Operation Enduring Freedom - July 2002

• Day 298: Wed, 7/31/02 - Talking about Saturday's battle in the mountains of eastern Afghanstan, one of the injured, Pfc. Brian S. Worth, said the enemy threw grenades over the mud walls of the US occupied compound and then poked weapons through openings firing randomly.  US forces, in cooperation with the Pakistani government, bombed a munitions bunker in the Paktika province of Afghanistan.  An Australian and two British citizens detained at Guantanamo Bay who filed lawsuits against the Bush administration demanding they be allowed a US court trial were denied that option by a federal judge.  US troops will finish up their mission in the Philippines today with both the US and the Philippine government declaring the "war games a success".  Five Americans and two Israelis were killed in a bombing at the Mount Scopus campus cafeteria of Jerusalem's Hebrew University.  Several bombs were planted by a university handyman, Mohammed Oudeh, who then detonated them remotely during lunchtime with his cell phone.  He is a member of the Islamic fundamentalist group Hamas.
• Day 297: Tue, 7/30/02 - For the first time, the US military is using robots as combat tools by sending them into caves.  Each is guided with a joystick and will transmit images from up to 12 cameras.  Hermes was the first robot deployed, weighing in at 42 pounds and measuring one foot high and and three feet long.  He weighs enough to set off land mines and is high enough to trigger booby-trap trip wires.  All prototypes, three other robots are also being used in Afghanistan, nicknamed Professor, Thing and Fester.  All four can also hold a 12-gauge shotgun and a grenade launcher, and use a Global Positioning System where they can see themselves and each other.  A senior US official said some of bin Laden's bodyguards have been in US custody since February leaving some to speculate that bin Laden is dead - killed in the Tora Bora battles in December, or died from wounds he received there.  He has not been seen or heard from since that time.  Remains from 23 graves at the battle site were exhumed and found to be those of "members of bin Laden's security detail".  But India's defense minister says bin Laden is alive in Pakistan and that the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence knows it.  Iraq accuses the US and Britain of trying to send spies in on the pretext that they are arms inspectors, and in reality want to set up a puppet regime in Iraq in order to control the world's second largest oil reserve.  Homefront: James Ujaama, arrested last week in Denver for his al Qaeda connections, and Semi Osman, also in custody, were found to possess terrorism-related documents including documents about water poisoning.  The information is believed to have come from "a prominent radical Muslim cleric in London named Sheikh Abu Hamza Al-Masri, a one-eyed mullah who is often seen preaching at Finsbury Park's North London Central Mosque and is wanted in Yemen on terrorism charges."
• Day 296: Mon, 7/29/02 - Saad bin Laden, an elder son of Osama, is gaining power within the al Qaeda terrorist network and the US now lists him among the top two dozen al Qaeda targets.  Homefront: An Amtrak train carrying 202 people, the "Capitol Limited" en route from Chicago to Washington D.C., derailed in Maryland injuring 101 people, six critically.  The engineer reported seeing a "misshapen" section of track about 18 inches long prompting him to brake.  Two soldiers were killed in Fort Hood, TX during a "live-fire exercise" when the tank they were in exploded into flames.  The Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines are staging the "Millennium Challenge", the "largest exercise in US military history — an event aimed at planning for warfighting of the future."  It is happening live at nine locations, including at bases in Nevada and southern California and off the coast of San Diego, and via computer simulation at 17 locations.  This Congress mandated exercise will be used "to judge progress being made in the military's transformation into a lighter and quicker force more geared to today's threats."
• Day 295: Sun, 7/28/02 - Two US soldiers who were seriously injured in yesterday's gunbattle have been flown to hospitals in Germany.  Four Islamic militants escaped from the Pakistani police they were traveling with when fellow Lashkar-e-Jhangvi terrorists opened fire on the group from a car.  Nine officers were injured, but the police immediately pursued the attackers.  A gunbattle erupted and six militants were killed, including the four who escaped.  The four were in police custody as suspects "in last October's attack on St. Dominic's Church in Behawalpur during a Protestant service" in which 16 people were killed.  For the sixth time this month, coalition planes bombed Iraq within the flight-interdiction zones, this time hitting a communications bunker in the south.  US Central Command says, "Iraq has fired missiles or anti-aircraft guns at coalition planes 70 times this year."
