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                                    Sunday, August 4, 1996
                   COLUMN ONE
                  Cold War Incursion Sows Seeds of Terror

            By JOHN-THOR DAHLBURG, Times Staff
             Writer

                  SPIN BOLDAK, Afghanistan--A fierce
                  wind blew down from the barren Khwaja
                  Amran mountains, whipping up a stinging
                  sandstorm, so Maulvi Abdul Samad and his
                  band of fighters, some only in their
                  teens, took shelter in a crumbling
                  house. They sat on the floor of pounded
                  earth, cradled their assault rifles in
                  their arms and shared slabs of
                  unleavened bread. The fighters listened
                  with silent respect as Samad, their
                  fork-bearded elder, spoke of what more
                  than a decade and a half of warfare had
                  taught him.
                  "How can you conceive that a
                  country that was almost nothing smashed
                  the world's greatest power, the Soviet
                   Union, into pieces?" asked the former
                   commander of moujahedeen (Muslim holy
                   warriors) in a district of Afghanistan's
                   Kandahar province. "Yes, people did give
                   us dollars and Stinger missiles. But who
                   can use them? Only God.
                         "The Soviet Union, which was a
                   superpower, is now gone," he went on,
                   the awe evident in his voice. "It is the
                   Afghan nation and land that is now the
                   superpower."

                         The superpower--or, as some say,
                   the monster that has turned against
                   those who thought they could master it.
                         It has been more than seven years
                   since the pullout of the last of the
                   110,000 Soviet troops from Afghanistan
                   and four years since the collapse of the
                   Kremlin-backed puppet regime of
                   President Najibullah in Kabul. Yet the
                   consequences and side effects of the
                   Afghan War and its aftermath are still
                   making themselves felt.
                         From this remote, landlocked and
                   war-ruined Asian nation, weapons and the
                   battle-hardened men to use them have
                   ranged as far afield as Kashmir and the
                   Balkans.
                         Thousands of young men from
                   throughout the Islamic world who flocked
                   to Afghanistan and underwent military
                   training or participated in combat here
                   have sown a whirlwind of terror that has
                   buffeted Asia, Europe, Africa and North
                   America.
                         In an investigation conducted over
                   four continents and focused on some of
                   the individuals whose lives were forever
                   altered by their experiences here, The
                   Times has found that from Morocco to
                   Manila to Manhattan, governments and law
                   enforcement officials have confronted
                   these unforeseen consequences of the
                   Afghan conflict:
                         * Terrorism and insurrection.
                         * Networks of Muslim extremists
                   that for the first time transcend
                   national boundaries.
                         * Inflamed and expansionist
                   Islamic radicalism.
                        New Generation of Militants
                         In countries as diverse as
                   Algeria, Bosnia-Herzegovina and France,
                   alumni of the Afghan War also have
                   helped spawn a new generation of
                   militant Islamists and terrorists.
                         "We have created a monster,"
                   summarized Nabil Osman, director of the
                   state Information Service in Egypt, one
                   of the largest suppliers of Arab
                   volunteers to the Muslim holy war waged
                   in Afghanistan against the Soviets.
                         Their involvement in Afghanistan
                   has even boomeranged against the old
                   Cold War adversaries who used one of
                   this continent's poorest lands as an
                   arena for battle. The Kremlin poured in
                   tanks and troops; the United States
                   spent billions of dollars to equip and
                   train anti-Communist insurgents in the
                   1980s.
                         When, for example, terrorists on
                   June 25 used a mammoth truck bomb to
                   demolish an eight-story barracks at the
                   King Abdulaziz Air Base in Dhahran,
                   Saudi Arabia, killing 19 U.S. airmen and
                   wounding more than 250 others, suspicion
                   immediately fell on Islamic radicals
                   trained in Afghanistan.
                         "Recently we have seen growth in
                   'transnational' groups comprised of
                   fanatical Islamic extremists, many of
                   whom fought in Afghanistan and now drift
                   to other countries with the aim of
                   establishing anti-Western,
                   fundamentalist regimes by destabilizing
                   traditional governments and attacking
                   U.S. and Western targets," Gen. J. H.
                   Binford Peay, head of the U.S. Central
                   Command, told hearings last month of the
                   Senate Armed Services Committee looking
                   into the Dhahran bombing.
                         On Nov. 13, five Americans died
                   when a white pickup truck stuffed with
                   explosives detonated outside a
                   three-story building in Riyadh, the
                   Saudi capital.
                         The terrorists' target was a U.S.
                   Army program that provides military and
                   civilian advisors to train the Saudi
                   national guard. Three of the four Saudi
                   militants arrested for that attack
                   admitted to having received firearms and
                   explosives training in Afghanistan and
                   to having participated in combat here.
                         "We were planning on carrying out
                   similar operations, but we were
                   arrested," Abdul-Aziz Fahd Nasser, 24,
                   said in a televised confession. On May
                   31, he and his accomplices were
                   beheaded; fellow militants vowed to
                   avenge their deaths.
                         Repercussions of the Afghan
                   conflict had reached the United States
                   even earlier. A van crammed with
                   explosives was driven into the parking
                   garage under the twin 110-story towers
                   of the World Trade Center in Manhattan
                   on Feb. 26, 1993. When it exploded, it
                   killed six people, injured 1,000 and
                   caused half a billion dollars in damage.

