November 25, 2001 Diary: America Strikes Back

Taliban surrender in droves
Sunday, November 25, 2001
A trickle of surrendering Taliban became a flood Saturday, and those laying down arms were greeted like brothers by northern alliance fighters besieging Kunduz. It was unclear whether a hard core of foreigners loyal to Osama bin Laden would opt to fight to the finish.

Questioning
Sunday, November 25, 2001
Journal-World Editorial

The government would be remiss in not interrogating foreign students about terrorist activities. Some are displeased that federal authorities have been given names of young foreigners to interview as part of the Justice Department's efforts to blunt future terrorist acts and get new data about the Sept. 11 tragedies in New York, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania.

Secretary earns stripes in parody
Sunday, November 25, 2001
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's news briefings recently crossed the bridge from politics to pop culture with a "Saturday Night Live" parody of the secretary — artfully captured by Darrell Hammond — tongue-lashing reporters into cowering submission.

Citizens on alert see evil all over
Sunday, November 25, 2001
President Bush has asked citizens to help avert further terrorist attacks by looking out for suspicious activity, and Americans have responded with vigor.

Rumsfeld shines in spotlight of war
Sunday, November 25, 2001
Twice weekly, sometimes more, he stands at the Pentagon podium, eyes squinted and nose crinkled against the Klieg lights, facing a firing squad of about 80 reporters. Except in this verbal standoff, he's usually the one holding the guns.

Gas guzzlers play part in Sept. 11
Sunday, November 25, 2001
By Jim Hoagland
Washington Post Writers Group

America's oil habit helped turn U.S. citizens into targets of choice for the butchers that al-Qaida chose for the grisly work of Sept. 11. Remember that the next time you climb into a fuel-inefficient SUV or leave the furnace thermostat set higher than is needed.

Kunduz captured by northern alliance
Sunday, November 25, 2001
(Updated Sunday at 1:02 p.m.) The Taliban's last northern stronghold fell Sunday, the northern alliance said, and foreign fighters captured in the siege turned on their prison guards, seized weapons and staged a chaotic uprising. The alliance said hundreds were killed.

With Taliban out, Afghanis return to opium poppies
Sunday, November 25, 2001
Gul Haidar smiled as he sifted some seeds through his fingers, happy he had planted the one crop that should ensure his family's welfare next year — opium poppies. In pencil-thin, spiraling furrows dug with a homemade plow pulled by oxen, Haidar has sown the tiny, pale specks that will yield flowers in four months.

U.S. achieving goals in terror war
Sunday, November 25, 2001
Afghan Taliban rulers have been routed, the al-Qaida terror network breached and Osama bin Laden put on the run, a fugitive with a $25 million bounty on his head. Suddenly, some important goals in President Bush's war on terrorism seem within grasp.

Anthrax victim buried as search for clues continues
Sunday, November 25, 2001
Less than a day after investigators swabbed Immanuel Lutheran Church for any signs of anthrax, about 250 people gathered there Saturday to remember the 94-year-old woman who is the nation's fifth anthrax victim.

Travelers with baby raise suspicion
Sunday, November 25, 2001
By Dave Barry
Miami Herald

Air travel sure is a big old laundry hamper of fun these days. That's what I was thinking as I was removing my clothing in front of hundreds of people at the Denver airport (which is located in Wyoming).

Anti-terror legislation exceeds constitutional limits by restricting liberties, pursuits of all Americans
Sunday, November 25, 2001
By Sonia Arrison
Pacific Research Institute

The USA PATRIOT Act recently signed by President Bush seeks to combat terrorism. Yet in doing so, the labyrinth legislation ironically threatens to compromise the basic rights that define our nation.

Broad, temporary powers justified to protect Americans from more acts of mass destruction
Sunday, November 25, 2001
By Pete du Pont
National Center for Policy Analysis

Last month, President Bush signed a sweeping anti-terrorism bill that restores many powers of the intelligence and law enforcement agencies controlled by the federal government — agencies that had experienced a dramatic erosion of their respective authorities following Watergate.

Little to be said on Israeli-Palestinian conflict
Sunday, November 25, 2001
By George Will
Washington Post Writers Group

When Colin Powell retired as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 1993 he quoted Thucydides: "Of all manifestations of power, restraint impresses men most." It might have been an impressive example of restraint if the United States had husbanded its power and continued to refrain from intruding itself, with special emissaries and multiplying plans, into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

US airstrikes helped subdue Taliban prison riot
Sunday, November 25, 2001
(Updated Sunday at 5:20 p.m.) American airstrikes helped subdue an uprising by Taliban prisoners of war at a fortress in northern Afghanistan, U.S. military spokesmen said Sunday. Hundreds of the foreign Taliban prisoners were killed, but U.S. military forces were all accounted for, Pentagon officials said.

Tribal leaders ask Taliban to surrender Kandahar
Sunday, November 25, 2001
(Web Posted Sunday at 9:38 a.m.) More than 70 Afghan tribal elders asked the Taliban to surrender their southern stronghold of Kandahar, saying Sunday that the Islamic militia must give up the city to avert bloodshed.

Briefly
Sunday, November 25, 2001
• WASHINGTON: President offers message of praise and warning for U.S.
• New York: Divers recover sailor's body
• Connecticut: Greeting card companies don't foresee holiday spiral
• Washington: Broken metal detector forces airport evacuation

Holiday 'normalcy'
Sunday, November 25, 2001