• Day 294: Sat, 7/27/02 - Five US soldiers were wounded when their small reconnaissance patrol was fired upon in the Paktia province (seven miles east of Khost) from a walled compound.  Two Afghan soldiers, fighting side-by-side with the Americans in the 4 1/2 hour gunbattle, were killed and at least three attackers were also killed.  The troops called in air support from "Army AH-64 Apache attack helicopters, Air Force A-10 Warthog ground attack aircraft and FA-18 fighters."  A wounded attacker was captured.  The injured soldiers were taken to Bagram's air base for treatment.  Pakistan made its third major Afghan drug bust within two weeks when officials seized over 2,000 pounds of hashish smuggled in from Afghanistan.  The drugs, had they not been intercepted, would have been transported from there by camel to Iran.
• Day 293: Fri, 7/26/02 - The al Qaeda network is believed to be based in Pakistan now and contracting out attack jobs to Pakistani militant extremist groups, like the banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and Jaish-e-Muhammad.  Hundreds of Arab al Qaeda terrorists have vanished in Karachi where they easily blend into the population of 12 million.  They first escaped into affluent districts where they could live in security behind high walls, and now have spread throughout all classes of neighborhoods.  Seven Israeli tanks and a bulldozer destroyed a Palestinian police post and two metal workshops in Gaza City.  Hours later, Palestinian gunmen killed four Israelis when they opened fire on two vehicles.  Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is paying Palestinian families $25,000 if a loved one carries out a suicide mission, and $10,000 if the family member was killed while attacking Israel.  Hussein has signed more than 500 checks totaling $20 million over the last two years.  US Customs Service has alerted the US/Mexican border that a capsule of iridium-192 (radioactive material) has disappeared from the truck transporting it just south of California's Mexican border.  The inch-long capsule is housed in a 6 inch by 8 inch cylinder.  Homefront: Four Fort Bragg soldiers have killed their wives within the last six weeks, with two also committing suicide.  Three of the husbands had been stationed in Afghanistan as special operations servicemen.  The US military has Mohammed Mansour Jabarah, a man believed to have "directed an al Qaeda plot to destroy the American Embassy in Singapore" in custody in a secret location in the northeastern US.
• Day 292: Thur, 7/25/02 - The new Afghan government has falsified reports that it has eradicated most of this year's poppy crop grown in Afghanistan; only about 2% has been destroyed.  The eradication teams would show up at a poppy farm with sticks, pay farmers $350 US for 1/5 hectare of poppy, then half-heartedly pretend to be busy destroying crops with the sticks.  The US has asked Italy and other countries to supply ground troops to the Operation Enduring Freedom effort.  Italian Defence Minister Antonio Martino said Italy would have to wait to decide what to do until the Fall when their Parliament reconvenes.  Camp Delta, the high-security prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba is almost full with its 564 al Qaeda/Taliban detainees, and the Bush administration is taking bids to construct 200 more cells.  Detainees were first held at Camp X-ray, which had make-shift open-air cells that human rights groups said were "cages".  Since April, detainees have been housed in the more permanent, newly constructed concrete cells of Camp Delta.  Palestinian gunmen ambushed a rabbi, killing him and injuring another Israeli, near a Jewish settlement in the West Bank.  Homefront: FBI agents searched the house in Denver where an American Muslim activist, James Ujaama, had been living prior to his arrest on Monday.  Authorities believe Ujaama "took computer equipment to an al Qaeda terrorist camp in Afghanistan," and are investigating whether he may also have undergone training there as well.  Ujaama grew up in Seattle and had attended the now-defunct Dar-us-Salaam mosque, which was founded by his brother Mustafa Ujaama.  The two brothers moved to Denver earlier this month and moved in with their aunt.
