The Tora Bora Cave Systems of Al Qaeda

Old and In the Way

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Tue Jan-27-04 02:05 PM
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The Tora Bora Cave Systems of Al Qaeda

I was just wondering.....

Before we cranked up the "War on Terror" in Afghanistan, I remember a very detailed, popular science type rendering of the AQ cave system in the mountains of Tora Bora. My questions are:

(1) Where did the sketch come from?
(2) Were there ever any pictures that proved the existance of these bunkers?
(3) Is building of the pipeline route underway?....was the bombing helpful for the groundwork?

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ArmchairActivist

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Tue Jan-27-04 03:11 PM
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1. I never got the whole pipeline deal

And for a very simple reason: One drunk guy with a deer rifle shut down the trans-Alaska pipeline, and spilled thousands of gallons of crude.

In Afghanistan, everyone over the age of 5 has two or three Kalashnikovs, an RPG launcher and plenty of reasons to be hostile to the U.S./the 'West'.

So how in hell is a pipeline going to be built any time soon? Is every inch of the thing going to be under 24-hour guard?

I know there's been some interesting journalism done on this subject, but I've never seen this question addressed in a satisfactory manner. I don't think this pipeline is anything more than a Big Oil pipe dream.

-AA

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Old and In the Way

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Tue Jan-27-04 03:47 PM
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2. "I don't think this pipeline is anything more than a Big Oil pipe dream."

See Iraq. The neocons really aren't very smart, in a common sense, way of thinking. Like publishing their PNAC blueprint on the web. Or planning for a post war Iraq.

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Tue Jan-27-04 04:04 PM
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3. Tora Bora is located

in the White Mountains in eastern Afghanistan, southwest of Jalalabad near the Pakistan border.

The pipeline would run south from Turkmenistan, low along the western border of Afghanistan.

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paulthompson

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Wed Jan-28-04 04:24 AM
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4. I've looked into this..

And have some articles about it, including the illustration that looks like some kind of giant al-Qaeda ant farm.

It turned out to be complete BS.

I can send you the articles if you like. It's yet another thing I'd like to put in the timeline, but just so little time and so many lies to fight.

It's an amusing example of the media building itself into a frenzy and then completely forgetting about it.

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paulthompson

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Wed Jan-28-04 04:27 AM
Response to Reply #4

5. Here's one article about the "ant farms"

but you have to pay to read it

Heavily Fortified 'Ant Farms' Deter bin Laden's Pursuers

by Michael Wines
The New York Times
November 26, 2001

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/26/international/asia/26HIDE.html?searchpv=nytToday

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DoYouEverWonder

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Thu Jan-29-04 05:41 PM
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6. You mean bin Laden's Tora Bora fortress?

This is the one that the Times of London did the graphic for. This was part of the propaganda that was spread around right before we invaded Afghanistan to prove to the world that a guy living in a cave, who travels by donkey with a dialysis machine, was a serious threat to the US.

http://edwardjayepstein.com/nether_fictoid3.htm

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