It included a $200 million CIA plan to arm anti&150Taliban forces
It included a $200 million CIA plan to arm anti–Taliban forces.”Why did it take eight months for us to receive this information? And what specific actions were taken by the White House in response?” Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle asked. “I’m not going to jump to any conclusions, but it’s hard to understand why the information was not released.”House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt posed a variation on the Watergate–era question: What did the president know and when did he know it?Turning the tables, Fleischer said today that Sen. Dianne Feinstein, , a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, told a TV interviewer in July that panel staff members had informed her of a “major probability” of a terrorist attack.”And that raises the question,” Mr Fleischer said, “what did the Democrats in Congress know And why weren’t they talking to each other?”. Israli soldiers raided the battle-scarred Jenin refugee camp yesterday, as Yasser Arafat’s aides said preparations had begun to hold presidential and parliamentary elections within six months. They ordered the family outside and when the family said it did not know where Mr Alhija was, the soldiers set the house on fire, the Islamic leader’s son said. Several Israeli tanks entered the city of Nablus, but left after several hours and made no arrests.In another part of the West Bank, an Israeli Arab woman was killed when gunmen opened fire on her taxi, and in the Gaza Strip, an armed Palestinian was killed by Israeli soldiers.The aides who announced that election preparations were under way said the polls would go ahead only if Israeli troops withdrew to positions held before the current fighting began in September 2000.A spokesman for Mr Arafat said the Palestinians also insisted that residents of traditionally Arab east Jerusalem be permitted to vote, as they were in the last Palestinian election in 1996.
The Palestinian Bureau of Statistics said it would take about 60 days to compile the list of 1.6 million eligible voters. (AP)* European diplomats have failed to agree on which EU countries will accommodate 13 Palestinians evacuated from the besieged Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, missing their own deadline of the end of this week. Although six countries have offered sanctuary, there was no agreement on a deal which would cover all 13 men, who are currently in Cyprus.. A decapitated and dismembered body believed to be that of the American reporter Daniel Pearl was found yesterday in a shallow grave on the outskirts of Karachi, Pakistan. Blood and hair samples have been sent for DNA testing, but Pakistani police said yesterday they were “quite sure” the body was Mr Pearl’s. There were bloodstains on the walls of the hut, and a chair identical to one seen in photographs of Mr Pearl that were sent to media organisations following his abduction.Four men are on trial for Mr Pearl’s murder, including the supposed “mastermind”, Omar Saeed Sheikh, a British national who was born and raised in Essex. But the latest breakthrough occurred after police arrested three more men on suspicion of involvement.
It was their confessions that led police to the secluded site.According to witnesses in the trial, Mr Pearl, South Asia correspondent of The Wall Street Journal, was abducted from his home in Karachi by Omar Sheikh while investigating possible links between Richard Reid, the British so-called “shoe bomber”, and Islamic militants in Pakistan.Several days later, e-mails were sent to international media organisations demanding the return to Pakistan of Pakistanis being held by the US at Guantanamo Bay. Photographs were attached to the e-mails showing Mr Pearl in captivity.In February, the fears of Mr Pearl’s friends and his heavily pregnant wife, Mariane, were confirmed when a video was delivered to the US consulate in Karachi showing Mr Pearl being killed.. A thousand British troops were yesterday once again in the mountains of south-east Afghanistan hunting Taliban and al-Qa’ida forces after the Australian SAS and US warplanes killed a number of men regarded as hostile fighters. But it was the second British operation, after Ptarmigan, to have ended without a shot being fired.American sources said yesterday that the British had insisted on being the lead force to react to the Australian firefight, although the official allied Quick Response Force was the American 101st Airborne. However, there were several hours delay between the Australian clash, the US bombing, and the Royal Marines arriving.At Bagram, the allied headquarters, Brigadier Roger Lane, the British task force commander, said: “The priority will be destruction or capture of the terrorists in the area. We will also aim to destroy enemy infrastructure we may find.”Local tribal leaders and Afghan security officials said that two clans, the Sabari and the Balkhiel, were skirmishing over a land dispute on a mountain near the town of Khost at the time of the allied action.
Soon afterwards 10 people on both sides were killed in a bombardment by US aircraft.Other tribal leaders said the bombing began when shots were fired, according to tribal custom, during a wedding at the village of Balkhiel.The Australian forces spokesman, Brigadier Mike Hannan, said in Canberra that special forces had been in two firefights. “The first element came into contact yesterday afternoon and was involved in a firefight.” No Australians were killed or injured, but at least one suspected enemy soldier was killed in a gun battle that lasted several hours, before the Australians withdrew. A few hours later, a second SAS group trying to link up with the first came under fire, about four miles from the original clash. “They were able to fight their way through and join up, supported by air support from the US air force, and then they were able to move to an area of safety,” Major Hannan said..