US Hunts for Osama in a Land of Corpses & Fables

Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit

The Times of India - Dec 25, 2001

US hunts among dead for Osama

TORA BORA, Dec 24--Assuming that Osama Bin Laden has been killed in
Tora Bora airstrikes, US military leaders are collecting body parts
of dead al-Qaeda men for DNA tests. The Federal Bureau of
Investigation, which is in charge of the DNA tests, has already
collected DNA samples from Bin Laden's family to check for a match.

About two weeks ago, the special forces thought they were close to
tracking down Bin Laden in Tora Bora, but then the trail went cold. 
Pakistani intelligence claimed al-Qaeda had spread disinformation by
relaying taped messages from bin Laden on shortwave radio sets and
the CIA concluded he had either been killed or had escaped.

American special forces have placed corpses they have examined in a
cave, sealing its entrance with boulders. A sickly smell identifies
the cave, a stone's throw from a destroyed al-Qaeda camp at the
entrance to the Malaewa valley.

The al-Qaeda camp has been bombed relentlessly for days. A swarm of
tribal fighters rifled through the debris. Some scavenged from the
ruins of a simple stone house that they said had been the Saudi
millionaire's home. Unexploded mortar bombs and boxes of ammunition
with Chinese markings lay strewn over the area. A lone B-52 bomber
circling overhead provided a reminder that the battle for Bin Laden's
mountain stronghold may not be over.

There was no sign of the elaborate cave complex Bin Laden was said to
have constructed. To some, it began to look as if it was a fable
Afghans told gullible journalists for money.

If what Afghan fighters have taken from the caves is any guide,
little of importance has been recovered so far. If Bin Laden had a
nuclear, chemical or biological weapons facility at Tora Bora, it is
yet to be found.

Although many al-Qaeda members allegedly fled to Pakistan, their
die-hard companions could still be hiding in the caves.

Not many prisoners have been taken, though they are worth money. One
television company paid $2,000 to be the first to film them.

It appears that the American goal from the beginning was to kill as
many al-Qaeda fighters as possible.

One Afghan commander was overheard 10 days ago asking another on his
radio why his men were killing Arabs willing to surrender. (THE
SUNDAY TIMES )
 
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