Bush "re"-election begins in earnest

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world/view/72174/1/.html

Channelnewsasia.com, 22 February 2004 0722 hrs

Osama cornered in Pakistan's northwest: report


LONDON (AFP) -- US and British special forces have cornered Al-Qaeda leader
Osama bin Laden in a mountainous area in northwest Pakistan, near the
Afghanistan border, the Sunday Express newspaper reported.

Quoting "a US intelligence source," it said bin Laden and "up to 50
fanatical henchmen" were inside an area 16 kilometres (10 miles) wide and
deep "north of the town of Khanozai and the city of Quetta".

"He is boxed in," the unidentified source was quoted by the tabloid as
saying, adding that US special forces were "absolutely confident" that he
could not escape.

According to the source, bin Laden moved into the area, "in the desolate
Toba Kakar mountains," about one month ago from another area 240 kilometres
to the south, the Sunday Express said.

In Washington, a Defense Department spokesman declined to comment on the
report.

Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar is believed to be with bin Laden,
according to the report.

The area is under surveillance from a geostationary spy satellite while US
and British special forces await orders to move in, the newspaper said in
its early edition, received late Saturday.

Al-Qaeda is held responsible for the September 11 attacks on the World Trade
Center and the Pentagon that killed nearly 3,000 people in 2001. More
recently, it has been suspected of supporting insurgent attacks on US forces
in Iraq.

On Thursday, General Richard Meyers, chairman of the US joint chiefs of
staff, said US forces were engaged in "intense" efforts to capture bin
Laden, but held back from saying where he might be hiding.

"There are areas where we think it is most likely he is, and they remain the
same," said Meyers, who was speaking to reporters in Washington. "They
haven't changed in months," said Myers.

Asked whether the Al-Qaeda leader was believed to be in Pakistan, the
general replied: "Don't know that. We think in that border region somewhere.
We don't know where it is precisely."

The Sunday Express said it was also told in London by "a senior Republican
close to the White House and the Pentagon" this past week that bin Laden had
been located.

"They have found bin Laden," the source -- described as an "intimate" of the
family of US President George W. Bush -- was quoted as saying. "They now
know where he is within a manageable area which can be watched and
controlled."

The Sunday Express said bin Laden's whereabouts had been discovered from "a
combination of CIA paramilitaries and special forces, plus image analysis by
geographers and soil experts".

"They studied the background in bin Laden's last video and matched it to
rocks in the Toba Kakar region," the newspaper said.

"A two-man special forces surveillance unit them infiltrated the area," it
said, adding that they picked up their first clues that bin Laden was in the
area within a week.

"Other teams then slipped in," the Sunday Express quoted its source as
saying. "To avoid any alert, helicopters were not used."

The last known video tape from bin Laden was aired in September by the
Arabic all-news television station al-Jazeera. Three audio tapes followed,
in October, December and January.

A graphic published alongside the Sunday Express report indicated that the
area in which bin Laden is supposedly hiding is immediately to the north of
the Pakistani towns of Khanozai and Murgha.


**********

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040222/ap_on_el_pr/nader_13

Associated Press, February 22, 2004, 9:52 AM

Ralph Nader Announces Run for Presidency


WASHINGTON - Consumer advocate Ralph Nader announced Sunday he will run
again for the presidency, declaring that Washington has become "corporate
occupied territory" and arguing there is too little difference between the
Democratic and Republican parties.

Nader, who will turn 70 this week, said he contemplated retirement but
decided against that. "I've decided to run as an independent candidate for
president," he announced on NBC's "Meet The Press."

"This country has more problems and injustices than it deserves," Nader
said, bemoaning a "democracy gap." He said he needed to get into the race to
"challenge this two-party duopoly."

"There's too much power and wealth in too few hands," he said . "They have
taken over Washington."

"Washington is now corporate occupied territory," Nader said. "There is now
a for-sale sign on most agencies and departments. ... Money is flowing in
like never before. It means that corporations are saying no to the
necessities of the American people. ... Basically, it's question of both
parties flunking."

Asked if he would withdraw if he concluded his candidacy would merely ensure
President Bush's re-election, Nader told interviewer Tim Russert, "When and
if that eventuality occurs, you can invite me back on the program and I'll
give you the answer."

Nader decided against running under the banner of the Green Party. His
candidacy four years ago has been blamed by many Democrats for costing Al
Gore the election against George W. Bush.

Last week, Democratic National Committee chairman Terry McAuliffe revealed
that he had met with Nader several times urging him not to run.

"Let me say, this is going to be difficult," said Nader, who planned a round
of interviews after his announcement. "This isn't just our fight. This is a
fight for all third parties ... They want to have a chance to compete. This
is not a democracy that can be controlled by two parties in the grip of
corporate interests."

Third party candidacies have been a greater part of presidential politics in
recent years; businessman Ross Perot twice ran for president, winning 19
percent of the vote in his first try in 1988 against George Herbert Walker
Bush and Michael Dukakis.

"It's his personal vanity because he has no movement. Nobody's backing him,"
New Mexico Democratic Gov. Bill Richardson said Sunday in advance of Nader's
announcement.

"The Greens aren't backing him. His friends urge him not to do it. It's all
about himself," Richardson told "Fox News Sunday."

"Now, Ralph's made some great contributions to consumer issues over the
years, but clearly it's not going to help us," he said. "I don't think he'll
have a sizable impact, but it's terrible if he goes ahead because it's about
him. It's about his ego. It's about his vanity and not about a movement that
supposedly he headed for many years very effectively."

As the Green Party's nominee in 2000, Nader appeared on the ballot in 43
states and Washington, D.C., garnering only 2.7 percent of the vote. But in
Florida and New Hampshire, Bush won such narrow victories that had Gore
received the bulk of Nader's votes in those states, he would have won the
general election.


- - - - -
John Lacny

People of the US, unite and defeat the Bush regime and all its running dogs!



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