THURSDAY, MARCH 7, 2002
WORLD NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN - 7A
More troops sent to aid war
Associated Press
GARDEZ, Afghanistan — Fierce fighting raged for a fifth day as the United States deployed hundreds of reinforcements yesterday and gathered 5,000 Afghan troops for an offensive aimed at finishing off al-Qaida.
The U.S.-led coalition mounted punishing, round-the-clock airstrikes above the rugged terrain in eastern Afghanistan, and some U.S. officers predicted the operation could be wrapped up in days.
In Kabul, five peacekeepers two Germans and three Danes were killed in an explosion while trying to defuse anti-aircraft missiles.
The Pentagon said opposition fighters were still putting up stiff resistance after five days of battle, some of it above 10,000 feet in snow-covered mountains. As fighter jets and bombers hit targets, more attack helicopters were called in to boost the firepower in the largest U.S.-led offensive of the 5-month-old war.
The al-Qaida and Taliban forces are armed mainly with mortars, cannons, rocket-propelled grenades, shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles and AK-47 automatic rifles.
Afghan soldiers urged residents of the region in Paktia province to turn in al-Qaida warriors, offering a $4,000 reward for each foreign fighter captured alive.
The commander of the operation, code-named Operation Anaconda, said U.S.-led troops had the upper hand after killing hundreds of fighters — about half the al-Qaida members holed up in the hills around the village of Shah-e-Kot. U.S. troops were searching their cave hide-outs.
"We own the dominant terrain in the area," Maj. Gen. Frank L. Hagenbeck told reporters Wednesday at Bagram air base north of the capital, Kabul. "We truly have the momentum at this point."
Gen. Tommy Franks, the U.S. commander in the war in Afghanistan, said he had increased the number of Americans in the operation by 200 to 300 during the past two days, for a total of roughly 1,100.
About 1,000 Afghan have been fighting alongside the Americans, and their commander said they were also bringing in fresh units, drawing from parts of Paktia province as well as the Logar and Ghazi provinces.
Hunger strike subsides
Associated Press
GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba — The number of detainees holding to a hunger strike dwindled yesterday, with only three men left who have been without food since the protest's initial days, U.S. military officials said.
The protest began Feb. 27, a day after guards stripped an inmate of his turban during prayers. But prisoners have told their captors their underlying concern was uncertainty about their fate.
Most of the strikers have been eating some food. Nearly all the 51 captives who skipped breakfast and 46 who refused lunch yesterday have had at least one meal during the weeklong protest.
"We have what I would refer to as a rolling hunger strike," said Marine Brig. Gen. Michael Lehnert, the commander of the detention mission. "Essentially, people take turns not eating."
U. S. officials are determining whether and how to prosecute the 300 men held at the naval base in southeastern Cuba. Those not tried by a military tribunal could be prosecuted in U.S. courts, returned to their home countries for prosecution, released outright or held indefinitely.
Lehnert said there were only three men left who have been refusing food since at least Friday, when the military began keeping close records. That number is down from 13 a couple of days ago.
Others join the strike regularly, but not at every meal. The total participating has fallen from a high of 194 last Thursday, to less than 70 on Tuesday and now less than 50.
So far, the military has been giving intravenous fluids to 18 men at the camp infirmary to treat them for dehydration or undernourishment. In at least two cases, the IVs were given forcibly because the detainees tried to resist. military officials said.
Those fasting remain defiant, Lehnert said. But, he said, "when I speak to them individually, many times they apologize for creating the problems, but they're trying to make a case."
The military said the captives included fighters of the al-Qaida terrorist network and the deposed Taliban regime in Afghanistan, but U.S. officials had said they were unsure of the identities of some captives.
The hunger strike is the first mass protest since the first detainees arrived on Jan. 11.
Arafat's presence necessary for possible peace initiative
Associated Press
CAIRO, Egypt — Syrian support for a Saudi peace overture to Israel brings the Arab world closer than it has ever been to recognizing Israel's right to exist, but the process is fraught with pitfalls.
The chance for a new peace initiative comes just three weeks from now when the Arab League convenes in Beirut for its annual summit—and it could vanish just as quickly if Israel carries out its threat to prevent Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat from attending.
Syrian President Bashar Assad, whose father and predecessor once led the vanguard of hard-line opposition to Israel, has reservations but "expressed satisfaction" with the proposal aired last month by Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Abdullah, Syria's state-run media said yesterday.
It was the clearest signal yet, coming amid Assad's flurry of visits with other Arab leaders, that Syria would go along with the Saudi proposal if it is presented at the March 27-28 summit.
