President George W Bush addressing the nation at the moment…
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/south_asia/newsid_1556000/1556588.stm
[This message has been edited by Mursalin (edited October 07, 2001).]
CNN:
yep.... Now lets sit back and see what happens
Bush Says U.S., Britain Launch Attacks on Afghanistan
The United States and Britain on Sunday launched a first wave of air strikes against Afghanistan and President Bush said the action heralded a “sustained, comprehensive and relentless” campaign against terrorism.
Eyewitnesses said they saw flashes and heard explosions over the Afghan capital of Kabul in the first phase of what the United States has said will be a protracted and wide-ranging war against terrorism and the states which support it.
The attack was in preparation since the Sept. 11 suicide attacks on the United States that killed around 5,600 people, the worst attack on U.S. civilians.
In a televised address from the White House, Bush said the attacks were carefully targeted against military installations and the United States would also be air dropping food to needy Afghan people to demonstrate its war was not against them.
*“These carefully targeted actions are designed to disrupt to disrupt the use of Afghanistan as a terrorist base of operations and to attack the military capability of the Taliban regime,” Bush said.
“We are joined in this operation by our staunch friend, Great Britain,” he said, adding that several other countries had pledged forces as the operation unfolds.
“Now, the Taliban will pay a price. By destroying camps and disrupting communications, we will make it more difficult for the terror network to train new recruits and coordinate their evil plans,”* Bush said.
Bush called on Americans and their allies to be patient, saying his war would not be over quickly. Initially, he said, bin Laden’s men might be able to burrow deeper in caves and other hiding places.
“Our military actions is also designed to clear the way for sustained, comprehensive and relentless operations to drive them out and bring them to justice,” he said.
The attack came hours after Washington rejected an offer from Afghanistan’s Taliban to put Osama bin Laden on trial, a last-ditch effort to stave off U.S. military action.
The United States has accused bin Laden of masterminding last month’s attacks when hijackers took over passenger airliners and crashed them into New York’s World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
Bin Laden, 44, an extremist Islamic militant from a wealthy Saudi family, has been defying U.S. efforts to capture or kill him for years. Since 1996, he has been living under protection of the fundamentalist Taliban regime in Afghanistan in a remote mountain redoubt.
He has also been indicted for the deadly 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Nairobi and was linked to last October’s attack on the USS Cole in Aden, Yemen, which killed 17 American servicemen.
A week after the attack on the United States, Bush presented the Taliban with an ultimatum, demanding that they surrender bin Laden and lieutenants in his al Qaeda network, close his training camps, allow international inspections, and release detained aid workers.
He said if they failed to comply, the Taliban would share the fate of the bin Laden network. The Taliban adheres to an extreme, puritanical form of Islam, under which women are not allowed to work, seek education or to show their unveiled faces in public.
Afghanistan’s opposition Northern Alliance said it had complied with a U.S. request to close its airspace and ground its small fleet of helicopters and fixed wing planes a few hours before the attack began.
It warned residents of Kabul to stay away from military installations.
The Taliban has been diplomatically isolated and is now almost encircled by hostile military forces ready to mount an assault. Bin Laden has been living as a “guest” of the Afghan government since 1996.
Under intense pressure and with reports mounting of defections by some of its supporters, the Taliban is reacting with a mixture of defiance and attempts at conciliation.
The Taliban said an extra 8,000 troops were being sent to its northern border with Uzbekistan to join several thousand already there. “We have deployed our forces there at all important places. This is the question of our self respect and we will never bow before the Americans and will fight to the last,” Afghan Islamic Press quoted a Taliban spokesman as saying.
Afghan opposition forces fighting the ruling Taliban said on Sunday they had seized 11 villages in the central province of Ghor and were advancing on the provincial capital Cheghcharan.
An opposition spokesman, Mohammad Habeel, said Taliban defections were partly responsible for the advance in Ghor, which followed reports on Saturday of similar movement in the northern province of Samangan.
“The probability of the fall of Cheghcharan is high,” Habeel told Reuters by satellite telephone.
The United States has sent 1,000 soldiers to Uzbekistan, which shares a border with Afghanistan. The Voice of America said the first planes had landed.
U.S. and British aircraft carriers, more than 300 warplanes, ships armed with cruise missiles and special forces troops have gathered within striking distance of Afghanistan. Some 30,000 troops have also been deployed.
In Kabul, scores of people prepared to leave the beleaguered capital, a day after the sound of anti-aircraft guns trying to hit a circling spy aircraft renewed fears of imminent military strikes.
Security forces in Pakistan’s border province of Baluchistan ordered Afghan refugees to move from camps near the airport after intercepting a message threatening to down an airliner.
The United Nations says a quarter of Afghanistan’s 24 million population are dependent on food aid, that more than a million people have fled their homes within the war- and drought-ravaged country and that up to 1.5 million more may try to cross into neighboring countries.
Aid agencies stepped up their pleas for emergency food shipments to the country and Oxfam said between 1 million and 2 million people were already on the road in Afghanistan, trying to reach safety.
I think attack will follow attack til American economic is enough "stabled". Profitable indeed.
“na maiN* momin vich masiitaa*N, na maiN* muusaa, na fir'aun!”
*
Innocents are dying and this is cold and calculated.
Dont forget there are innocent poeple in their homes too poor to move that are now being bombed.
It’s so easy to believe that there is no “collatoral” damage.
My heart bleeds
Disgusting but true, CNN is advertising for deadly weapons to sell them later on to same people they consider as Terrorists.
“na maiN* momin vich masiitaa*N, na maiN* muusaa, na fir'aun!”
