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Classrooms
of Terror for 5,000 Young Men
Excerpts
from an article describing one of the first Afghanistan terrorist
training camps destroyed by U.S. air strikes:
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This
was Garmabak Ghar.
(click for large size image)
It
was one of Osama bin Laden's most important terrorist training
camps until Monday of this week. That was when a B-2 Stealth
bomber streaked out of a US Air Force base halfway around the
world, to drop the precision bombs that reduced the camp to
dust.
(Click for large size image)
The
camp, isolated in craggy mountains near the southern city of
Kandahar, usually is home to as many as 200 would-be terrorists
from around the Arab world. But before Monday's air strike,
bin Laden had them scatter to the hills.
Camp
life at Garmabak Ghar had its own rhythm - trainees rose early
for prayers, had breakfast on the run, spent their days in training
and classes interspersed with more prayers and then spent much
of the evenings on the darkened hillsides, some smoking and
all drinking sweet green tea.
Now
the camp has been reduced to no more than the dust that fills
the windy air in these parts. However, it will live on in the
minds of Americans.
It
has not been established if any of those involved in the September
11 attacks trained here.
But
two of the US's most prized prisoners - Mohammed Saddiq Odeh
and Mohammed Rashed Daoud ae-'Owhali - have admitted to investigators
that they boned up on weapons and explosives here before taking
part in the 1998 bombing of the US embassies in Nairobi and
Dar es Salaam.
It
- and six others which the Pentagon claims have been destroyed-
was a vital stop on the al-Qaeda road to terror for an estimated
5,000 young men. ...
US
investigators say bin Laden has trained about 5,000 Muslim fighters
in his camps, but that others operated by the Taliban and other
Muslim militias associated with bin Laden's al-Qaeda network
have been responsible for training more than 45,000. ...
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Source:
- Sydney
Morning Herald [link inactive]
Details
on FBI 'Most Wanted Terrorists'
Excerpt
from article describing details of the FBI's new Top 22 "Most
Wanted Terrorists":
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President
Bush yesterday unveiled a list of "Most Wanted Terrorists"
that includes Osama bin Laden and 21 other suspects linked to
acts of terror over the past 16 years, declaring "it is
time to draw the line in the sand against the evil ones."
The
new list, a supplement to the FBI's popular "10 Most Wanted"
list, contains the names of suspects charged in the bombings
of U.S. embassies in East Africa in 1998 -- including bin Laden
-- and the 1996 bombing of Khobar Towers,a U.S. military complex
in Saudi Arabia.
(Click for large size image)
The
State Department has offered as much as $5 million for information
leading to the capture of each.
None
of those on the list has been charged in connection with the
Sept. 11 attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center,
which left more than 5,000 dead. But Bush and other U.S. officials
have publicly declared bin Laden and his al Qaeda network responsible
for the assaults, and several top bin Laden lieutenants have
been linked to the attacks by U.S. and British intelligence.
...
Source:
Unisex
Contraception
Excerpts
of article detailing a key protein required for conception and
the possibility that inhibition of that protein will allow the
development of a birth control method that works for both men
and women:
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The
discovery of a protein that is crucial to sperm swimming
in mice could lead to new male or female contraceptives
or fertility treatments.
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The
protein forms a channel through the membrane of the sperm
tail. It controls the inflow of calcium ions that trigger
swimming.
...
Sperm without the channel are incapable of making a violent
whiplash movement, called hypermotility. Sperm turn hypermotile
inside a female - possibly in response to a chemical signal
from her - just before fertilization.
...
Worldwide, the market for oral contraceptives was worth
almost US $4 billion last year. The demand for a male
pill would be "phenomenal", says Benoff. "Surveys
show that men would be as willing as women to use oral
contraception if it was convenient. I get phone calls
every week from people wanting to take part in trials."
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Source:
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The
Secret To Beating Fundamentalism
Complete
article detailing the complicity of fundamentalist religion
in the attack on America and the encouragement of education
to mitigate against fundamentalism, by Peter Singer, DeCamp
professor of bioethics at Princeton University, appears below.
What
are the keys to insuring the type of religious madness we're
now facing is put into the cesspool of human failures, never
to be repeated again?
While
I agree with Peter that education is key, unlike Peter, I would
submit that secular proactive measures (unlike anything attempted
before) can and should be implemented (see Why
Not Let Children Decide For Themselves), with cogent and
enlightened participation by citizenry, as well as the elevation
of humankind via moves towards a more egalitarian distribution
of the world's resources, as Peter mentions.
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I
have often argued that the rich nations of the world have not
done nearly enough to share their wealth with those who have
less. It should have been possible, over the past decade, to
make much greater inroads in the number of people living in
absolute poverty.