                         The "hands-on ringleader" of this
                   blow at the heart of the American
                   financial system, U.S. investigators
                   found, was a Brooklyn taxi driver from
                   Egypt who fought in the Afghan War
                   against the Soviets. The cabby, Mahmud
                   Abouhalima, has been sentenced to 240
                   years in federal prison. The alleged
                   mastermind of the bombing, Kuwaiti-born
                   Ramzi Ahmed Yousef, also has numerous
                   Afghan connections.
                         The Russians too have been
                   bedeviled by further fallout from a war
                   that cost them the lives of 14,500
                   soldiers and sapped the economy of the
                   now-defunct Soviet Union. In March, one
                   month before Russian forces located him
                   in the mountains of Chechnya and killed
                   him, Chechen independence leader Dzhokar
                   M. Dudayev admitted for the first time
                   that he had sent guerrillas to
                   Afghanistan for military instruction.
                         "To tell you frankly, I do not
                   give a damn about what Russia and the
                   West think," Dudayev said in an
                   interview in a safe house in the village
                   of Shalazhi. "Yes, I did send some
                   well-trained groups to Afghanistan to
                   exchange experience and get some
                   training there. I did this because
                   Afghanistan had been able to
                   resist--almost with bare hands--one of
                   the world powers and one of the
                   mightiest armies in the world."
                         The drilling at the camps of
                   fundamentalist guerrilla chieftain
                   Gulbuddin
...

read more »

         PARIS, Aug 5 (Reuter) - France warned the United States on  
Monday that the European Union would retaliate if President Bill
Clinton implemented a law imposing sanctions on foreign firms
that invest in Iran and Libya.
         ``We reaffirm our determimation to ensure that French  
interests are not affected and that any damage does not go
without retaliation,'' Foreign Ministry spokesman Yves Doutriaux
told journalists.
         He said that the United States, as far as he was aware, had  
given its allies no evidence that Iran was involved in the
latest bomb attacks against U.S. targets at home or abroad.
         ``We hope reason will prevail and the American authorities  
will refrain from creating a particularly dangerous precedent
for the safety and development of world trade by taking
unilateral extra-territorial measures,'' Doutriaux said.
         Speaking at a regular ministry briefing, he said it was an  
issue of principle for France and its European partners.
         Doutriaux said France was fully committed to the fight  
against terrorism through practical measures but did not share
the U.S. analysis that Iran, Libya, Iraq and Sudan were
terrorist states.

:        ``We hope reason will prevail and the American authorities  
: will refrain from creating a particularly dangerous precedent
: for the safety and development of world trade by taking
: unilateral extra-territorial measures,'' Doutriaux said.

 Well, it seems to me that a bombing that kills dozens of
Americans is a pretty strong "unilateral extra-territorial measure".
I'm not saying that Iran was responsible for the bombing- I
have no idea.

However, if we discover undisputable proof that a given nation
was responsible for murdering dozens of our citizens, then I
think the vast majority of Americans would support a miltary
retaliation proportional to the attack.