*
Is there anyone out here having extreme anxiety, a sinking feeling ... like myself??
I have the worst intuition that something rather a lot bigger than a war has started.
I feel sad that it took a wrongful deed to initiate this all.... but I guess the educated Muslims really never tried to set the records straight for the innocent , who were forced to believe what the ignorant mullah had to say!!!!
I feel that America has driven a whole lot more into this war than was necessary.Bush said that france, germany , and other allies have offered their forces if and when necessary.
I have a bad feeling about this. i wish we had stopped it when it all started.
forgive me for sharing my blues.
Goony I'm with you. I'm feeling of anticipation in my stomach. Gee!!
“na maiN* momin vich masiitaa*N, na maiN* muusaa, na fir'aun!”
*
- We are joined in this operation by our staunch friend, Great Britain.Other close friends, including Canada, Australia, Germany and France, have pledged forces as the operation unfolds.*
Hmmm...just 5 countries will support the US with troops. Six western Christian powers that's all, and not one single Muslim country. Quite a contrast with the Gulf War when the US had some 30 or so countries offering forces. American influence seems to have declined BIG time. And the name of this operation is "Operation Enduring Freedom". I suppose they don't have confidence it will be as infinite as they dreamed about.
Anyway let's see how many Afghan Muslims they kill before they get their man, if they do that is? Our prayers are with the brave Afghan people. Allah protect them.
[This message has been edited by Malik73 (edited October 07, 2001).]
[quote]
Originally posted by Ali_R:
**Goony I'm with you. I'm feeling of anticipation in my stomach. Gee!!
**
[/quote]
I feel like crying....the worst part is that there are hundred and thousand people living in those cities and even though they know they have been attacked, they still don't have anywhere to run....where would they go...the whole cities are under attack....
Just listened to the OBLs speech on CNN and I must say that this guy has valid points. I share some of his views, but do condemn attacks killing and murdering others.
He spoke what we think, but never had the chance to speak out openly.
Hard and straight foward......just the simply truth.
“na maiN* momin vich masiitaa*N, na maiN* muusaa, na fir'aun!”
*
[quote]
Originally posted by Malik73:
Anyway let's see how many Afghan Muslims they kill before they get their man, if they do that is? Our prayers are with the brave Afghan people. Allah protect them.
**
[/quote]
No doubt about that. Surely our prayers are with them. May Allah protect them and save them from attacks and other cruel killings.
Ameen.
Can we have some reaction of AMERICANs please!
“na maiN* momin vich masiitaa*N, na maiN* muusaa, na fir'aun!”
*
[This message has been edited by Ali_R (edited October 07, 2001).]
Hmmm…just 5 countries will support the US with troops. Six western Christian powers that’s all, and not one single Muslim country. Quite a contrast with the Gulf War when the US had some 30 or so countries offering forces.
Well malik they R covertly supporting as they hav done in the past and will so do in future.This was written on the wall to be happening sooner or later. Now lets act on “wait and see policy”.
I hope major faction of Afghan ppl remain safe.
Do we know how USA launched these attacks?
Were they launched from missiles fired from their war ships in Arabian Sea? Or were bombers used? Was Pak Airspace used, and was it only missiles going through Pak airspace or actual bomber air-planes?
Bin Laden and his friend spoke. The translator was quite confused especially in the first part, and I am sure he messed up a number of times.
The ultimate aim of Bin Laden is not to attack or damage US. Now its clear that his aim is to over-throw the monarchies and dictatorships of middle east and return to Arabia as the ruler, and unify the whole nation.
His grievances do not start in 1948 (creation of Israel), or 1990 (American troops came to Saudi Arabi).
It was very remarkable that he mentioned 80 years of suffering for muslims in his speech. This clearly refers to the end of khilafa at the end of WW I. Bin Laden wishes to bring back khilafa and unite the muslims of the world.
Will he get his wish, is something only time can tell. It surely is a long order and a difficult process. I am not at all sure, how prepared Osama is in his endeavors.
Ok, Pentagon briefing:
B1B, B2 and B52 bombers used. Also Tomahawk missiles are fired from ships and submarines.
Donald Rumsfeld said that attacks were against TERRORISTS not against Afghanistan nor against Afghan people. Isn't that naive??? You bomb their country destroy their infra structure and talk about not attacking their soil!
Same as to claim that it was an attack on the WTC Towers not U.S !!
“na maiN* momin vich masiitaa*N, na maiN* muusaa, na fir'aun!”
*
Once and for all, the US will be going above and beyond to minimize non-military, non-Taliban casualties in Afghanistan.
I've been monitoring these boards for several weeks now, since the attacks. I'm deeply saddened and upset to see the depth of ignorance that many of you demonstrate. This is not an attack against Islam. On the contrary, it's an attack against forces that propagate upon, and feed upon, hatred and terror. Based on what I know, this is not representative of Islam.
Taliban and OBLs network will soon learn the meaning of one american phrase that I wished Pres. Bush had used (instead of some others):
"you mess with the bull, you get the horns."
My Allah have mercy on their souls, because America and it's allies won't.
-Stu
Also, Paki Govt. confirms its air-space being used......
[quote]
Originally posted by mm10:
**
Well malik they R covertly supporting as they hav done in the past and will so do in future.This was written on the wall to be happening sooner or later. Now lets act on "wait and see policy".
**
[/quote]
I'm sure some others were also covertly supporting the 30+ member overt coalition in 1990/91. But this time only 5 are overtly supporting the USA. Thats a pretty poor coalition if you ask me.