Operation Enduring Freedom - May 2002

• Day 237: Fri, 5/31/02 - Pakistan pulled more troops from the Afghan border, which were providing US-coalition support for rooting out al Qaeda, and most likely will move them to Kashmir to oppose India.  US State Dept. advised 60,000 Americans to voluntarily leave India because of an increased threat of war between India and Pakistan.  A former Indian Air Force official who's been selling classified information was arrested by Delhi police in India.  The buyer of his goods, a Pakistani High Commission official was detained.  Homefront: 12 of the 19 9/11 hijackers held a driver's license issued in the US.  Texas wants to make it more difficult for foreigners to acquire a driver's license by requiring US government issued identification, which would only be held by legal immigrants.  US officials warned airlines and law enforcement agencies to take extra precautions because "new intelligence indicates Islamic terrorists have smuggled shoulder-fire missiles into the U.S."
• Day 236: Thur, 5/30/02 - The US-led coalition is using a new classified web on the Internet to share "links on latest operations, maps, graphics and casualties" with those who need the information simultaneously in order to make decisions.  Afghan warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar is calling for a holy war against the US and Britain in a letter circulating in Afghanistan and Pakistan: "I invite all the believers to be united and to be ready for war to liberate your country from the foreign oppressors."  Turkmenistan, Pakistan, and Afghanistan signed an agreement to build and maintain a cross-border gas pipeline which would send natural gas from the Turkmen Dauletabad-Donmez field to the other two countries and possibly India.  Homefront: 585 illegal immigrants (out of 314,000+ ordered to leave the country) have been caught over the last four months through the "Absconder Apprehension Initiative" program.  Although the program focused on about 5,000 listed as terrorists or associates of terrorists, none of those apprehended so far were classified as such. 
• Day 235: Wed, 5/29/02 - British troops massing near the Pakistani border in Operation Buzzard are trying to stop Taliban/al Qaeda militants from returning to Afghanistan and disrupting the loya jirga set for early June.  "The Missile Defense Agency (MDA) and the Army conducted an operational test of the PATRIOT Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) system at the Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site on Kwajalein Atoll in the Republic of the Marshall Islands."  A PAC-3 did successfully intercept the "threat-representative ballistic missile target."
• Day 234: Tue, 5/28/02 - The US requested military troops from South Korea for dispatch to Afghanistan and the Philippines, but South Korea is not interested in aiding the War on Terrorism because of anti-US sentiment.  Afghans are still killing themselves - eight candidates for loya jirga (grand council) positions have been killed over the past few weeks.
• Day 233: Mon, 5/27/02 - According to Fazul Rabi Said-Rahman, who commanded the Taliban army corps in eastern Afghanistan, top Taliban and other Islamic militants move freely along the Pakistani/Afghan border because so many of Pakistan's Secret Service support the Taliban.  He also claims, "Muslims everywhere are angry" that the Americans and British have destroyed Afghanistan, and there will be "some big suicide attacks in the United States."  Bagram Air Base is now the command base for the ground war in Afghanistan, which "upgrades" it from a combat zone.  Previously, orders were given from the US base Camp Doha in Kuwait.
• Day 232: Sun, 5/26/02 - Pakistan test fires a second missile, this time the new short-range "Hatf-III or Ghaznavi...With a range of 176 miles, the missile could reach the border regions of India."  Israeli troops pulled out of Bethlehem and continue to move in and out of West Bank towns.  The China Airlines plane that crashed yesterday broke into 4 pieces above 30,000 ft. altitude and was seen with military radar.  Homefront: An Arkansas River bridge collapsed in Oklahoma after a barge hit it.  New security technology, digital face recognition software called "Facelt", is being tested at four US airports - Dallas/Ft. Worth, Fresno, Palm Beach, and Boston's Logan, and has already been implemented in Iceland and Europe.
• Day 231: Sat, 5/25/02 - A coalition base in the Khost region in eastern Afghanistan reports two more rocket attacks.  Pakistan began test firing missiles as fear of war with India increases.  Israeli troops, tanks, armored personnel carriers, and helicopters moved back into Bethlehem and Israeli forces also did a military sweep through Tulkarem in the West Bank.  A China Airlines Boeing 747-200 crashed 30 miles off the west coast of Taiwan killing all 225 aboard.  Mechanical problems are not suspected.  Based on eyewitness accounts of hearing an explosion and initial debris found, it's believed an explosion happened on board.  There had been no mayday call.
