling planes and other combat
> >aircraft to be deployed around the Middle East and Central Asia region.
> >
> >Two B-52 bombers yesterday left Barksdale airbase in Louisiana, joining
> >F-15E fighter-bombers, F-16 fighters, B-1 long range bombers and E-3 Awacs
> >airborne command-and-control aircraft that left on Wednesday.
> >
> >The navy has also sent an additional aircraft carrier toward the Middle East
> >region,which along with the air deployment could place up to 500 US
> >warplanes in the Mediterranean, Gulf and Indian Ocean areas.
> >Tony Blair, in Washington last night to meet Mr Bush, suggested military
> >strikes inside Afghanistan, targeted on Bin Laden's training camps, could
> >come in a matter of days. "These people, if they could, would get access to
> >chemical, biological and nuclear capability. We have no option but to act,"
> >he said.
> >
> >The US strategy to depose the Taliban regime is based on more than military
> >thinking. A further plank appears to entail supporting the campaign of the
> >exiled 86-year-old monarch of Afghanistan, King Zahir Shah, to return to
> >power by encouraging the guerrilla army of the Northern Alliance opposition
> >to fall in behind him.
> >
> >Diplomatic documents seen by the Guardian show that Washington is funding
> >and organising the travel of several Northern Alliance figures to Rome to
> >confer with the exiled monarch who is expected to call for a revolution.
> >
> >"The king plans to call on all the Afghan tribes to rise up against the
> >Taliban," the diplomatic cable reported yesterday, citing the advice of the
> >US administration.
> >
> >US plans to overthrow the Taliban regime were revealed when a senior
> >European politician in Washington this week was told by the US
> >administration that it wanted to hear his country's views on how Afghanistan
> >should be run after the Taliban were defeated and that "closer
> >consultations" were necessary.
> >
> >The Americans also spoke of a role for the UN in the new "interim
> >administration" for Afghanistan and for the Organisation for Security and
> >Cooperation in Europe in central Asia, without mentioning Nato.
> >Washington is routinely sceptical of the UN and OSCE, but the key role was
> >seen as an attempt to build as broad a coalition as possible behind the
> >imminent campaign.
> >
> >The Europeans, Russia, and even China might be swayed by the unusual US
> >inclusiveness, diplomats said. "It's a major change of US policy," said one.
> >
> >
> >The spying mission in Uzbekistan is also fraught with political risk. The
> >two Hercules could not fly over Iran, but Turkmenistan, the third ex-Soviet
> >state bordering Afghanistan granted permission.
> >
> >However, diplomats said the Turkmens were less keen to grant overflying
> >rights to US fighter aircraft heading for the Afghan border.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >_______________________________________________________
> >Send a cool gift with your E-Card
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> >
> >

-- 
Gabor VARNAI
PARDES Urban Policy Research and Consulting Office;  
Institute of Sociology, Hungarian Academy of Sciences
Felsoerdosor 12. Budapest, Hungary, H-1068
tel/fax: +36-1-3515465; mobile phone: +36-30-2219452
e-mail: h7711var@helka.iif.hu; gabor_varnai@yahoo.com