The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, July 01, 2002, Image 6

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    Monday, July 1, 2002
INTKRNATIOY Ag
THE BATTALlJ
Israel kills suspected Hamas leader, begins
construction on electronic fence in Jerusalem
111 IT
JERUSALEM (AP) — An Israeli
tank shelled a house in the West Bank
city of Nablus on Sunday, killing a sus
pected Hamas bombmaker whose work
is blamed for the deaths of at least 100
Israelis in suicide bombings.
Israel also started building a tower
ing electronic fence that will protect
three sides of Jerusalem against
Palestinian attacks. Defense Minister
Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said on a visit to
the area Sunday.
“I am happy that ... we have started
with the project,” said Ben-Eliezer,
who is also overseeing other security
operations: the army’s occupation of
seven Palestinian cities and towns in
the West Bank, and the dismantling of
illegal, isolated Jewish settlements
that are difficult for the army to
defend.
In the assault in Nablus, the army
said special forces killed Mohammed
Tahir, described as a local leader of the
militant Islamic Hamas movement. His
attacks included the June 18 bombing
of a Jerusalem bus that killed 19 and
the June 1, 2001, attack on a Tel Aviv
disco that killed 2 1, the army said.
Palestinians described Tahir as one
of the leading bombmakers in the
Hamas military wing, Izzadine al
Qassam. A Tahir aide was also killed
and another Hamas activist was seri
ously wounded, the army said.
The Jerusalem fence, which will
stretch 30 miles, is similar to one that
will separate part of the West Bank
from Israel further to the northwest.
Construction on that fence began earli
er this month, part of a larger plan to
construct barriers that will completely
separate Israel from the West Bank — a
distance of about 215 miles.
Israel will first build the fence — at
some points about 15 feet high — at the
city’s northern and southern ends,
which should take about three months,
said Amos Yaron, director general of
the Defense Ministry. Later it will build
the barrier along the city's east side.
Palestinians want east Jerusalem lor
a capital of a future state, and they
oppose fencing off the city from the
West Bank. Roadblocks already have
made it difficult for Palestinians to visit
Jerusalem since violence began in
September 2000.
Palestinian attackers have launched
frequent attacks in the area. Gunmen
have fired from the West Bank at Gilo,
a nearby Jewish neighborhood built on
land Israel captured in the 1967
Mideast War.
Jerusalem has been hit harder than
any other Israeli city during the
Palestinian uprising, and security
forces have set up barricades to keep
West Bank Palestinians from reaching
Jerusalem.
Since the beginning of 2002, 63
Israelis and foreigners have been killed
in bombings, shootings and stabbings
in Jerusalem.
The army on Sunday oversaw the
evacuation of two tiny, unauthorized
outposts tor Jewish settlers in the
southern West Bank, army radio report
ed. Ben-Eliezer said other illegal settle
ments would also be demolished.
Israeli officials said settlers were coop
erating with the actions.
Near the Beit Haggai settlement,
two families living in one caravan were
evacuated, according to a security
guard at the settlement who spoke on
condition of anonymity.
The caravan was about a half-mile
away from Beit Haggai. but guards did
not allow journalists from The
Associated Press to approach.
The second illegal outpost was out
side the settlement of Maaleh Hever,
army radio said.
“Israel will close illegal settlements
in the West Bank that are built without
permission,” said Arthur Lenk.
spokesman for the Foreign Ministry.
Peace Now, an Israeli group
opposed to the settlements, said about
40 illegal outposts have been e>i
fished since Prime Minister A:
Sharon came to power last year,
has been a leading proponent of set
ments for decades.
Most unauthorized outposts coc
only of a few trailers set on WestB;
hilltops, and critics say the need
defend them places too greatabti
on the army and damages the pros]
of an eventual deal with
Palestinians.
Israel has almost 150 govern!
authorized settlements in the
Bank and the Gaza Strip, w here a
210.000 Israelis live.
Settler groups claim that the
outposts are merely extensions
existing settlements and that rentes
them would be a “reward"
Palestinian terrorism.
Palestinians want all settleme
evacuated and claim all of the l
Bank and the Gaza Strip forak
Palestinian state.
This is o
today in
Cameron Reynolds
Attorney At Law
Licensed by the Texas Supreme Court
Not Board Certified
Class of‘91
Jim James
Attorney At Law
Board Certified Criminal Law
Class of‘75
V
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e-mail: jim@tca.net
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J 1
U.S. building up forces at obscure
but critical air base in Qatar desert
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AL-UDEID AIR BASE,
Qatar (AP) — If President
Bush ordered airstrikes on Iraq,
this vast, remote and little-pub
licized base in the central
Persian Gulf would be a critical
hub for U.S. warplanes and
their aerial pipeline of bombs
and supplies.
The government of Qatar is
spending millions of dollars to
expand al-Udeid. Over the past
months, the U.S. military quiet
ly has moved munitions, equip
ment and communications gear
to the base from Saudi Arabia,
the Control center for American
air operations in the Gulf for
more than a decade.
About 3,300 American
troops are in Qatar, mostly at al-
Udeid. The base is an isolated
outpost amid a flat, seemingly
endless stretch of scrubby desert
about 20 miles from Doha,
Qatar’s capital.
Signs of an American mili
tary buildup are unmistakable:
• A tent city has sprouted,
along with huge, air-conditioned
warehouses and miles of securi
ty barriers that attest to the U.S.
military’s sharpened focus on
protecting troops against terror
ist attack.