 And if the French or the rest of the EU don't like it then
that's just too bad.

E...@cris.com (R Weems Jr) wrote:

The original article wasn't about military retaliation, it was about
the imposition of US sanctions outside the US against foreign
companies pursuing activities that are legal under the laws of the
countries in which they're domiciled.

Dave

The opinions expressed| "Who is she to say he can't be trusted.....
herein are solely mine|  and come to think of it, how does she know?"
and not my employers' |       'Can't Be Trusted' - The Bluetones

In article <4u6i25$...@herald.concentric.net>,
R Weems Jr <E...@cris.com> wrote:

But we're talking about retaliation against European countries
that had nothing to do with the bombing, as far as I know.

I think Americans said much the same about Smoot-Hawley.

jon.

You're right, but it seems that Mr. Clinton goes backward :
first he decides sanctions without any consultation with US
partners concerned by his decision;

after he may jugdes,

and may be in the future he looks for some proofs !

AB

Hmmmm,
I wonder what you would post if the British government suddenly bombed
the hell out of Ireland??????Or France bombed Algeria??

: Hmmmm,
: I wonder what you would post if the British government suddenly bombed
: the hell out of Ireland??????Or France bombed Algeria??

 Well, the Irish government is not supporting the IRA as far as
I know, and I believe that the ALgerian government tries hard to
suppress the fundamentalists who do most of the bombing.

 That being the case, neither of these examples is of a nation
officially supporting or training terrorists for attacks against
another country. I would certainly support the right of the
British or French government to attack any nation that did
support terrorists who murder French or British citizens, but
I don't think that such is the case with Ireland and Algeria.

R Weems Jr (E...@cris.com) wrote:
: Kambiz Iranpour (m.k.iranp...@fys.uio.no) wrote:

:  Well, it seems to me that a bombing that kills dozens of
: Americans is a pretty strong "unilateral extra-territorial measure".
: I'm not saying that Iran was responsible for the bombing- I
: have no idea.

Okay so here's the situation.  There is no proof or evidence to suggest
that Iran supports terrorism, so let's pass a law which greatly hurts
Iran and other countries ???

: However, if we discover undisputable proof that a given nation
: was responsible for murdering dozens of our citizens, then I
: think the vast majority of Americans would support a miltary
: retaliation proportional to the attack.

That's a big 'if'.  So let's just re-examine the logic.

If it can be proven that Iran is responsible, then the law we have
already passed will be the appropriate punishment, if it cannot be proven
then o'well no skin off our back.

:  And if the French or the rest of the EU don't like it then
: that's just too bad.

Yep, that's just too bad for Iran.

Shakeel Virk

We would support it as any sane nation would do-not wimps like England
has turned out to be in the last quarter of this century.  Incidentally,
where the hell have all of you been in the last 20 years.  Pan Am
107-Lockerbee was caused by a couple of Libyans.  Barracks in Saudi
Arabia looks like the culprit was Iran.  Bombing in Ryadh caused by Iran
extremists.  Read your newspapers, friend.

In the newspapers we can read the things like that :

a CIA's authority said that it seems that ....

Never you can find a proof of what you have said, just some propaganda
to have an influence on the public opinion.

When the Israel kills more than 100 civilians deliberatly and there are
many proofs on it, these newspapers dont care. but when there is not
any proof , they try to past the bombings to Iran and to the muslim
world generaly.

please read more your newspapers , friend, and try to read
between the lines !

best regards

rogermonson wrote :

Bull.... Read the following by the "Information Technology":

""""""""""""""""

OK, so Mr. Perry got you all excited to go on a bombing mission? :-)

The same equal punishment for the same. What is the appropriate
action to be taken against US for OK'ing Israel last
"invasion", (attacking an another country, killing its civilians)
including when they bombed the UN compound? I don't think the Lebanese
have
a fleet to send to NY harbor in order to bomb the hell out of New York
city,
but who knows, they may take an airliner down. Translation: life
has value to all, no matter where they are from. How come there are
no terrorist attacks against Canada? What is the US gov. doing outside
of its shores that they are not? (or vice versa).

