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October Surprise? U.S. Special Forces Hunting Bin-Ladin in Afghanistan?

In Mid-East Realities,
19 October 2000

MID-EAST REALITIES - www.MiddleEast.Org - Washington - 10/19:

Bill Clinton has tried everything. He very much wanted Camp David II to do for him what it did for Jimmy Carter...give him a place in the serious history books rather than the scandal ones. He very much wanted to get the Nobel Peace Prize in his last year in office, and he actually used the resources of the White House to lobby for the award -- heretofore a no, no. He used the Democratic Convention to make that grandest of entries clearly upstaging Al Gore. And he has just given Esquire Magazine an "exit interview" for the December issues, conveniently leaked ahead of time with a rather suggestive picture on the cover bigger than life.

Wife Hillary is probably going to be elected to the Senate it now seems, thanks to the section of a Jewish Vice-Presidential candidate, and despite the leak of lesbian love notes now taking place behind the scenes and which are said to make the President livid.

But most of all Bill Clinton wants Al Gore in the White House...there are many secrets and legacy issues that will be far better protected by his loyal Vice-President than by a Republican take-over of the Oval Office.

And that's what the reports just coming out today about U.S. Special Forces hunting for Osama Bin-Laden in Afghanistan may be all about. With Gore's election now on the ropes Clinton may well think that a military operation that finally "gets" Bin Laden is just the kind of last minute "October" (or maybe early November) "Surprise" that could turn emotions patriotic and help push Gore just in time over the line.

This initial report just in, dateline Nicosia, Cyprus. Just a few days ago the Pakistani Foreign Minister publicly stated that his country would seriously protest if the U.S. flew over Pakistan to attack Afghanistan, as was done last time. The various reports now coming in do suggest that some kind of operation may already be underway, possibly with the U.S. secretly cooperating with Russia -- which has a lot of experience in Afghanistan and its own reasons for wanting to intimidate the Taliban these days -- to get forces in, and out, of that country.

U.S. SPECIAL FORCES HAVE ENTERED AFGHANISTAN

[World Tribune - October 30, 2000 - Nicosia]:

Saudi billionaire Osama Bin Laden, suspected of masterminding the suicide bombing on the USS Cole in Yemen, is bracing for a U.S. military attack.

Arab diplomatic sources said U.S. special forces have crossed into Afghanistan and are preparing for an attack on Bin Laden's hideout. Some of the sources said at least one suspected Bin Laden base has been rocketed, Middle East Newsline reported.

Egypt's official Middle East News Agency reported that five Bin Laden bases have been attacked by the United States. Afghan's ruling Taliban movement, which provides shelter to Bin Laden, has denied the attacks.

"There has been no rocket attack in Kabul, Kandhar, Jalalabad or any other part of Afghanistan," Taliban spokesman Abdul Hayee Motameen told the Afghan Islamic Press agency. "Any report of such attack is a lie."

Bin Laden is suspected of masterminding and financing the Oct. 12 attack on the USS Cole. FBI investigators are currently in Yemen gathering evidence on the bombing and questioning suspects.

Earlier this year, Arab diplomatic sources reported that U.S. security personnel had recruited a mercenary force to track down Bin Laden. Pakistani Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar his government would not allow a U.S. attack from its territory. Pakistan is one of three countries that recognize the Taliban government.