• Day 230: Fri, 5/24/02 - US coalition forces raided a Taliban compound outside Kandahar, where suspected Taliban leadership was said to be.  Homefront: Terrorist attack warnings - The Nuclear Regulatory Commission warned 103 nuclear power plants, the Transportation Department warned subways and railroad systems, and the FBI warned of possible scuba diving terrorists.
• Day 229: Thur, 5/23/02 - Muslim militants are slipping across the Pakistan border to set grenade-launching booby traps and mines on previously cleared Afghan roads and paths for British Marines.  A car carrying three Afghan militants pulled up to the British post in the Khost region and started a firefight after unloading ten rounds into a 12-member Marine team.  No British troops were injured, but at least two of the enemy were wounded or killed.
• Day 228: Wed, 5/22/02 - The situation continues to escalate between Pakistan and India over Kashmir.  Pakistan's troops are in defensive positions and are on eight-hour notice in the event that a military
  conflict erupts.  India has moved five warships into a position just off their west coast near Pakistan.  Homefront: The House passed a $4.6 billion bill (H.R. 3448) that is aimed at strengthening the country's preparedness against biological attacks.  A Pensacola, FL man, 43-yr old Patrick Gott, fired his shotgun in the ticket lobby of New Orleans' Louis Armstrong International Airport, wounding two people.  Carrying a Quran and talking of "Allah", he said people were saying rude things about his turban.
• Day 227: Tue, 5/21/02 - Sweeping the mountains north of Khost, coalition forces are not finding anymore signs of al Qaeda in the caves and shelters they are searching.  US planes did drop a few bombs on 10 suspected militants spotted near the Afghan/Pakistani border south of Khost.
• Day 226: Mon, 5/20/02 - FBI Director Robert Mueller said Americans should expect suicide bombings on our soil, like is happening in Israel.  Afghanistan, Iran, and Pakistan signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) which states that "Afghanistan is a bridge connecting regional countries to each other" and underscores "the need for increasing trilateral cooperation in order to obtain greater access to the three states' markets and to reduce customs requirements, trade and tariff barriers, increase investments and activate their private sectors."  Homefront: More public warnings may be publicized, even if the tip-offs are vague, because officials don't want to be accused of knowing about an act of terrorism beforehand if it actually happens.  Next month, the Justice Department will give lie detector tests to hundreds of workers who "had expertise in preparing anthrax for use as a weapon and those who may have had access to it."  Stocks fell apparently as a result of mounting fear of more terrorist attacks.
• Day 225: Sun, 5/19/02 - US special forces, conducting Operation Mountain Lion, came under enemy fire in eastern Afghanistan, resulting in the death of one US soldier who died from a gunshot wound.  A new bin Laden video tape has been revealed containing previously unseen footage of the terrorist.  The time it was filmed is unknown (although his supporters say it was in March), and bin Laden, looking very gaunt, states "The war is between us and the Jews.  Any country that steps into the same trench as the Jews has only herself to blame."  50 US troops arrived in the former Soviet nation of Georgia to begin a two year program training 2,000 elite Georgian special forces.  The training is expected to especially help with the lawless Pankisi Gorge area where al Qaeda and Muslim guerillas co-exist.  East Timor celebrated the birth of their new half-island nation.  Homefront: Vice President Dick Cheney says it "is almost a certainty" that al Qaeda will attack US targets again now or in the future.