The Saudi proposal has also found support from the United States and
from some Israeli officials. Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Defense Minister Binyamin BenEliezer, both of the center-left Labor Party, have said it had positive elements that deserve exploration.
But despite offering the Israelis wider acceptance by the Arabs and an alternative to dealing solely with Arafat on Palestinian issues, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and other hardliners appear to think it offers insufficient guarantees for Israel's security.
Abdullah's plan, as sketched out so far, is a fairly simple idea that goes straight to the core issue — land for peace — but it leaves a lot of touchy details to be addressed later.
The proposal that Abdullah outlined in a February interview with The New York Times calls for Israel's withdrawal from the territories captured in the 1967 Mideast war in exchange for neighborly relations with the Arab world.
Saudi officials have said the details, including the borders of Israel and a Palestinian state and the fate of Palestinian refugees, would be left to Israeli, Palestinian, Syrian and Lebanese negotiators.
But Abdullah's proposal was, as Syrian political analyst Imad Shoueibi said, "the first time that the Arabs say as a group. 'We are ready for peace.'"
Syria's state-run newspapers offered indirect support yesterday for the Saudi initiative. Tishrin highlighted the "convergence" of Abdullah's ideas with Syria's national principles, but Al-Thawra, another government paper, expressed reservations.
Hesham Youssef, spokesman for Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa, said in Cairo that Syrian support for the Saudi plan was "important" since Syria is "a main part of the conflict."
Youssef wouldn't speculate on the summit's outcome, but he said "the general attitude is more toward supporting" the Saudi plan.
Arafat's attendance is crucial. The Palestinians say Abdullah has assured them he won't even submit his proposal for discussion if Arafat doesn't show up in Beirut.
Israeli troops have kept Arafat pinned down for the past three months at his offices in the West Bank town of Ramallah.
Latest Israeli-Palestinian clash leaves 14 dead in ongoing conflict
Associated Press
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Israeli planes, helicopters and warships pounded Gaza yesterday in one of the fiercest assaults of the Palestinian uprising. Twelve Palestinians and two Israeli soldiers were killed in violence in Gaza and the West Bank.
Seven of the Palestinians died in fighting in Gaza. Five others died in separate incidents, including a Hamas activist killed in an explosion at his Gaza City home.
Late yesterday, an Israeli helicopter fired a missile at Yasser Arafat's headquarters in the West Bank town of Ramallah, where the Palestinian leader has been trapped for three months by Israeli forces. The missile exploded 50 feet from Arafat's office as he was meeting with a European Union envoy. No one was hurt, officials said.
Sharon's foreign minister, Shimon Peres, however, said force was not the answer. "A cease-fire cannot be achieved just by using fire," Peres said.
Amid the worst spate of violence since the start of the conflict 17 months ago, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon promised Israel would strike "without let up" until Palestinian militants' attacks on Israelis are reined in.
A spokesman for another Cabinet minister, Avigdor Lieberman, confirmed a sardonic closed-door exchange during which Peres told Lieberman that excessively harsh measures against the Palestinians could lead to war-crimes accusations.
In an offensive that began late Tuesday and continued into yesterday in Gaza, Israel fired on targets from the land, sea and air."
Arafat's home in Gaza City and a U.N.-run school for the blind were badly damaged by shrapnel from an air strike Tuesday night on a nearby security compound.
The death of Hamas activist, Abdel Rahman Ghadal, was announced over mosque loudspeakers near his Gaza City home, and the announcement blamed an Israeli missile strike — a claim that could not be confirmed. Israel has carried out dozens of targeted killings of those believed to have orchestrated attacks against Israelis.
Soldiers shot and killed two Palestinians who were trying to plant a bomb near a crossing point between Gaza and Israel, military sources said.
In clashes, two Israeli soldiers were killed by Palestinian fire, the military said. The heaviest fighting was reported in the villages of Abassan and Karrara in southern Gaza, where witnesses said 12 tanks moved into the area, drawing intense Palestinian fire. Helicopter gun ships fired machine guns toward the gunmen, sending civilians scrambling for cover.
A 40-year-old Palestinian woman was killed by a shot in the back, and two other civilians were critically wounded, Palestinian doctors said. Israeli troops barred ambulances from reaching the two wounded men, who died after being left untreated for about three hours, the doctors said. There was no comment by the army.
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In the West Bank, Palestinian officials said two Palestinians died at Israeli military checkpoints in separate incidents. The army said one of them was trying to bring in explosives.
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