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Last
Fight to Oust bin Laden
Excerpts
from articles
describing the latest efforts to capture or kill bin Laden and
his defenders in the Tora Bora caves area:
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Last
fight to oust an unwanted foreigner.
Hunting Down bin Laden
It
was perfect bombing weather. The B52 bomber cut a fine white
line through the blue skies south of Jalalabad, making silent
circles around its target. When the bombs dropped near Tora
Bora, the crash echoed through the hills surrounding the Maleva
Valley and the plumes of grey smoke rose as though the mountains
were on fire.
Afghan
fighters watch US bombings
of Tora Bora cave areas
There
was silence, then, a few seconds later, the Afghan anti-Taleban
soldiers began cheering and laughing. “For too long we
have had foreigners using our country for war,” Mangal,
a Pashtun soldier who once fought the Russians, said. “Bin
Laden is a foreigner and if the Americans help us to get him
out, that is good.”
Shortly
after, three Soviet tanks positioned strategically on the Bamokhail
Ridge looking out over Tora Bora began firing. The Afghans aimed
then released a shell that fell in the hills with a dull, heavy
thud and a vibration that shook the earth on which we were standing.
Tora
Bora, the mountain complex of tunnels the name of which means
“Black Dust”, is thought to hide 1,500 al-Qaeda fighters
and, possibly, Osama bin Laden. It sits inside a 13,000ft mountain,
hidden by pine trees and with an entrance wide enough for a
car. From the top of the Ghree Khil mountain, the Pakistani
border is only a day’s walk to the south.
...
When asked about the reward money that the US Government has
offered for bin Laden, many soldiers acted surprised, even insulted.
“We are fighting for our country,” one sniffed. Sorhab
Khan, another commander, added: “We don’t believe
in the reward. We aren’t fighting for money.”
...
The Tora Bora base, only 50 miles south of Jalalabad, offers
numerous exit routes into Pakistan.
...
In addition to a vast network of caves and tunnels throughout
the mountain base, al-Qaeda fighters have designed mountaintop
firing positions from inside caves and behind cliffs. These
posts are fortified using scrap metal ripped from the sides
of destroyed Soviet tanks and helicopters. ...
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Sources:
Interim
Government in Afghanistan - New Leader Sets Out Aims
Hamid
Karzai, an ethnic Pashtun,
will head interim government
Excerpts
from article
describing the Bonn agreement setting forth the way in which
Afghanistan will attempt to transition to a democratic government
over a two year period, an effort required in order to qualify
for billions in foreign aid to rebuild the country:
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The
man appointed to lead Afghanistan for the next six months has
said that the country needs economic opportunities and democratic
elections in order to move forward.
Hamid
Karzai, an ethnic Pashtun, told the BBC that former Taleban
figures could play a role in a future government if the Afghan
people wanted them, but that "foreign terrorists"
must be expelled and tried.
"Foreign
terrorists that have made Afghanistan their base have brought
unbelievable suffering to our people and my country. "They
must leave Afghanistan and be taken to justice," he said
when asked about Osama Bin Laden, who is accused of masterminding
the 11 September attacks on the United States.
Delegates
from four Afghan factions agreed on Wednesday to set up a transitional
government headed by Mr Karzai after 20 years of war.
...
Mr Karzai told the BBC that decisions about the type of government
the country would have and who it would include must be made
by the Afghan people.
He
also said that if local forces could not provide "security
in this critical time of transition, then the presence of a
UN force would be a good thing". He
was talking by satellite phone from north of the southern Afghan
city of Kandahar, where his forces are battling the Taleban
for control.
He
said he believed Taleban leaders would "transfer power
to local tribal chiefs and local clergy ... sooner rather than
later".
... Guide
to Afghan Powerbrokers ...
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Source:
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Chinese
Folk Remedy Reportedly Fights Cancer
One
of my two sisters died
of a mestastes to the brain, caused by breast cancer, a few
years ago. So, when I saw the following article from a generally
reputable news
source, my interest was piqued.
I
didn't find much skepticism in the article, and I cannot vouch
for its accuracy, so please read and research the information
in your normal manner of doubt / hope / interest in edification
regarding the possibilities which reside in our natural world
..