• Day 224: Sat, 5/18/02 - There's been greatly increased al Qaeda activity over the last few weeks, according to government sources, and "there are indications that an attack of 'equivalent magnitude' to the Sept. 11 attacks is a possibility."  Although the increased communications may be too vague for the government to take any sort of action, "one troubling thing about the increase in activity...is that a similar increase occurred prior to Sept. 11."  This "chatter" could point to a large scale al Qaeda attack being planned for the Middle East, Europe or the US.  Another unmanned US Predator spy plane crashed, this time in southwestern Pakistan, 15 miles northeast of Jacobabad.  This is at least the fifth spy plane to crash since the beginning of Operation Enduring Freedom.  38 British soldiers stationed at Bagram air base have now become infected with the "mystery virus", which doctors say may be the "winter vomiting virus" also known as "Norwalk-like virus."  Homefront: The FBI is alerting apartment managers across the country to watch for suspicious activity, as there are indications that terrorists may rent apartments and rig them with explosives to blow up the complex.  China will now add duties to US imports in retaliation of the US steel tariffs, which will remain in place for at least three years.
• Day 223: Fri, 5/17/02 - 1,000 British troops accompanied by US air support, part of Operation Condor, went to the Paktia province, a mountainous region in eastern Afghanistan, north of Khost, to take on a "substantial enemy force", in response to the attack on Australian troops yesterday.  Mullah Omar, leader of the Taliban while they were in power in Afghanistan, was quoted in a London based newspaper Asharq al-Awsat as stating that Osama bin Laden ("the sheik") is still alive and "We don't consider the battle has ended in Afghanistan ... The battle has begun and its fires are picking up. These fires will reach the White House, because it is the center of injustice and tyranny."  The State Department issued an alert to Turkey and US citizens there of a possible terrorist attack over the next five days, maybe directed towards civil aviation.
• Day 222: Thur, 5/16/02 - An Australian special forces group was fired on in the mountains in eastern Afghanistan, resulting in a gun battle that lasted several hours.  A second group was also fired on while four miles away, but was able to make it through to join the first group.  The truck loaded with sodium cyanide that was hijacked in Mexico Friday was found near the site where it was stolen.  US officials don't know if any of the chemical-filled drums are missing.  Homefront:  Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld tried to convince the Senate Armed Services Committee to vote down funding for the continuation of the Crusader program.  Last week he was for the weapon's development, but now feels "it's too big and too unwieldy to fit in with the Army's plans for a lighter, faster and more mobile force."  The Crusader was destined to provide a massive amount of artillery as a "40-ton, self-propelled cannon designed to rain 155 mm shells every six seconds on enemy forces more than 25 miles away.  Slated as an $11 billion program, $2 billion has already been spent.  The only one built so far weighs 60 tons."
• Day 221: Wed, 5/15/02 - Beginning three days ago, 18 British military medical personnel stationed at Bagram air base have come down with an undiagnosed meningitis-like illness where they have "high fever accompanied by severe diarrhea and vomiting."  Islamic militants based in Pakistan attacked the Indian-controlled side of Kashmir, killing 30+ people, the worst raid for eight months.  "More than a dozen Islamic groups have been fighting for Kashmir's independence from India since the militant insurgency began in 1989."  Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat plans to "restructure his government and hold elections."  Homefront: The FBI alerted law enforcement agencies of a truck that was hijacked Friday in Hidalgo, Mexico (500 miles south of Brownsville, Texas) carrying 96 drums of "the rock form of the industrial chemical sodium cyanide", a total of 21,120 pounds of it.  Mexican officials notified US law enforcement Monday.  According to the FBI, "When mixed with any type of acid, sodium cyanide produces a lethal toxic gas that would have disastrous impact on a broad geographic area.  If sodium cyanide catches fire it produces toxic gases that are difficult to extinguish."  A Federal Marriage Amendment was proposed in the House by a group of 3 Republicans and 3 Democrats stating "Marriage in the United States shall consist only of the union of a man and a woman.  Neither this Constitution nor the Constitution of any state, nor state or federal law, shall be construed to require that marital status or the legal incidents thereof be conferred upon unmarried couples or groups."
