November 16, 2001 Diary: America Strikes Back

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State gains anti-terrorism team
Friday, November 16, 2001
Kansas is getting a specialized military team to respond to terrorist attacks, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld announced Thursday.
Five new Weapons of Mass Destruction Civil Support Teams are authorized in this year's Defense Department budget, to be set up in Kansas as well as Alabama, Michigan, Tennessee and West Virginia.

Kill bin Laden, many in D.C. warn
Friday, November 16, 2001
As special forces try to fulfill President Bush's desire to get Osama bin Laden "dead or alive," many lawmakers say bluntly that dead is preferable. They are concerned about a trial, whether in open court or closed military tribunal.
"Kill him. Shoot him. I mean it," Democrat Joseph Biden of Delaware, chairman of the Senate's Foreign Relations Committee, said in an interview. "I don't want to capture him. ... Unless he's walking out with a white flag, saying, 'I surrender,' I'd shoot him."

Afghan king worried about setting up provisional government
Friday, November 16, 2001
(Web Posted Friday at 7:00 a.m.) Aides to Afghanistan's former king expressed concern Friday that the northern alliance appeared unwilling to participate in a U.N.-backed meeting to plan a postwar transitional government and suggested it may not take place in the nearterm.

Professors question Bush's tribunal plan
Friday, November 16, 2001
By Terry Rombeck

Two law professors at Kansas University say while using military tribunals seems constitutional, they may not be the best option politically.
President Bush signed an executive order Tuesday allowing the use of tribunals, which are groups of military officials acting as judge and jury for those suspected of international crimes. Tribunals are typically more secretive than civilian courts, and they require only a two-thirds vote of members to convict and sentence offenders.

Cornered Taliban vows fight to death
Friday, November 16, 2001
Northern alliance forces and Pashtun tribesmen encircled two of the Taliban's last remaining strongholds at opposite ends of the country Thursday. The Taliban's supreme leader vowed to fight to the death and to seek the "extinction of America."
Backed by U.S. warplanes, the alliance laid siege to the northern city of Kunduz, where the defenders include an estimated 2,000 to 3,000 foreigners loyal to Osama bin Laden.

Pastors prepare to share thoughts of thanksgiving
Friday, November 16, 2001
By Jim Baker

This Thanksgiving will be, in many ways, unlike any in American history.
The nation is struggling to deal with devastating terrorist attacks at home, anthrax delivered by U.S. mail and a war in Afghanistan.

Senate bioterrorism bill calls for $3.2 billion
Friday, November 16, 2001
A plan to spend more than $3 billion to combat bioterrorism was proposed in the Senate on Thursday amid cries that the nation is woefully unprepared for such an attack. The Bush administration supported the concept but balked at the cost.
Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson was set to begin spending the money. He said he hoped negotiations to buy some 250 million doses of smallpox vaccine would be finished by next week.

Top bin Laden aide believed killed by U.S. airstrike
Friday, November 16, 2001
(Updated Friday at 2:05 p.m.) Mohammed Atef, the right-hand man to Osama bin Laden who is accused of helping plan the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, is believed to have been killed by an airstrike near Kabul in the past two days, U.S. officials said Friday.

Compromise reached on airport screeners
Friday, November 16, 2001
Airport screeners would become federal employees under a compromise aviation security bill aimed at restoring the confidence in flying unhinged by the terrorist hijackers.

U.S. bombing presses on as Ramadan begins
Friday, November 16, 2001
(Updated Friday at 9:49 a.m.) U.S. warplanes struck positions near the Taliban's two principal remaining strongholds — Kandahar in the south and Kunduz in the north — on Friday, the first day of Ramadan. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said U.S. special forces have been engaged in ground combat.

Aid workers going back to Afghanistan
Friday, November 16, 2001
With the defeat of the Taliban, international aid agencies are sending relief workers back into Afghanistan in hopes of beating the onset of winter — even though they still face the threat of lawlessness and looting, aid officials said Thursday.

Palestine has support, but refugees unwelcome
Friday, November 16, 2001
Israel's foreign minister said Thursday there is support in Israel for a Palestinian state, but he vowed that Palestinian refugees will not be allowed to return to the Jewish state.

United pilots to have stun guns
Friday, November 16, 2001
In the latest steps to improve safety in the skies, United Airlines Thursday became the first major U.S. carrier to say it will arm its pilots with stun guns.

Panel explains historic issues in Afghanistan
Friday, November 16, 2001
By Mindie Paget

History explains the evolution of radical Islamic fundamentalists like Osama bin Laden and the al-Qaida terrorists who revere him, a panelist said Thursday.

Afghan women welcome freedom, cautiously
Friday, November 16, 2001
Waiting for food Thursday in this poor capital of one million people, dozens of burqa-clad women shouted "yes, yes" when asked whether they wanted to shed the all-encompassing garment required by the Taliban.

Nation briefs
Friday, November 16, 2001
• American, German officials profiling suicide hijackers
• Bush sends good wishes to Muslims for Ramadan