• Day 291: Wed, 7/24/02 - Working together, US forces and Afghan allies uncovered two dozen anti-aircraft missiles and ground rockets and took five people into custody 12 miles northwest of Khost.  Islamic leaders in Pakistan say they will resist the new regulations the government is imposing on their madrassas which the government says are teaching Islamic extremism.  The US and Indonesia are working at rebuilding military ties after they dissolved when training the Indonesian military was halted in 1999.  The US Senate Appropriations Committee voted on July 18 to resume ties, now the bill awaits Congress' approval.  Indonesia is considered a very necessary ally in the global war on terrorism.  Homefront: A group of Afghan ministers met with "US experts" at Georgetown University and discussed ideas on how to rebuild their country.  They also visited President Bush at the White House for photos.  The group's biggest beef was that they could not do much about the problems in Afghanistan unless they received more of the $4.5 billion promised by donors at the conference in Tokyo earlier this year.  About $1 billion has been received, "but more than half of it has gone toward food and humanitarian assistance, which in turn 'makes the people lazy,' said Afghan reconstruction minister Mohammed Farhang.  'I can clearly say reconstruction in Afghanistan has not begun.'"
• Day 290: Tue, 7/23/02 - US forces, teamed with Afghan allies, are following up on tips that Mullah Mohammed Omar is still hiding in Afghanistan.  Salah Shehadeh, founder and top commander of Hamas' military wing, Izzadine el-Qassam, was killed when Israel bombed an apartment building in Gaza City.  His wife, daughter, bodyguard and ten others were also killed.  The Israelis considered Shehadeh the "Usama bin Laden of Hamas".  The Palestinian group vows to avenge his death.  Homefront: US counterterrorism experts are monitoring several websites and servers that may contain coded messages from bin Laden or other al Qaeda militants.  The Navy's newest aircraft carrier is the USS Harry S. Truman on which the men and women on board are currently training for possible deployment into the war on terror.  In battle, the carrier is the largest in a group of six or more other ships including a "guided missile cruiser, destroyer, frigate, supply ship and submarine."
• Day 289: Mon, 7/22/02 - New Afghan Interior Minister Taj Mohammed Wardak held the first burning of 1,470 pounds of poppies as a display of the government's disapproval of drug running.  The meals eaten by US coalition troops are routinely checked for Anthrax by soldiers in gas masks and gloves at the Bagram air base dining hall, where 6,000+ troops dine.  They don't usually eat local food, as it can cause severe diarrhea, nicknamed "Osama's Revenge".  Pre-made "modules" (casserole-type dishes which feed 50) are flown in from Germany and are usually served for dinner.  The mess hall is closed at lunch time, so the meal consists of MREs (Meals Ready to Eat).  "MREs have a main course warmed with a special heater - a green bag that emits hot hydrogen vapors when water is added."  There are 24 different MREs, including "chunked pork, jambalaya, chicken with salsa and beef ravioli."  Homefront: Attorney General John Ashcroft released of list of nine foreign groups and companies with terrorist ties, saying, "Americans have always welcomed the freedom-loving people of the world to our shores.  But terrorists must not be allowed to use our hospitality as a weapon."
• Day 288: Sun, 7/21/02 - The Afghanistan National Army's first battalion is about to be deployed as it completes its 10 weeks of training.  About half of the recruits dropped out leaving a final group of about 300 men.
• Day 287: Sat, 7/20/02 - Some US special forces perform bodyguard duty for the new Afghan president Hamid Karzai.  A US soldier was shot in the arm when the Afghan fighter he was training at a firing range lost control of his weapon.
• Day 286: Fri, 7/19/02 - The last of the British Royal Marines left Afghanistan.  Only logistics and support staff remain.  Up to 1,700+ had been stationed in Afghanistan during the last six months, after arriving in February for Operation Jacana in the search for bin Laden.   The head of United Nations operations in Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi, said the threat of al Qaeda/Taliban in the country is still real, until intelligence indicates otherwise and asked for more foreign peacekeepers.  The ISAF (International Security Assistance Force of 4,500-5,000 troops from 20+ countries, currently commanded by Turkey) is limited to keeping the peace in the Kabul area only, and Brahimi would like to see the force double in size and have authority beyond the Kabul limits.  Other countries are not yet willing to commit more troops.  Former Taliban commander Fazul Rabi Said-Rahman said Islamic militants, led by al Qaeda, will soon strike at American interests in Pakistan in retaliation for the death sentence that Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh received for the kidnapping/slaying of Daniel Pearl.