• Day 220: Tue, 5/14/02 - The weapons cache in 4 caves that was blown up Friday is claimed not to have belonged to al Qaeda but were weapons supplied by the US during the Soviet invasion in the '80s.  Coalition ally, "Ibrahim Omari, a former commander in Afghanistan's anti-Soviet resistance", said, "my own people had been guarding it" since it was stored there 15 years ago.  "I had been hoping to save it for when we have a national army established."  The US wants more help from Pakistan in capturing al Qaeda/Taliban hiding there, but its president, Musharraf, feels the issue with India over Kashmir is now back on the top of his hot list in trying to avert a nuclear crisis.  United Nations Security Council unanimously approved new "smart" sanctions on Iraq, which means "there will now be a 300-page list of all goods making their way into Iraq that could have 'dual use' for civilian or military purposes like trucks or communications equipment."  U.N. officials must approve or disprove whether the listed items will be allowed into the country.  Although Syria and Russia were among those voting, they maintain that sanctions should be dropped for the good of Iraq's economy.  Homefront: President Bush signed the Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act, which is designed to "help keep out people who don't belong in this country...help keep track of visitors while they are here...bans the issuance of visas to people from countries considered to be sponsors of terrorism."
• Day 219: Mon, 5/13/02 - Enemy rockets were fired at a camp east of Khost where US troops are training Afghan soldiers.  No injuries were reported.  British-led Operation Snipe has ended scoring a major victory with its destruction of caves holding a massive arsenal; no enemy troops were encountered during the operation.  Yasser Arafat toured the damage in Bethlehem and the Church of the Nativity and offered the help of his Cabinet for repairs.  He hoped the international community would not let this happen again.  Homefront: There are now threats that a terrorist attack will happen at a nuclear power plant on July 4th somewhere in the northeast.  As an extension to its Highway Watch Program, the American Trucking Association is developing an Anti-Terrorism Action Plan which will create a coalition of 3 million truck drivers.  "Their goal: to make certain a truck is never used as a weapon."  They'll watch for suspicious activities that may indicate a possible terrorist attack, monitoring highways, bridges, tunnels, seaports and other truck drivers.  Next week, May 24, President Bush plans to sign a treaty with Russian President Vladimir Putin that will require the two countries to reduce their nuclear arms by about 60%, by destroying some and dismantling some.  See CNN's interactive reports on "Nuclear Weapons: Who Has What?" and on the "Cold War".  Bush signed a new farm-subsidy bill that will provide $190 billion over the next 10 years, generously increasing farmers' existing "safety net".
• Day 218: Sun, 5/12/02 - Another weapons cache was found 2 1/2 miles south of the four-cave arsenal destroyed Friday.  This new find consisted of "about 60 107 mm rockets, 100 82 mm mortars and 12 boxes of 12.7 mm heavy machine gun ammunition", and was destroyed by a bomb disposal team.
• Day 217: Sat, 5/11/02 - An enemy rocket was fired at a vocational school along the Pakistan/Afghanistan border where US troops are bunking with Pakistani troops while searching for Taliban/al Qaeda.  The rocket, launched by a timer, hit about 150 yards away from the school, damaging a sports complex. The British feel the war in Afghanistan is "all but won", and say it's a matter of weeks before they will start "winding down" the bigger operations.  US officials say there is still lots of work to be done in that country, including keeping an eye on the Pakistan border for a Taliban resurgence.  Meanwhile, the Afghan interim government released another 200 Pakistani Taliban-supporters from prison, allowing them to fly back home to Pakistan.  A train derailed in northern India killing 12 people.  Track sabotage is believed to be the cause.  Homefront: One of the foreign students arrested Tuesday for visa fraud, Fahad A. Alhajri from Qatar, has possible 9/11 terrorist connections based on evidence found in a Los Angeles hotel room prior to 9/11.
