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Sunday,
October 27, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Israeli troops roll into Jenin
How USA
botched up visa scrutiny of hijackers |
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6 homicide
charges slapped on snipers
Dhaka-Agartala
bus service from Jan |
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Israeli troops roll into Jenin Jerusalem, October 26 Hundreds of troops backed by heavy armour rolled into Jenin, commandeering buildings, searching homes and imposing curfews. The army drew fire from gunmen and also on the diplomatic front from the European Union, which urged restraint. Israeli military chiefs said the Jenin operation — dubbed “Vanguard” — would last as long as necessary to flush out militants waging a Palestinian uprising for independence with suicide bombings such as the one which killed 14 Israelis on Monday. Palestinian medics said six people were seriously wounded in clashes with the army — violence which overshadowed the end of a two-day visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories by US envoy William Burns. Burns came with a “roadmap” for peace based on a West Asia policy speech last June by President George W. Bush, who had been seeking to lower Israeli-Palestinian tensions as Washington prepared for a possible war with Iraq. The US plan calls for an end to violence and for Palestinian administrative reforms and Israeli army withdrawals from occupied cities, leading to a final settlement and a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip by 2005. Israeli leaders said the plan — drafted by a “quartet” of mediators from Russia, the USA, the European Union and the United Nations — lacked security guarantees. The Palestinians said it needed timetables and enforcement mechanisms. Israeli Cabinet Secretary Gideon Saar, describing the plan as a draft proposal, said it “deviated in some parts from the outline of the President’s speech”. Saar, who did not elaborate on the points of contention, said Israel had made its reservations known to Burns and would send Washington a written response to the proposal. Israel initially held back retaliation for Monday’s bombing, carried out by two Jenin teenagers belonging to the militant group Islamic Jihad, who slammed an explosives-packed car into a bus in northern Israel. There were no apologies after the army incursion on Friday.
Reuters |
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How USA botched up visa scrutiny of hijackers HUNDREDS of Indians and nationals of other countries wishing to travel to the United States of America for bonafide purposes are often greeted with a ‘no’ by visa officers because of the suspicion that they may be potential immigrants. But no such concern or other doubts seemed to have weighed with US officials in Saudi Arabia in the case of 15 of the 19 September 11 hijackers who were granted visas despite their incomplete applications. A report in the October 28 issue of the American political journal National Review makes a damning criticism of the US State Department for its serious lapses in the grant of visas to the hijackers. The cover story in the magazine details how the 15 of the 19 hijackers should have been denied visas—an assessment based on expert analysis of the terrorists’ visa application forms obtained exclusively by the National Review. The report says:‘‘In the year after September 11 (2001), the handwringing mostly centred on the FBI and CIA’s failure to ‘connect the dots’. But that would not have been a fatal blow if the ‘dots’ had not been here in the first place. If the US State Department had followed the law, at least 15 of the 19 ‘dots’ should have been denied visas—and they likely would not have been in the US on Septembner 11, 2001.” According to the journal, six separate experts who analysed the simple, 2-page visa forms came to the same conclusion: all of the visa applications they reviewed should have been denied on their face. One expert, a former US consular officer, Mr Nikolai Wenzel, who analysed the forms, declared that the issuance of visas amounted to “criminal negligence.” Two brothers, Wail and Waleed, applied together in October 2000. Under “occupation” Wail wrote “teater’ (sic), while Waleed claimed “student”. The name and address of alleged employer and school was listed as “South City”, and the US destination named as “Wasantown”. Khalid Al Mindha, who helped crash the plane into the Pentagon, simply listed as “Hotel” as his destination. Another hijacker claimed he was a student, but did not name a school. One terrorist listed the US destination as simply “no”. All visas were approved. Joel Mowbray, investigative reporter, National Review, who had seen the visa applications of the hijackers, said: ‘‘They (visa officers) were handing these things out gift-wrapped with ribbons on top.” He said he was shocked by what he saw. “I mean, I really was expecting Al Qaida to have trained their operatives well to beat the system. They did not have to beat the system; the system was rigged in their favour from the get-go.” It is pertinent to recall that a few months ago, Republican Congressman Tom Tancredo, known for his anti-immigration stance, had sought to ridicule in the US House of Representatives the Immigration and Naturalisation Service for the kind of questions visitors applying for an American visa have to answer. With tongue in cheek, he told his
colleagues: ‘‘So, the potential terrorist says, yeah, I am a terrorist, I am a member of Al-Qaida, and I am coming in to blow up buildings or distribute some sort of biological warfare agent. (one question in the visa form asking the applicant to say yes or no runs thus: do you seek to enter the USA to engage in subversive terrorist activities?)...and at the end, there is a little asterisk that says after you answer‘ yes’ or ‘no’ to this question, answering ‘yes’ does not mean that you will be denied access to the USA”. No wonder, the terrorists interpreted the contents of the visa form to mean: You are a terrorist? Welcome to the USA. |
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6 homicide charges slapped on snipers Rockville (Maryland), October 26 Authorities in Maryland said yesterday that they would probably not pursue capital murder charges against one of the alleged shooters, a juvenile, but said they would seek the death penalty for the older man. “These two men terrorised and instilled fear into the very marrow of our communities,” said Montgomery county, prosecutor Douglas Gansler, who said he would seek capital punishment for John Allen Muhammad, a 41-year-old Gulf War veteran. Muhammad and John Lee Malvo, 17, a Jamaican, were caught on Thursday after a huge nationwide manhunt. Investigators said ballistics tests showed a rifle found in their car was used in at least 11 of the 13 sniper-style shootings, that left 10 dead and three wounded in the region since October 2. Various US states jockeyed yesterday for the right to prosecute the pair, currently being held by federal authorities. Some in the law enforcement community expressed concern that laws in the state of Maryland, where six of the sniper victims died, were not stringent enough to ensure a death penalty conviction. But Maryland Governor Parris Glendening said yesterday that the state’s moratorium on the death penalty would expire in April and it would not interfere with the case against the two accused shooters.
AFP |
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Dhaka-Agartala bus service from Jan Dhaka, October 26 “The second bus connection between the two countries can commence by early January”, chairman of Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation Taimur Alam Khandakar said here. “There will be two services each from Dhaka and Agartala every day” he added. The service will commence after a meeting between the operators from the two sides, Indian embassy sources here said.
PTI |
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