• Freshly paved runways and
aircraft parking ramps stretch
deep into the desert. Al-Udeid’s
main, 15,000-foot runway is the
longest in the region and can
handle the largest Air Force
transport planes.
• Newly built hangars for
fighter aircraft are hardened to
withstand aerial attack. Within
view from the main runway are
dozens of hardened bunkers,
presumably for storage of muni
tions and supplies.
“It is likely the most capable
base in the Gulf region,” said
William Arkin, a private military
analyst.
In a sign of al-Udeid’s impor
tance to the Bush administra
tion, Vice President Dick
Cheney visited the base in
March and Defense Secretary
Donald H. Rumsfeld stopped to
see the troops in June.
Al-Udeid is by no means the
only important U.S. military
base in the Gulf area. Nearly
10,000 U.S. Army soldiers are at
Camp Doha in Kuwait and an
additional 4,200 troops are in
Bahrain, headquarters for the
Navy’s 5th Fleet. Several thou
sand are in Saudi Arabia and a
few thousand in Oman.
Days after the Sept. 1 1
attacks, Qatar granted permis
sion for the United States to
send a group of warplanes,
organized as the 379th Air
Expeditionary Wing, to al-
Udeid. They flew attack mis
sions over Afghanistan and
were supported by KC-10 and
KC-135 refueling aircraft also
based at al-Udeid.
Al-Udeid also is host to Air
Force Red Horse squadrons,
rapid-response teams of civil
engineers that can repair and
build a wide array of structures
such as runways and roads in
remote areas. They also conduct
site surveys, drill wells, erect
buildings and organize tent
cities for troops.
There has been speculation
that al-Udeid is being built up
as either an alternative to, or
replacement for, the Combined
Air Operations Center at Prince
Sultan Air Base in Saudi
Arabia. The Saudis have made
clear they do not favor an
American invasion of Iraq, and
it is possible that if Bush went
ahead anyway, the Saudis might
forbid the use of the air control
center at Prince Sultan.
U.S. government policy is to
achieve “regime change” in Iraq,
and President Bush has made
clear that this could mean mili
tary action to topple President
Saddam Hussein. Bush asserts
that Saddam is building weapons
of mass destruction and cannot
be trusted to keep such weapons
out of the hands of terrorists.
Preparing for war?
The United States is quietly
moving weapons and
equipment from Saudi Arabia
to Al-Udeid Air Base, an
expanding base in Qatar that is
becoming the most capable and
important in the Middle East.
I IRAQ
KUWAITY
BAHRAIN
200n
o Riyadh
m Prince Sultan
Air Base
SAUDI ARABIA
0 200 km
IRAN
QATAR
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SOURCES: Associated Press; Globalsecurity
Bush has not ruled out ordering
pre-emptive strikes to eliminate
the Iraqi threat.
Gen. Tommy Franks, com
mander of U.S. forces in the
Middle East, said this year he
had no plans to move the air
control center. But he added,
“That does not mean that I don’t
have plans to replicate it.” He
also said early in the
org
CLEN
fesider
oack ini
Afghanistan war that he School ^
considering moving his 'T 11
Command headquarters JJis,on
Tampa, Fla., to Qatar, aUho^Jnt fi
he eventually chose not 00 Cl
Qatar is small-rougW ^c as
size of Connecticut hor« a' 16
location on the western s > . ^ ye;
of the Gulf, bordering t , S |:Bnli CP t
Arabia, make it well sui -
air operations against Iraq-
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694-4100
Pakistan appeals for publiepr
help to catch bin Laden
KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistan
denounced Osama bin Laden and his top aides as
“dangerous religious terrorists” Sunday and called
for public help in hunting them down, five days
after its first battlefield casualties in the fight
against al-Qaida fugitives.
Authorities did not cite any evidence that bin
Laden is in Pakistan, but the rare public appeal
came as Pakistani troops were scouring a remote
region on the Afghan border, searching for dozens
of al-Qaida fighters after a firefight Wednesday
that left 10 soldiers dead. J
The call comes amid a widening crackdown on
domestic extremists as part of FBI-assisted investi
gations into two recent deadly bombings and the kid
nap-slaying earlier this year of Wall Street Journal
reporter Daniel Pearl m Karachi, Pakistan’s largest
city which is considered a hub of militant activity^
m J ? three-page statement from the I me,for
Ministry bears photographs of bin Laden his
cine deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri and 17 other al-
Qatda figures under the rubric: “Dangerous
Religious Terrorists.” . igi
“Those who kill innocent Pakistani 1^°^^
the enemy of peace and country,” said tfie J
language statement. “Their purpose is te
and destruction. Their religion is only tel1 ^
Terrorism is not jihad. Support the Pakista ;
ernment against terrorism.” T S j|
The statement quotes in Arabic f rolT1 .!
holy book, the Quran, and urges people w ^
mation about terrorists to contact police : w ,1
treat sources and information as confide 11
reward money was offered. The appeal jffl
in at least one Urdu-language newspaper in “1
though not papers in the capital, Islarriaba •
In Pakistan’s rugged North West J
Province, more than 3,000 Pakistani
pressed ahead with door-to-door se ^ rC k j n g|
manned vehicle checkpoints Sunday, 1°° j
about 40 al-Qaida suspects who e ^.|| a ^i
Wednesday’s four-hour clash near Wana ,■»
about 190 miles west of Islamabad. At
people have been detained so far.