• Day 216: Fri, 5/10/02 - British-led Operation Snipe blew up the four manmade caves found yesterday, which were 6 to 9 feet high and 100 to 150 feet deep.  "About 220 pounds of plastic explosives, fortified with anti-tank mines, were set off by remote control after people were evacuated from within a mile of the caves."  The blast sent a mushroom cloud over 1,000 feet into the sky and filled the valley with "acrid brown smoke".  Over 20 truckloads of ordnance within the caves exploded for hours, with several rockets shooting out.  Mass graves found in northern and central Afghanistan contain possibly thousands of bodies of those killed by execution or suffocation.  Some were killed up to three years ago by the Taliban, others as late as last year by the Northern Alliance.  The stand-off in Bethlehem at the Church of the Nativity ended as 13 Israeli-wanted Palestinian senior militants left the compound, accompanied by church officials and surrounded by Israeli troops.  After passing through a metal detector, they "headed to an Israeli military base for identification" escorted by US embassy vehicles.  A British military plane will take them to an air base in Cypress then they'll continue on to the EU.  26 others will be sent to Gaza to face terrorism charges in Palestinian courts and the remaining 80 Palestinians are expected to be set free as they leave the compound.  The church reeked of urine and was littered with filthy mattresses, blankets, and other items, some gold church implements were stolen, but there was apparently no "permanent" damage.  A train derailed in England killing at least seven and injuring 90+ people.  Homefront: A new program to track the hundreds of thousands of foreigners here on student visas is being implemented according to Attorney General John Ashcroft and should be ready by January 2003.  It will be an Internet-based system linking INS (Immigration and Naturalization Service) to colleges and universities in a "rapid-access reporting system".  FBI spy and traitor to the people of the USA, Robert Philip Hanssen, was sentenced to life in prison without parole for trading "crucial US secrets for cash and diamonds for more than two decades".  His wife gets to keep the house and his pension.  Convicted 1998 US Embassy-in-Africa bomber Mohamed al-'Owhali from Saudi Arabia is suing Att. Gen. John Ashcroft over the new Patriot Act regulation allowing the government "to eavesdrop on certain attorney-client conversations in prison."
• Day 215: Thur, 5/9/02 - The CIA is after former Afghan Prime Minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar because he is seen as a major threat to the Afghan interim government.  British-led Operation Snipe found four caves in the Paktika province, in a mountainous area along the eastern Afghan border shared with Pakistan.  Each cave is "sealed by metal doors with padlocks on them.  Bomb disposal experts will check for booby-traps" before troops enter them.  Israel is calling in their military reserves and has tanks massing just outside Gaza, where Palestinian Hamas is based, preparing for its retaliation Tuesday's attack in Rishon Letzion.  Homefront: Two Navy T-39 Saberliner jets collided with each other over the Gulf of Mexico killing all aboard.  One plane carried four officers - three Navy and one Marine Corps; the other plane carried two Raytheon Aerospace employees and Maj. Ambarak S. Al-Ghamdi, a flight instructor from the Royal Saudi Air Force" involved in a training session.  Sick-o Luke Helder was placing his pipe bombs in a "smiley face" pattern.
• Day 214: Wed, 5/8/02 - An emergency Israeli cabinet meeting authorized approval for Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to retaliate against yesterday's suicide bombing in Rishon Letzion.  Yasser Arafat issued an order to Palestinian forces "to confront and prevent any terror attack against Israeli civilians from any Palestinian side."  Homefront: Luke Helder confesses to making and planting the pipe bombs.  A US citizen from Brooklyn, NY, Jose "Pucho" Padilla also known as Abdullah al Muhajir, 31, was arrested for his ties to al Qaeda as an "enemy combatant" planning to detonate a "dirty bomb" in the US.  An officer in the US consulate in Karachi, Pakistan grew suspicious of Padilla when he requested a replacement passport, which he issued.  Padilla had gone to Afghanistan and then Lahore, Pakistan after the 9/11/01 attacks to study dirty bomb techniques.  He had joined a gang as a teenager, committed robberies and was an accomplice to a murder, moved to Florida, and became a Muslim when doing jail time there.