But on to Iran. First Iran is NOT behind the latest backlash
against "US Interests". Why? Simple. There has been no incident
to provoke a retaliation. US has been on the attack recently,
while the Iranians on their relative good behavior to prove to
the Europeans that the US is just bullying them. So the last
thing they would do is cause problems for themselves.
In fact when they offered the oil deal
to Conoco, it was a form of peace offering. But US killed it.
Why? US is doing business with Vietnam now, my God, Vietnam!
So the hostage stuff is a minor detail and that was not it.

It was Israel who Killed it. Israel is the only country
that is feeling the Iranian pressure. Iran does support
groups who want to throw them out of Southern Lebanon and
and others who do not agree with the "peace process". The
"peace process", is looked on by many to be similar to the
struggle between the initial Settlers and the native Indians.
The "Good" Indians  got involved in the "peace process" while
the "bad","terrorist", or "Savage" Indians  decided
to fight for what they believe was an unfair deal.
We know what happened to both.

So Israel calls their lobby group in the US.( Damato and
company), "please help us". The lobby tells Clinton (and Dole)
you either beat the shit out of Iran for us, or American Jews will not
fund your election nor vote for you. Clinton got the message,
he wants to win in November. As you can check, most of the anti-Iran
legislation announcements by Clinton has been made when talking in front
of Jewish Groups. (no disrespect to anone from the Jewish faith).
This is what the Europeans mean when the say "Election Year Politics"
in regard to latest bill passed against Iran/Libya.

So lets get to the meat. Who was behind:

TWA 800

No proof that it was or was not a bomb. But if it was a bomb,
then it came from US soil. (luggage etc..) how did the explosives
reach US? Some chance it may be US group, but most likely external.
For the reasons mentioned
before, Iran has been trying to mend relationships, so they would
not order such a thing. Taking a plane down full of civilians is
an act of revenge. So who would want to take revenge today? Maybe
Lebanese for the killings in lebanon. A slight chance it
was Serbs for US involvement in Bosnia.(The plane did take off from
Greece which is pro Serb.) However Serbs would have too much to
loose if  they were caught.  

Saudi Arabia Bombing:

NO way Iran, they would not even touch it if they knew about it.
It would start a war between Iran and Saudi Arabia, and
Iran is not preparing for war with the Saudi's. In fact after the
gulf war Iran has been patching relationship with gulf states.
So does not makes sense. It seems to be totally internal politics.
Someone who knows how to get around in Saudi Arabia, and
the Iranians could never pull such a thing off over there.
(super tight security in Saudi Arabia). However it does look
bad that it was an internal affair. (US-Saudi relationship,
plus US population's view of Saudi's, and the fact that some group
is questioning the King's authority).  So  best to blame it
on the outside, some scapegoat. Obviously the AK-47s came
from the outside, so there is some "external" factor.
US has no problem blaming Iran, it fits well with their
story etc.. however Saudi's cannot really point at
Iran unless Iran was truly behind it. So they have a problem.
The article in the LA Times did a very good job on addressing
the issue of trained individuals coming back from the Afghan
experience. There is no free lunch.

PS. author is not a highly paid terrorism expert nor a security
specialist, like the ones that come on the TV. You should trust
them more, they know everything.

In article <4u8jia$...@herald.concentric.net>, E...@cris.com

|> : Hmmmm,
|> : I wonder what you would post if the British government suddenly bombed
|> : the hell out of Ireland??????Or France bombed Algeria??
|>
|>  Well, the Irish government is not supporting the IRA as far as

What about Clinton ?  Didn't he meet Gerry Adams (sp ?) in spite
of the protests from Britain ? Isn't it because the Irish consitituency
in US is strong enough to pressure Clinton to dance after its
tune, the same as the Israeli lobby in the US has done on the
Middle East-related policies through financial leverages and
bank-rolling presidential candidates and Congressmen ? US policies
are often not drived by a long term rationale but as it is
rightly characterized by the Europeans are greatly influenced by
election-campaign policies and by strong lobbies. This sounds too bad
for the future of a world in which the policies of its only superpower
are hostage to the narrow aspirations of the interest-groups
and lobbies. This isn't a policy which brings respect to its
executioner in the world community. These fallacies will eventually encourage
mutiny among the US allies and its friends in a long term !!! Look
at the sanction bills and the repercussions in the world community.