• Day 285: Thur, 7/18/02 - In a show of force, a US A-10 jet bombed an uninhabited area near an ongoing firefight between two Afghan groups in eastern Afghanistan.  Abdulla Ali will replace the assassinated Afghan vice president/public works minister, Haji Abdul Qadir.  He was Qadir's deputy, and will only assume the minister position.  The head of Kandahar's department of law and justice was shot to death outside of his home.  The Kandahar province was the Taliban's stronghold.
• Day 284: Wed, 7/17/02 - Four US troops were injured by flying debris as a CH-47 Chinook helicopter landed near Asadabad in eastern Afghanistan.  Another al Qaeda militant, Kamal Hadid Chaar, alias Abu Nour, was arrested in Spain, an associate to one of the three arrested yesterday.  A Spanish citizen of Syrian origin, he's also linked to the Muslim Brotherhood in Syria, another radical Islamic group.  Israel is blaming the Palestinian Authority for today's double suicide bombing at the entrance to a movie theater in Tel Aviv that killed five people and injured 40+.  The militant group Islamic Jihad is claiming responsibility.  In response, an Israeli warplane bombed a metalworks factory in Gaza that was reported to make weapons for the Islamic militant group Hamas.  Two al Qaeda suspects were captured in the Persian Gulf by a French warship.  A Canadian ship captured two last week in the northern Arabian Sea.  Homefront:  President Bush released the first National Strategy for Homeland Security.  According to the Department of Homeland Security, "The purpose of the Strategy is to mobilize and organize our Nation to secure the U.S. homeland from terrorist attacks."  The FBI's top official for counterintelligence and counterterrorism, Dale Watson, believes bin Laden is dead.  Even so, he said he had no doubts that there would be another attack.  "The terrorist 'fleas' infesting the country 'want to kill you. . .They could be in your neighborhood.'"
• Day 283: Tue, 7/16/02 - 150 US forces in helicopters landed in Hesarak, 60 miles southwest of Kabul, and soldiers equipped with gas masks arrested a man with al Qaeda ties.  Troops would not say why they carried the gas masks.  Afghanistan's new government has been trying to get the regional governors to start transferring the taxes collected to the now official central government in Kabul.  The first tax dollars were received from the Herat province today.  Homefront: Two military F-16 fighter jets escorted American Trans Air flight 204 after suspicious-acting passengers were reported to the pilot.  After the plane landed at La Guardia airport in New York, the four men and three women who had been passing notes and exchanging seats while in flight were questioned then released.  They claimed to be part of a "traveling entertainment troupe".  Officials increased security at the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco after three al Qaeda suspects were arrested in Spain.  One of the suspects had video tapes of US landmarks, including the former World Trade Center in New York City from all angles and distances, the Golden Gate and Brooklyn bridges (focusing on their supports), Disney Land and Universal Studios in California, Chicago's Sears Tower, the Empire State Building and a New York airport.  The Lower Manhattan Development Corp., formed after the 9/11 attacks, revealed six new designs for rebuilding New York's World Trade Center.
• Day 282: Mon, 7/15/02 - Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh was found guilty of the kidnap and murder of US reporter Daniel Pearl and sentenced to death (hanging) in a Pakistani court.  Three accomplices, Farhad Naseem, Mohammed Adeel, and Salman Saqib were each sentenced to life in prison (maximum 25 yrs).  "All four were also fined $8,350 each and another $33,400 collectively -- to be given to Pearl's widow."  A former president of the Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Pakistan said the government "should extend its banks' network to Afghanistan to facilitate the Pakistani business and trade community in their bids to capture their due share in the Afghan markets."  The government of Afghanistan is ordering all private armies to disarm and disband, in an effort to strengthen the national army and to prevent the return of terrorist bases.  Homefront: The US government is dropping all terrorism charges against John Walker Lindh (aka Abdul Hamid).  He only faces two charges which he pleads guilty of: aiding the Taliban and carrying explosives.  At most, he could receive 10 years in prison for each charge.  But don't worry, "US Attorney Paul McNulty said the deal had a provision allowing the government to seize Lindh and hold him as an 'enemy combatant' if he engages in any 'terrorist' behavior after he is released from prison."  See more on the treasonous Lindh.