• Day 213: Tue, 5/7/02 - Tissue samples were taken from 23 bodies found in graves in the Tora Bora region to use for DNA testing to see if any of the dead al Qaeda militants can be identified.  Jimmy the goat follows the soldiers until locals eat him.  A bomb blast killed 13, most were French and injured another 23 people on a 45-seat tourist shuttle bus in Karachi, Pakistan.  Palestinian Islamic group Hamas claims responsibility for suicide bombing a pool hall in Rishon Letzion, Israel, killing at least 16 and injuring 60+.  This is the first bombing attack since Israeli forces began withdrawing from the West Bank three weeks ago.  Israel had planned to pull out of Bethlehem, but that could change.  A Chinese MD-82 airliner carrying 112 people crashed into the Bohai Sea off northeastern China.  Air traffic controllers lost contact with the plane eight minutes prior to its scheduled landing.  Eyewitnesses say the plane circled a few times before plunging into the water.  No survivors are expected.  An Egypt Air Boeing 737-500 crashed during an emergency landing in Tunisia killing at least 18 people.  Homefront: A pipe bomb was found in a mailbox in Amarillo, TX bringing the total to 18, including eight in IL/IA, eight in NE, and one in CO.  21-yr old Luke J. Helder of Pine Island, MN was captured on a highway outside Reno, NV for planting the bombs.  After an all-points bulletin was issued for him, a motorist spotted his vehicle on Interstate 80 and tipped off authorities.  The Bush administration "told the Supreme Court for the first time that it believes the Constitution protects an individual's right to possess guns, reversing the government's longstanding interpretation of the Second Amendment."  58 Middle Eastern students were arrested across the country for visa fraud - hiring people to take English-language proficiency exams for them so they would meet their university requirements.  One Virginia man had flight training materials in his vehicle.  Some materials that were seized from one Virginia home included "a Federal Aviation Administration flight manual; an aerial view of the Pentagon; a Rolodex with the locations of oil refineries; a date book that contained the Sept. 11 entry that said, 'Trackd the World Trade Center or the Pentagon trackd for the plaen'; a book identifying commercial airliners; photos of people posing inside and outside the World Trade Center; and videos titled 'Incredible Air Disasters' and 'Incredible Water Disasters.'"
• Day 212: Mon, 5/6/02 - Three more rockets exploded near a US base in eastern Afghanistan.  Locusts and a disfiguring skin disease, leishmaniasis, plague Afghanistan.  Homefront: More pipe bombs were discovered in Nebraska and one in Colorado, bringing the total to 16.  View a timeline for pipe bomb discovery.  A letter opened in the Thomas Eagleton Federal Building in St. Louis contained a white powder that is being tested for anthrax.  The second-richest man in the world, Warren Buffet, advised "We're going to have something in the way of a major nuclear event in this country.  It will happen.  Whether it will happen in 10 years or 10 minutes, or 50 years ... it's virtually a certainty."  He feels Washington D.C. and New York City are primary targets and also says chemical and biological attacks hold a similar risk.
• Day 211: Sun, 5/5/02 - The Taliban, thousands of them, are regrouping under directions from Mullah Omar, who is safe in Afghanistan according to Taliban member Obeidullah.  He said it's easy to go from Afghanistan to Pakistan.  Osama bin Laden, known as "the guest", could be anywhere.  Iraq will resume exporting oil at midnight on Tuesday.  It had suspended oil exports for 30 days, but no other Arab nations joined in, so there was little or no impact.  The country received no other Arab support to do likewise.  Homefront: Six more pipe bombs were found in rural mailboxes, this time in Nebraska, making a total of 14 found.
• Day 210: Sat, 5/4/02 - Pakistan's President Musharraf admits that some al Qaeda militants may have crossed the Afghan border into his country.  Only Pakistani forces can pursue them within his country's borders, but he would appreciate US intelligence.  Thousands of tribal militiamen rallied against US troops in Pakistan.  "They should leave our soil. We cannot accept their presence on our holy land.  If they will not go immediately, we will use force to throw them out."  Coalition forces confiscated weapons including an anti-aircraft gun while disarming a village of al Qaeda sympathizers in southern Afghanistan.  The last battle could be building in Afghanistan:  In Operation Torri, Chinook helicopters, escorted by US Apache helicopter gunships, are steadily moving hundreds of Canadian troops from Bagram to eastern Afghanistan.  British Royal Marines are leading Operation Snipe, a massive high-altitude sweep in the eastern mountains, and the US is heading Operation Mountain Lion, a wider sweeping offensive.  In fact, the enemy is feeling the squeeze - a rocket hit near a US special forces base near Ghazni in this eastern area.  No injuries.  US troops also defused two powerful Russian-made landmines that had been freshly planted on a road leading to Khost's airport.  Israeli troops killed two Palestinians in the Church of the Nativity compound in Bethlehem, West Bank, where 150 Palestinians, including 30 gunmen, are still holed up and surrounded by Israeli forces.  Negotiations to end the standoff are being held in an undisclosed place.  A commercial airliner carrying 76 people on a domestic flight crashed into a residential area in Kano, Nigeria shortly after takeoff.  Eyewitnesses reported that the plane was weaving, then as it went into a nosedive, the wings caught fire before crashing.  Homefront: A task force made up of the FBI, US Postal Inspection Service, the ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms), and the US Postal Service has been organized to find out who is responsible for the mailbox pipe bombs.  Suspended since 1986, President Bush reopened normal trade relations with Afghanistan.
