Re: Fwd from: [SOG_ModWar] some interesting reading

[Scott Ryan <inago_montoya@xxxxxxxxx>]

I know, that is why I listed it as interesting
reading...


--- Jeff Pawlowski <blackeagleblackeagle@yahoo.com>
wrote:
> Don't know how much of this is real or true.  I'll
> need to get some secondary
> sources and there isn't any cite information.
> 
> Jeff Pawlowski
> 
> --- scott_n_houtex <inago_montoya@yahoo.com> wrote:
> > To: SOG_ModWar@yahoogroups.com
> > From: "scott_n_houtex" <inago_montoya@yahoo.com>
> > Date: Sat, 22 Jun 2002 14:26:38 -0000
> > Subject: [SOG_ModWar] some interesting reading
> > 
> > June 21, 2002 
> > Notes from the Pentagon
> > 
> > China-trained Taliban
> > China's military provided training for
> Afghanistan's Taliban militia and it=
> > s al Qaeda supporters, according to a U.S.
> intelligence report.
> > 
> > The intelligence was obtained from anti-Taliban
> Afghan sources. It was surp=
> > rising to U.S. analysts because China is a target
> of Islamic separatists, wh=
> > o are known to have been trained in terrorist
> camps in Afghanistan.
> > 
> > The training of the Taliban forces took place
> before September 11. It was c=
> > arried out in cooperation with Pakistan's ISI
> intelligence service, defense =
> > officials told us.
> > 
> > The report, and others like it, was unwelcome news
> for some of the pro-Chin=
> > a analysts within the U.S. government who are
> pushing the Bush administratio=
> > n to adopt a more conciliatory posture toward the
> communist government in Be=
> > ijing. These officials point to China's
> cooperation in the war on terrorism,=
> >  which has included intelligence sharing of
> limited value.
> > 
> > U.S. intelligence officials do not know why the
> Chinese provided the milita=
> > ry training to Islamic radicals. But some analysts
> believe it was an attempt=
> >  to gain influence over the Taliban and al Qaeda.
> > 
> > Another theory is that the Chinese military
> training was a high-risk variat=
> > ion on the Soviet deception operation in the 1920s
> known as the Trust. The o=
> > peration created a false dissident organization in
> Russia. The group lured r=
> > egime opponents back to Russia, where they were
> imprisonment or executed. Th=
> > e Chinese training could have been part of an
> effort to identify some of the=
> >  thousands of Uighurs in China's western Xinjiang
> province, who are working =
> > with al Qaeda.
> > 
> > Evidence of Chinese military backing for the
> Taliban continues to surface. =
> > Late last month, U.S. Army Special Forces troops
> discovered 30 HN-5s, the de=
> > signation for Chinese-made SA-7s surface-to-air
> missiles, in southeastern Af=
> > ghanistan.
> > 
> > Other intelligence reports indicated the Chinese
> shipped missiles to the Ta=
> > liban after September 11. China's government has
> denied supporting al Qaeda =
> > and the Taliban.
> > 
> > On Iraq
> > The buzz in the Army is that units may begin
> deploying in stages to the Per=
> > sian Gulf this fall for possible military action
> against Iraq. There are alr=
> > eady more than the normal contingent of Army
> soldiers in Kuwait. The Pentago=
> > n maintains the increased tempo has nothing to do
> with an invasion.
> > 
> > Some military planners are advocating a slow,
> disguised buildup of land for=
> > ces and aircraft so as not to spark a pre-emptive
> strike by Saddam Hussein. =
> > Planners fully expect Saddam to unleash all the
> weaponry at his disposal — i=
> > ncluding chemical and biological warheads — if he
> feels his regime and his p=
> > ower are at stake.
> > 
> > President Bush wants to topple Saddam before his
> first term ends, but has n=
> > ot approved a war plan.
> > 
> > Go slow
> > Pentagon acquisition officials have given the
> Marine Corps the go-ahead to =
> > begin flight tests again on the V-22 Osprey. But
> naval sources tell us progr=
> > am directors are starting very slow to ensure
> there is not another fatal acc=
> > ident that would doom the helicopter-fixed-wing
> hybrid.
> > 
> > Marines are still focusing on reducing airframe
> vibrations and on pilot pro=
> > ficiency, and may not begin the formal flight-test
> program until August.
> > 
> > "None of the pilots are current in the airplane,"
> said one source. "They ar=
> > e going super-safe, afraid if they have one more
> incident, the program will =
> > be over, which I think it will be."
> > 
> > The Osprey may die even if restarted test flights
> go well. Defense Secretar=
> > y Donald H. Rumsfeld and his aides are eyeing cuts
> in some major weapon syst=
> > ems in the fiscal 2004 budget, which gets written
> inside the Pentagon this f=
> > all. The V-22, say sources, is a prime target for
> cancellation, as budgeteer=
> > s look to end shaky programs to save money for
> large procurement bills due l=
> > ater this decade.
> > 
> > Vice President Richard B. Cheney tried to kill the
> Osprey troop-carrier 10 =
> > years ago when he served as defense secretary in
> the first Bush administrati=
> > on. Congress and the Corps balked, and Mr. Cheney
> relented. But Mr. Rumsfeld=
> >  plays hardball, advising the president to veto
> defense bills he doesn't lik=
> > e.
> > 
> > The Corps grounded the aircraft last year after
> two crashes that killed 23 =
> > Marines.
> > 
> > L.A.-bound ships searched
> > The U.S. Coast Guard stopped three or four
> freighters headed for the Los An=
> > geles area earlier this month. The action was part
> of the FBI investigation =
> > into intelligence reports that a group of up to 40
> al Qaeda terrorists and a=
> >  large weapons cache were headed to the United
> States.
> > 
> > The Coast Guard stopped the ships in the vicinity
> of Catalina Island, off t=
> > he coast of Los Angeles. In each case, at least
> one U.S. official conducted =
> > a search.
> > 
> > According to intelligence and law enforcement
> officials, the probe was trig=
> > gered by intelligence that stated al Qaeda
> fighters were aboard a freighter =
> > that left an unidentified Middle East port last
> month. The plan called for u=
> > nloading the al Qaeda fighters and their weapons
> onto six or seven small boa=
> > ts near Catalina, which would then infiltrate the
> terrorists into Los Angele=
> > s.
> > 
> > A Coast Guard spokesman declined to comment,
> citing a policy of not talking=
> >  about "security measures" taken by the service.
> > 
> > French not spoken
> > Al Qaeda terrorists now imprisoned in Guantanamo
> Bay, Cuba, have been playi=
> > ng games with U.S. military interrogators during
> questioning sessions.
> > 
> > The military has sent language specialists fluent
> in the languages spoken b=
> > y the detainees, including Arabic and Urdu.
> > 
> > However, one prisoner confounded an interrogator
> recently by switching lang=
> > uages and answering questions in French. The
> questioner did not speak the la=
> > nguage.
> > 
> > Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld told
> reporters earlier this week that =
> > the terrorists being held at Gitmo, as the U.S.
> Navy 
=== message truncated ===


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