• Day 281: Sun, 7/14/02 - The head of Germany's Federal Intelligence Service says bin Laden is alive and living between Pakistan and Afghanistan.  Israel destroyed an unoccupied three-story building in Qarara on the Gaza Strip by aerial assault, injuring ten Palestinians.  May have been in retaliation to Palestinian mortar attacks on the Jewish settlement of Kfar Darom yesterday and this morning.
• Day 280: Sat, 7/13/02 - Members of several mosques in Seattle, including the Dar-us-Salaam (which closed with earthquake damage 11/01) are being investigated for ties to the al Qaeda network.  Back in 1998, it was discovered that Dar-us-Salaam mosque held a large weapons arsenal.  The US Agency for International Development/Office of Transition Initiatives (USAID/OTI) will fund an Internet center in Afghanistan that "will enable Afghan businessmen and traders to sell their products and services worldwide via e-commerce."  The center should be up and going within a month.  27 people were killed in Jammu City, India after Muslim militants opened fire.  The attackers, disguised as Hindu holy men, threw grenades into a group of people watching a cricket game on TV, then sprayed them with bullets.  India accuses Pakistan of encouraging terrorist groups "who want Indian-administered Kashmir to be part of Pakistan."
• Day 279: Fri, 7/12/02 - Six Afghan governors have joined together to demand that US forces seek their permission before making any military moves in their regions.  They said they would establish "a 500-man rapid deployment force to fight al Qaeda and the Taliban holdouts and a 3,000-man force to guard parts of the borders with Iran and Pakistan.  The units will help prepare Afghanistan for the eventual departure of 7,000 US troops and would operate largely independent of the central government in Kabul.  A Pakistan financial advisor for bin Laden, Sheikh Ahmed Saleem, was arrested in Karachi.  Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf asked "foreign elements from Afghanistan working against national interests in the country to surrender."  Yaser Esam Hamdi, the Louisiana-born Taliban member, with Saudi Arabian parents, will not be allowed to meet with a lawyer as ordered by a US District Judge.  A "three-judge panel of the 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously overturned" the ruling, saying "the judge who ordered the meetings did not adequately consider the government's position that the prisoner is an enemy combatant."  Homefront: No attack occurred - According to local ABC news, there may be a possible terrorist threat in Pasadena, TX today.  Last night, officials said there was a threat of a terrorist attack on oil refineries in Pasadena, CA, but there are no oil refineries in that city, so FBI looked at other "Pasadenas", including those in the states of Ohio, Maryland, Florida, and Texas.  Refineries in Pasadena, TX and along the Houston ship channel have made some defensive preparations including flooding the trenches that surround the plants with water.
• Day 278: Thur, 7/11/02 - A US special forces compound in the Uruzgan province of Afghanistan "came under grenade and small arms fire", near the village where a US airstrike hit a wedding party killing 48 people.  There were no injuries.  250 Japanese have filed a lawsuit against their government saying Japan has breached its own pacifist constitution by supporting the US's military operations in Afghanistan.  A leader of the MDMK party in India, Vaiko, was arrested for publicly announcing his support for the banned Sri Lanka-based terrorist group Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).  The MDMK is allied with Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's ruling coalition.  Homefront: Law enforcement officials said the FBI "is searching for Americans and others they suspect of advising al Qaeda cells operating underground on U.S. soil and preparing for another terror attack."  Some of these are what al Qaeda manuals called senior advisers or wise men - advisers believed to be longtime U.S. citizens, fully immersed in American life and able to financially direct an attack without directly participating in it."  There may be as many as 5,000 people linked to al Qaeda living in the US.