• Day 209: Fri, 5/3/02 -  The legwork of British-led Operation Snipe began today as troops started going through previously unsearched caves, bunkers, and other al Qaeda hideouts.  An Indian Air Force MiG-21 crashed into a bank building in New Delhi killing eight and injuring 16.  The pilot bailed out.  Homefront: Eight pipe bombs with messages have been found in rural mailboxes in Illinois and Iowa, of which five had detonated injuring at least six people (four postal workers and two residents).  The bombs were attached to batteries and set to go off if touched or moved.  Read the text of one of the pipe bomb messages.  Federal Judge Allan Edgar ruled in favor of the ACLU and a few local residents to remove two displays of the Ten Commandments from municipal buildings in Tennessee.  The stone tablet shaped plaques were posted after the 9/11 attacks.  The plaintiffs said the displays caused them to  endure "unwelcome contact".  Over half of the state's counties had approved posting the displays in their counties.  Again, the majority loses out.
• Day 208: Thur, 5/2/02 - Israeli forces withdrew from Yasser Arafat's compound this morning.  He has not been allowed to leave Ramallah since December.  The six Palestinian prisoners, as requested by Israel, were taken to a Palestinian controlled prison in Jericho, West Bank.  Fighting between Israeli and Palestinian forces inside the Church of the Nativity led to an explosion and three fires in Manger Square.  Arafat was very angry at the destruction happening at the Church.  Several rockets exploded within a few hundred yards of an airfield where US army troops are based in Khost, Afghanistan.  This is about 30 miles from the mountainous region where "Operation Snipe" is being led by the British.  Homefront: The US Treasury will hit the debt ceiling in mid-May, which is $5.95 trillion.  The only way for the government to continue functioning is for Congress to raise the limit.  Temporary fixes can help through "shifting funds and tinkering with Treasury auction schedules to make room for increased borrowing."  Undermining President Bush's efforts to help bring an equitable peace to the two warring countries, Congress passed resolutions that offer complete support to Israel and denounce Arafat and the Palestinian Authority as terrorists.
• Day 207: Wed, 5/1/02 - The British-led mission "Operation Snipe" has begun, with support by US air and special ops forces.  They'll be sweeping what may have been a principle al Qaeda base in a mountainous area in southeast Afghanistan.  It's one of the few places not yet covered by ground forces.  A rocket was fired during the night at a vocational training institute which may have been housing US troops who are working the area.  No one was injured.  Pamphlets had also been distributed warning "wake up because the hypocrite rulers have challenged the faith and Islamic honor ... by bringing American commandos to Miranshah," and that "Muslims faced 'disgrace and trouble' unless they 'stand up against the army of Jews and Christians,' and said the murder of Pakistani troops and officials assisting the Americans was also 'justified.'"  Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf will stay in power another five years, amidst talk of voting shenanigans.  Armored vehicles arrived at Yasser Arafat's compound in Ramallah, West Bank to transport the six Palestinians, wanted by Israel for killing their tourism minister and for other terrorist acts.  Israel will take these prisoners in exchange for freeing Arafat from his compound.  The Muslim extremist group Abu Sayyaf holding the Kansas couple hostage in the Philippines says they will kill the two if the US gets too close.  Philippine Labor Day celebrations were interrupted when a bomb exploded at a festival killing two and injuring 50+.  Homefront:  Early morning explosions at a Pearland, TX packaging plant caused evacuation of 100 homes.  Fires, now contained, may rage for several days.  At one point, about 15 tanks were on fire with flames shooting 800 feet in the air.