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Home / Society / Issues / Warfare and Conflict / Specific Conflicts / War on Terrorism / News and Media / 2001 World Trade Center and Pentagon Attack / Robert Fisk
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- 'Suicide hijacker' is an airline pilot alive and well in Jeddah - "A man named by the US Department of Justice as a suicide hijacker of American Airlines flight 11 the first airliner to smash into the World Trade Centre is very much alive and living in Jeddah." From Beirut. Independent, UK.
www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=94438
- 'The Taliban are not worried about being bombed' - In Peshawar. "The Iranians hate the Taliban, but they hate the Americans even more. The Pakistanis helped to create the Taliban. Now the Americans are friends with the Pakistanis." Independent, UK.
www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=101721
- 'Will a few holes in the runway of Kandahar airport make a difference?' - Commenting on the suspension of US bombings on fridays. Independent, UK.
www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=99416
- A defiant sermon in the town of the infidel killer - Describes the sermons in Pakistani mosques and the mood of the audiences. Independent, UK.
www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=100459
- Al-Jazeera: A bold and original TV station that America wants to censor - "Al-Jazeera is now the best-selling, highest-rated channel in the Middle East. And when it comes to footage of the American bombing of Kabul, whose material does CNN show? Al-Jazeera's, of course." Independent, UK.
www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=98870
- Commentary: 'Smoking them out' is not new in the Middle East - "President Bush says that he wants justice, but the United States seems close to sanctioning hit squads and liquidation. A new policy for America, maybe but it's an old policy in the Middle East where assassination, kidnapping and murder squads have been a normal part of local "justice" for decades." Independent, UK.
www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=94825
- Commentary: As the refugees crowd the borders, we'll be blaming someone else - "It is palpably evident that they are not fleeing the Taliban but our bombs and missiles." Independent, UK.
www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=100895
- Commentary: Bush and Blair have already lost the talking war across the Middle East - "When you have enemies, they are 'terrorists' or 'madmen' or 'evildoers'. When we have enemies, we are asked to compromise with them." What the Press Says. Independent, UK.
www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=98659
- Commentary: Bush is walking into a trap - "Mr bin Laden every day his culpability becomes more apparent has described to me how he wishes to overthrow the pro-American regime of the Middle East, starting with Saudi Arabia and moving on to Egypt, Jordan and the other Gulf states. In an Arab world sunk in corruption and dictatorships most of them supported by the West the only act that might bring Muslims to strike at their own leaders would be a brutal, indiscriminate assault by the United States." Independent, UK.
www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=94254
- Commentary: Egypt is a nation caught between Islam and the West - "When I used to chat to the principal Egyptian lawyer defending the 'Islamists' of Egypt, he gave me his visiting card. His head office? In Saudi Arabia." Independent, UK.
argument.independent.co.uk/commentators/story.jsp?story=99062
- Commentary: Farewell to democracy in Pakistan - "The problem, as Mr Shah points out, is that future peace and stability requires sustained investment in solid secular democracies not in stable dictatorships." Independent, UK.
www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=101459
- Commentary: How can the US bomb this tragic people? - "I was working for The Times in 1980, and just south of Kabul I picked up a very disturbing story. A group of religious mujahedin fighters had attacked a school because the communist regime had forced girls to be educated alongside boys. So they had bombed the school, murdered the head teacher's wife and cut off her husband's head. It was all true. But when The Times ran the story, the Foreign Office complained to the foreign desk that my report gave support to the Russians. Of course. Because the Afghan fighters were the good guys. Because Osama bin Laden was a good guy. Charles Douglas-Home, then editor of The Times would always insist that Afghan guerrillas were called 'freedom fighters' in the headline. There was nothing you couldn't do with words." Independent, UK.
news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=95487
- Commentary: How to devastate the world in one easy lesson - "The pilot looked at me as though I was a fool. 'Eighteen months? You think it takes 18 months to learn how to fly a Boeing 757 once it's in the air?' Far below us the clouds of northern Europe passed like a white screen. 'I can teach you how to fly this plane in two minutes. At least I can teach you all you need to know in order to become a hijacker.'" Independent, UK.