• Day 277: Wed, 7/10/02 - Sniper fire injured a US soldier who was on patrol just north of the air base in Kandahar.  His Kevlar helmet deflected the bullet, but he still received a concussion.  Kandahar Governor Gul Agha said US troops will no longer take any action in southern Afghanistan without first getting approval from top local officials.  US special forces found another weapons cache in southeast Afghanistan including "two 82mm mortars, one 82mm mortar base plate, 200 rounds of mortar ammunition, six anti-personnel mines, three rocket-propelled grenade rounds, one heavy machine gun barrel with a scope, two machine gun tripods, 60 cases of machine gun ammunition and one rocket launcher.  A Pakistani court tried former prime minister Benazir Bhutto in absentia, for receiving kickbacks for granting a license to gold company ARY Traders, and found her guilty.  She's been sentenced to three years of hard labor, and her land and houses in Pakistan will be seized by the government.  She's been living in United Arab Emirates and Britain since 1999 in self-imposed exile, and will be arrested if she enters Pakistan.
• Day 276: Tue, 7/9/02 - Al Qaeda spokesman Sulaiman bu Ghaith "told the Algerian Arabic daily newspaper El Youm" that the terrorist network will soon attack US and Jewish targets in America and worldwide.  It also plans to start doing assassinations and "attacks on the enemy's weak infrastructure."  The four-month long British-led Operation Buzzard ended at Bagram air base.  There was not a lot of contact with the enemy during the operation.  Law enforcement officials advised the public that the US Embassy in Doha, Qatar had issued at least 71 fraudulant visas to non-Qatar nationals - mostly Jordanians and people of Middle Eastern descent last year, before and after 9/11/01.  31 of the people holding these visas have been arrested, all in the US.  The FBI, tipped off by a confidential source, advised Diplomatic Security Service of the massive visa fraud operation 11/30/01.  Osama bin Laden had planned to move the hub of al Qaeda from Afghanistan to Aceh in Indonesia back in 2000.  His "scouts" Ayman Al-Zawahiri, Mohammed Atef, Omar al-Faruq and Agus Dwikarna had visited in June of that year and were very impressed "by the lack of security, and the support and extent of Muslim population."  Homefront: Over the last two weeks, the FBI and INS have raided 75 jewelry stores/kiosks, most owned by Pakistanis, "hoping to break up fronts for terrorist groups or their financial backers."  Raids, mostly involving the Intrigue Jewelers franchises licensed by Gold Concept Inc. in Florida, have taken place in Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Texas.  Congress approved storage of national nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northeast of Las Vegas, NV.  The repository should be ready to open by the year 2010, by which time it should have been made leak proof.
• Day 275: Mon, 7/8/02 - Two Taliban-linked Pakistanis, members of the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen al-Almi terrorist organization, admitted responsibility for last month's car bombing at the US consulate in Karachi.  They also claimed they had planned to assassinate President Pervez Musharraf in April with the same car, a Suzuki van, but the bomb failed to detonate.  The international peacekeeping force in Afghanistan, the International Security Assistance Force, has agreed to help the Afghan government investigate the assassination of Haji Abdul Qadir.  Canadian forces blew up 12 tons of confiscated ammunition in a cave 60 miles north of Kandahar, which sent a fireball 230 feet skyward.
• Day 274: Sun, 7/7/02 - US senators want more military involvement in Afghanistan to strengthen security after Abdul Qadir's assassination yesterday.  An editorial in an Arab newspaper believed to be written by Saddam Hussein's eldest son, Uday, who owns the paper, claimed the US is not only planning "to attack Iraq but also to destabilize Saudi Arabia and neighboring countries."  He further stated that Iraq was ready at a moment's notice to help Saudi Arabia defend itself.  Homefront: Afghan national Mohomad Omar Popal, living in the US illegally and wanted by federal authorities since 1997, was arrested in Reading, PA after a traffic stop.  He was driving a "heavily loaded pickup" with the bumper almost touching the ground.  It was found to be hauling "about a dozen cases of soda", underneath which were "several car batteries, adhesive solvents and electrical wiring."  Nearby is the Limerick nuclear power plant.
