Re: Fw: Translation of an article from a turkish newspaper

I suspect this "article" is not quite what it makes itself out to be. It 
claims to be a translation from a Turkish newspaper. It is certainly a very 
good "translation". A search revealed that almost exactly the same piece is 
posted on what looks like an Israeli site.

         http://www.debka.com/body_index.html

Could this be more disinformation?

At 15:45 21/09/01 +0100, you wrote:
>----- 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.
>
>
>
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Harry Forster
Grenoble