Regards
Kambiz

|> I know, and I believe that the ALgerian government tries hard to
|> suppress the fundamentalists who do most of the bombing.
|>
|>  That being the case, neither of these examples is of a nation
|> officially supporting or training terrorists for attacks against
|> another country. I would certainly support the right of the
|> British or French government to attack any nation that did
|> support terrorists who murder French or British citizens, but
|> I don't think that such is the case with Ireland and Algeria.

And could you tell us just which court returned this verdict?

Thought not.

Basically, innocent until proven guilty only applies to 'merkins in your
fantasy world.

Don't talk bullshit, talk about facts if it is not hard for you to accept.

Fact No 1- There has been NO shred of evidence of the Iranian involvement in any of the above you have mentioned.

Fact No 2-  If you read newspapers you would know that the US govenement recently annouced world wide that it is giving $20M  to the=
 CIA just for its terrorist operations against Iran. Now would you say this justify a millitary strike against US targets in Persian=
 Gulf?

Al

Job well done, Kambiz.  By the time we try to prove to these ASSHOLES who
is right and who is wrong, these brainless (I am nice again) are going to
blow their own god damn head away; but, oh well, it serves them right.  
As long as this corrupt and garbage media feeds these brainlesses that's
how it will be.  This country is long overdue for a real revolution, to
throw these assholes off the balcony!!!! Put away all of these
multi-termers in their Senate and House out of their miseries, put the
"jewish supported and run" media in trash and end this agony once and
forever.

|>
|>
|> Don't talk bullshit, talk about facts if it is not hard for you to accept.
|>
|> Fact No 1- There has been NO shred of evidence of the Iranian
|> involvement in any of the above you have mentioned.
|>
|> Fact No 2-  If you read newspapers you would know that the US govenement
|> recently annouced world wide that it is giving $20M  to the=
|>  CIA just for its terrorist operations against Iran. Now would you say
|> this justify a millitary strike against US targets in Persian=
|>  Gulf?
|>
|> Al
|>
|>
|>

Actually Reuter reported on the 8th of August that :

"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

While the debate over U.S. retaliatory options continued, a  
Central Intelligence Agency official said investigators had
found "no firm evidence pointing to any individual group or
nation" as behind the Dhahran bombing or the TWA explosion.
Referring to reports suggesting a possible Iranian link, the  
CIA official said: "The hysteria continues."

"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""                  

Well, you can make your own conclusions !!! One wonders why
the administration is conducting this adventurist policies
if it is not an election campaign strategy to satisfy the Israelie
lobby which these days is de facto running the Clinton
administration !!!

Best regards
Kambiz Iranpour

Thanks for your input. Would you please provide the rest of us with
the proof of what you stated above? Specifically about the "Bombing in
Ryadh caused by Iran" ? I maybe asking too much since your government
has not been able to prove this either. Yet, it is evident that unlike
us, you have been reading "your newspapers", friend.
Use of the terms like "What looks like", "Sources Say", "It's been
alleged", etc. don't cut it anymore sir. If you like to have a decent
dialogue you should try to avoid smoke & mirrors and try to stick to the
proven facts.
Thanks again.

Once again you are forgetting ine thing- THERE IS NO EVIDENCE HIERTO
THAT LINKS IRAN TO THE TWA CRASH or any any terrorist activities. If
there was- perhaps the EU wouldnt be fighting the US over these
sanctions...

--
Trita (Terita) Parsi
Zende bAd IrAn

Unfortunately undisputable proof is not needed for the vast majority of
Americans to support military actions. Election campaign headlines and
scandals is all they need to be for military retaliation...
--
Trita (Terita) Parsi
Zende bAd IrAn

It's a shame that EU does not want to punish Iran for its support of
terrorism. If they could only see beyond their pocket books and pay
attention to the human rights violations committed by the mollahs,
we'll all be able to go back to Iran. I say sanction the hell out of
IRI to force a free election. It worked for South Africa, it'll work
for Iran.

MJ