www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=95386
- Commentary: Just who are our allies in Afghanistan? - Background on the leaders of the Northern Alliance. Independent, UK.
www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=97281
- Commentary: Lost in the rhetorical fog of war - "The Taliban have kept reporters out; does that mean we have to balance this distorted picture with our own half-truths?" Independent, UK.
argument.independent.co.uk/commentators/story.jsp?story=98407
- Commentary: Obsession with bin Laden crosses all frontiers - "You can see why men and women here regard Mr bin Laden as a just and good man, persecuted by the United States not because he blows up buildings but because he defies the greatest power on Earth." Independent, UK.
www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=100759
- Commentary: Our friends are killers, crooks and torturers - "This is a war of democracy versus evil, according to President Bush. It's just that there's not an awful lot of democracy around." Independent, UK.
www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=98181
- Commentary: The Arabs will ensure they receive a political reward for their support - "The Arabs, in other words, feel power and remorse in about equal measure. Power is likely to be the winner: they want a political reward for their support in the 'war against terrorism'." Independent, UK.
www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=97624
- Commentary: This is not a war on terror. It's a fight against America's enemies - "We are told by the Americans that this war will be different to all others. But one of the differences appears to be that we don't know who we are going to fight and how long we are going to fight for." Independent, UK.
argument.independent.co.uk/commentators/story.jsp?story=95825
- Commentary: This loose conjecture is unlikely to cut much ice with the Arab nations - "But as usual in the Arab world, what the people think and what the kings and presidents believe are not necessarily the same thing." Independent, UK.
www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=97836
- Commentary: War disturbs the most dangerous political tectonic plate in the world - "On Wednesday, if not before, we may find out the answer when the Islamic conference opens in Qatar. It will be intriguing perhaps even frightening to listen to what Muslim leaders say when they meet." Independent, UK.
www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=98298
- Commentary: Who is copying who in war of words? - "Arabs, who could understand Mr bin Laden's spokesman in his original Arabic, might have been forgiven for thinking that the White House and the cave in which Mr bin Laden is supposedly hiding have had a linguistic hot-line." Independent, UK.
argument.independent.co.uk/commentators/story.jsp?story=98871
- Divided kingdom that became a cradle for determined killers - "Saudi Arabia's internal tensions are becoming more transparent as the full story of the attacks is pieced together." Independent, UK.
www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=96305
- Faxes to Muslims in America warn against 'treason' - "Ignoring the growing evidence of connections between groups in Afghanistan and the bombing of the US embassies in Africa and the suicide attacks on the World Trade Centre, Dr Ahmed claims that 'it is becoming clear that the secret Israeli service Musad [sic] orchestrated these terrorist attacks to change the world opinion against Islam and Muslims.'" Independent, UK.
www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=96930
- If Bush wants an invasion, it could become more costly than Vietnam - "President Bush is talking about a 'crusade' - it would be difficult to find a word more likely to enrage Muslims but if he plans to wage it in Afghanistan, the United States faces a military campaign more fraught and potentially even more costly than Vietnam." Independent, UK.
www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=94638
- Is the world's favourite hate figure to blame? Osama bin Laden - "For if this is a war it cannot be fought like other wars. Indeed, can it be fought at all without some costly military adventure overseas? Or is that what Mr bin Laden seeks above all else?" Independent, UK.
www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=93624
- It suits Bin Laden if we call him the head of World Terror Inc - "He must have been flattered when, six months later, the Americans claimed he was the mastermind of 'international terror'. He needed the title, even if he didn't deserve it." Independent, UK.
www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=95878
- Nervous Saudis tell US: War on terrorism will not be launched from our airfields - "The real problem for Gulf Arabs is the vagueness of America's proposed military response to the mass murders in New York and Washington." From Beirut. Independent, UK.
www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=95678
- No guilt, no responsibility at this perverse gathering of Islamic kings and dictators - "We're sorry about 11 September, they said. Please don't bomb Afghanistan more than you have to. Please don't kill the innocent. And please don't bomb us. You couldn't put it simpler than that." Independent, UK.