Excerpts
from the article follow:
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Plant
compound sparks chain reaction that kills tumor cells.
Dec.
4 — Chinese folk medicine has yielded a promising new approach
for treating cancer. Using a dash of logic and modern lab techniques,
Seattle scientists have shown
that a compound extracted from the wormwood plant seeks out
and destroys breast cancer cells, while leaving healthy cells
unscathed.
In
laboratory experiments, the compound killed within 16 hours
virtually all human breast cancer cells exposed to it in the
test tube, reports Henry Lai, a bioengineering
researcher at the University of Washington. Just as importantly,
he says, nearly all of the normal cells exposed to it were still
alive.
And
a dog with a type of bone cancer known as osteosarcoma so severe
that it couldn’t walk across the room made a complete recovery
within five days of receiving the treatment. X-rays showed the
animal’s tumor “had basically disappeared,” says
Lai, adding that he believes the dog is still alive two years
later.
“Not
only does [the drug] appear to be effective, but it’s very
selective,” Lai says. “It’s highly toxic to the
cancer cells, but has a marginal impact on normal cells.”
So
what is this “novel” anti-cancer compound? It’s
called artemisinin — and actually, it isn’t new at
all. Chinese folk practitioners extracted it from the plant
Artemesia annua L., commonly known as wormwood, thousands of
years ago for use in the treatment of malaria, Lai says.
After
a “secret recipe” for the treatment was discovered
on a stone tablet in the tomb of a prince of the Han Dynasty
during an archaeological dig in the 1970s, artemisinin re-emerged
as a therapy for the mosquito-borne disease, Lai recalls.
In
fact, a purified form of the plant compound is now the drug
of choice for treating malaria in many areas, particularly where
chloroquine-resistant strains have emerged, he says.
Why it works - Experiments into why artemisinin works
as an anti-malaria agent led to its tests as an anti-cancer
drug. The key turned out to be a shared characteristic of the
malaria parasite and dividing cancer cells: high iron concentrations.
When
artemisinin — or any of its derivatives — comes into
contact with iron, a chemical reaction ensues, spawning charged
atoms that chemists call free radicals. In malaria, the free
radicals attack and bind with cell membranes, breaking them
apart and killing the single-cell parasite.
Cells,
too, need iron to replicate DNA when they divide, Lai says.
And since cancer is characterized by out-of-control cell division,
cancer cells have much higher iron concentrations than do normal
cells.
On
their surfaces, cancer cells also have more so-called transferrin
receptors — cellular pathways that allow iron to enter
— than healthy cells. In the case of breast cancer, the
cells have five to 15 times more transferrin receptors on their
surface than normal breast cells, Lai says.
And
so entered the dash of logic: About seven years ago, Lai reasoned,
why not target cancer cells with the anti-malaria treatment?
Working
with assistant research professor Narendra Singh, Lai devised
a strategy and obtained funding from the Breast Cancer Fund
in San Francisco. The
work appears in the November issue of the journal Life Sciences.
...
If the treatment lives up to its early promise, it could revolutionize
the way some cancers — particularly aggressive, fast-growing
ones — are approached, he adds. ...
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Source:
Army
of God Anthrax Hoaxer Arrested
Excerpts
from article
regarding the arrest of an anthrax hoaxer:
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Fugitive
anthrax hoaxer captured in FBI chase. A fugitive suspected of
hundreds of anthrax hoaxes against abortion clinics was captured
by the FBI last night. Clayton Lee Waagner, who believed that
he had been chosen by God to wage war on doctors
who carry out abortions.
...
In a June message attributed to Waagner that appeared on the
“Army of God” website, he wrote that God had showed
him how to open a highsecurity door at the prison.
In
his message, Waagner issued a warning to abortion providers:
“I’m a terrorist to a very narrow group of people,
but a terrorist just the same. As a terrorist to the abortionist,
what I need to do is envoke (sic) terror. I wish to warn them
that I am coming. I am anointed and called to be God’s
Warrior.” ...
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Source:
- The Times
[link inactive]
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