• Day 273: Sat, 7/6/02 - One of the three new vice presidents of Afghanistan, Haji Abdul Qadir, was assassinated by two gunmen who fired 36 rounds into his car as he was leaving his office at the Ministry of Public Works.  His driver was also killed and two other passengers were injured.  The attackers, who had been hiding in bushes, escaped in a car driven by an accomplice.  None of the 10 security guards on duty at the ministry tried to interfere with the attackers, and were all arrested.  Qadir's brother was Abdul Haq, the Pashtun leader/former guerrilla who was captured and murdered by the Taliban in October 2001, who claimed Haq was a spy for Britain and the US.  Homefront: The newly formed Transportation Security Administration said "more armed law enforcement officers will patrol the public areas of airports."  Read their statement regarding the July 4th attack at LAX.  To date, El Al, Israel's national airline, is the only airline to have armed security guards wherever it is present.  Federal officials say the government will soon vaccinate 500,000+ health care and emergency workers against smallpox, and also plans to carry out mass vaccinations of the public.  Without vaccination, one in three infected people die from the disease.
• Day 272: Fri, 7/5/02 - The governor of Uruzgan, a central province in Afghanistan, said he wants the US military to hand over the informant who told them to bomb a village that killed 46 civilians attending a wedding.  The US was advised there were senior Taliban leaders at the location.
• Day 271: Thur, 7/4/02 - US soldiers at the air base in Bagram celebrate US Independence Day with barbeque and basketball, but worry about their families at home and possible terrorist attacks over the holiday.  Finishing up their mission, the Canadian-led Operation Cherokee forces found anti-aircraft missiles in a cave complex south of Qalat, the capital of the Zabul province.  Homefront: Hesham Mohamed Hadayet, an Egyptian who has lived in America for 10 years, opened fire on others standing in line at the El Al Airlines (Israel's national airline) ticket counter in Los Angeles National Airport.  Armed with "a .45-caliber semiautomatic Glock pistol, a 9 mm handgun and a 6-inch knife", Hadayet was shot dead by security after killing two people and injuring three.  A bystander suffered a heart attack.  Hadayet's wife and sons (Adam and Omar) had left California for Egypt a week before.  Hmmm, just like families of the 9/11 hijackers.
• Day 270: Wed, 7/3/02 - A clash between Pakistani security and al Qaeda militants resulted in seven deaths in northwestern Kohat.  Homefront: Mohammed Nour al-Din Saffi, a citizen of New Zealand and stepson of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, was arrested on immigration charges after enrolling at Aeroservice Aviation Center, a Florida flight training school also used by Ziad Jarrah, one of the 9/11/01 hijackers.  Saffi had registered with INS as a tourist and not a student.  The Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) and Allied Pilots Association (APA) warned members that some flight crews believed their actions were being watched by "people of Middle Eastern descent".  Officials also warned that terrorists may be stealing their pilot uniforms and IDs, based on a rash of recent thefts from pilots' hotel rooms.  Over 105  companies have violated US embargos, including Citibank (transferred funds to Libya, Iran, Cuba, Sudan and Yugoslavia from Jan. '98 through Sept. '01), CNA Insurance (paid millions of dollars to Cuba for insurance contracts), Los Angeles Dodgers (held a baseball tryout camp in Cuba and signed two Cuban players Juan Carlos Diaz and Jose Perez), Hudson Foods, acquired by Tyson Foods (sent chicken parts to Iraq), Hearst Magazines' Harper's Bazaar (sent models to Cuba for a photo shoot), and Ikea International (bought hand woven rugs from the Taliban in Afghanistan).
• Day 269: Tue, 7/2/02 - US troops came under small arms fire as they headed back to the Kandahar base after visiting injured civilians at the local hospital.  One soldier was injured.  Homefront:  The US is considering limited arms sales to Afghanistan's new government and its international peacekeepers.
• Day 268: Mon, 7/1/02 - Operation Cherokee, led by Canadian forces, began its sweep on Zabul, believed to be a transit point for Taliban/al Qaeda fleeing Afghanistan for Pakistan.  US forces found a massive weapons cache in eastern Afghanistan.  Two rocket-propelled grenades were fired on an airfield near Khost where about 50 US troops are based.  US spy planes led Philippine troops to scattered Abu Sayyaf hideouts in the Sulu Archipelago.  The US has successfully completed almost all of its missions in the Philippines, which may lead to Congress approving further missions there to wipe out more kidnap-for-ransom gangs.   Homefront:  The US announced the creation of the South Asian Office of Trade Affairs which will handle affairs with India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and Sri Lanka.