The
$US 40 billion that the United States Congress has now agreed
to spend to combat terrorism and repair the damage that terrorism
has caused would have been enough to make a real start in that
effort - and that amount should have come from all the rich
nations of the world, not just from the US.
That
is not the kind of sum that would have entailed real sacrifice
from the citizens of the rich nations, but, properly targeted,
it could have made a huge difference to the world's poorest
people.
It
is tempting to suggest that the terrorist attacks of September
11 might have been averted if the rich nations had been readier
to share their wealth, and that the hatred many people feel
towards America would have been lessened by a more generous
approach to the rest of the world.
Perhaps
even now, the argument might go, the money being spent on attacking
Afghanistan would be better spent on assistance for poor nations.
Apart from helping people instead of killing and maiming them,
that money would have the opposite effect of fanning the flames
of hatred - hatred that creates more fanatics ready to martyr
themselves to attack the country from which the rockets and
bombs are coming.
Unfortunately,
I don't believe it. On the evidence available, those who carried
out the attacks were not motivated by a concern for the world's
poor, or a desire to achieve greater global justice. They were
motivated by their religious beliefs.
A
handwritten Arabic document left behind by Mohamed Atta, one
of the hijackers, is full of references to obedience to God
and to the need for prayer and to seek the guidance of God.
It contains assurances that "God will stand with those
who stood fast", and that after the end of this life, "you
will begin to live the happy life, the infinite paradise".
Similarly,
the videotaped statement issued by Osama bin Laden after the
US began attacking Afghanistan on October 7 repeatedly praises
God, and calls on him for assistance. It divides the world into
two camps, "the camp of the faithful and the camp of the
infidels", and calls on every Muslim to "rise to defend
his religion".
What
could the US do to stop terrorist attacks motivated by this
kind of religious belief? Among the few political jokes to make
the rounds in these grim times is the suggestion that if only
George W. Bush would convert to Islam, America could save itself
a lot of trouble. But that suggestion is, if anything, more
likely to be taken up than the other, more sensible alternative:
that Bush should take on the real enemy - religious fundamentalism.
What
are the chances that Bush will engage in an intensive effort
to educate people around the world in the reasons why we should
treat supposedly sacred religious texts as human creations,
no less fallible than other human creations? Or that he will
seek to puncture belief in heaven, about the only thing that
could make it rational to fly a plane into a building, killing
yourself along with everyone else?
The
answer is: zero. The President who now finds himself fighting
Islamic fundamentalism himself came to power on the votes of
Christian fundamentalists, who overwhelmingly supported him,
largely because of his anti-abortion stance.
America
has a higher percentage of its population willing to say that
they "definitely believe in the Devil" (45 per cent)
than any other country in the world. About one-third of Americans
say they definitely believe that "the Bible is the actual
word of God and it is to be taken literally, word for word".
Bush
himself says he regularly reads the Bible, and that his "faith"
helps him to make decisions. So he is in no position to criticise
anyone else for holding irrational beliefs about God or the
afterlife.
But
even if the US was led by someone less committed to religious
belief than Bush, and therefore prepared to lay the blame for
the attacks squarely at the door of irrational religious faith,
would it do any good? Probably not.
There
is little evidence that religious belief has ever been lessened
by government criticism, and plenty of examples, such as Poland
under the communists, where it thrived in the face of long-term
government hostility.
But
in the long run, education does make some difference. Even in
America, religious belief is lower among those with higher levels
of education. To say this is not to deny that some religious
fundamentalists - including, it seems, some of the hijackers
themselves - have high levels of education. Nevertheless, it
is possible to hope that a highly educated nation will provide
a less fertile soil for religious belief.
So
one lesson to be drawn from the terrible events of September
11 is that the answer may lie in education. And since education
is part of development, we have circled around to the conclusion
that if the rich nations did more to assist in the development
of the poor nations, the kind of terrorism that we have just
seen might be less likely.
But
the fruits of education are slow-ripening, and therefore no
answer for the immediate threat that terrorism poses. Useful
short-term lessons are hard to find.
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Source:
- theage.com.au
[link inactive]
Woman
Conceives Triplets While Pregnant
Complete
copy of article detailing an event likely destined for a future
edition in Ripley's Believe It or Not:
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An
Italian woman already pregnant with one child has become pregnant
again with triplets.
Doctors
say the 20-year-old conceived for the second time during her
third month of pregnancy.
A
specialist in Rome says only 20 other similar cases have ever
been reported.
The
woman from Ascoli Piceno, central Italy, who has not been named,
will give birth to the first baby later this month and the triplets
in December.
Professor
Carlo Flaminii of Sant'Eugenio hospital in Rome says the situation
is very rare.
He
told the Corriere Adriatico newspaper the ovulation process
usually stops during the first month of a "normal"
pregnancy.
But,
in this case, he said: "The woman has been found fertile
even later and this has caused the double pregnancy."
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Source:
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