www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=98854
- Osama bin Laden: The godfather of terror? - About bin Laden, from the journalist's meetings with him. Includes background information. Independent, UK.
www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=94125
- Promises, Promises - Discussing the reliability of promises made by those statesmen who promote the anti-terror-coalition. Independent, UK.
www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=99860
- Saifullah, man of peace, killed by American cruise missile - "He believed that Islam was the religion which most promotes peace in the world. He used to say that the Prophet, peace be upon him, tells us that we can't even attack a person who is engaged in war with us if he has his gun over his shoulder." Independent, UK.
www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=102226
- Saudis turn their backs on the Taliban, a monster they helped create - "Saudi Arabia's break with the Taliban ends a relationship that embarrassed the Saudis as much as it infuriated the United States even though it was studiously ignored by US administrations and the American media." Independent, UK.
www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=96089
- Slaughter of the innocent bolsters view that this is war against Islam - Discussing civilian casualties caused by the use of so-called smart weapons. Independent, UK.
www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=99519
- Stunned into disbelief as their 'normal' son is blamed - "'He was so normal. His personality and his life bore no relation to the kind of things that happened. He led a very normal life. He had girlfriends, he went to nightclubs, he went dancing sometimes.' And that, as they say, is the hole in the story...If they were Osama bin Laden's boys, they didn't behave like it. Bin Laden would not let his men smoke cigarettes, and drinking alcohol would have led to banishment from the ranks of his Al Qa'ida movement. Or was this an attempt to blind any American intelligence agencies which might be watching the men?" Independent, UK.
www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=94339
- Taliban finds few Muslim friends - "There is genuine outrage, true, but it would be as well to place it in context. Because the Taliban, the shield of Osama bin Laden, has almost as many enemies in the Middle East as it has in America." From Beirut. Independent, UK.
www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=94653
- Talks with Osama bin Laden - "When I last saw bin Laden, he was still obsessed with the Israeli massacre of 107 Lebanese refugees sheltering at the UN camp at Qana in April 1996. Israel claimed it was a "mistake," the UN conceded otherwise and President Clinton called it only a 'tragedy' - as if it was a natural disaster. It was, said bin Laden, an act of 'international terrorism.' There must be justice, he said, and trials for the Israeli perpetrators." The Nation, USA.
www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=archive&s=fisk_wtc_19980921
- The lesson of history: Afghanistan always beats its invaders - "Indeed, if there is one country calling it a nation would be a misnomer that the West should avoid militarily, it is the tribal land in which Osama Bin Laden maintains his obscure sanctuary." Independent, UK.
www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=93985
- The wickedness and awesome cruelty of a crushed and humiliated people - "Eight years ago, I helped to make a television series that tried to explain why so many Muslims had come to hate the West. Last night, I remembered some of those Muslims in that film, their families burnt by American-made bombs and weapons. They talked about how no one would help them but God. Theology versus technology, the suicide bomber against the nuclear power. Now we have learnt what this means." Independent, UK.
www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=93623
- They can run and they can hide. Suicide bombers are here to stay - "As long as 'our' side will risk but not give its lives (cost-free war, after all, was partly an American invention) the suicide bomber is the other side's nuclear weapon." Independent, UK.
www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=93798
- Watching the war from Kabul's rooftops - Eyewitness reports on the mood of Kabul citizens during the american attacks on the city. Independent, UK.
www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=100113
- What Muslim would write: 'The time of fun and waste is gone'? - "Fearful, chilling, grot-esque but also very, very odd. If the handwritten, five-page document which the FBI says it found in the baggage of Mohamed Atta, the suicide bomber from Egypt, is genuine, then the men who murdered more than 7,000 innocent people believed in a very exclusive version of Islam or were surprisingly unfamiliar with their religion." Independent, UK.
www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=96697
- Wounded four times, tortured and exiled again - but Abdulsalam keeps on smiling - The biography of a normal Afghan refugee. Independent, UK.
www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=100298
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