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Bush Prepares His Troops for War as Taliban Dig In Over bin Laden
Friday, September 21, 2001
By Gay Alcorn and Mark Riley,
Herald Correspondents and agencies

“The Taliban must act and act immediately. They will hand over the
terrorists, or they will share in their fate.” ... Mr Bush during his address to
Congress. He is holding the badge of a police officer who died at the World
Trade Centre.
“And I will carry this. It is the police shield of a man named George Howard who died at the World Trade Center trying to save others. It was given to me by his mom, Arlene, as a proud memorial to her son. It is my reminder of lives that ended and a task that does not end.”
Photo: AFP.

The United States and Afghanistan appeared to be on a course for war last night after the Taliban rulers defied a warning from President Bush to immediately hand over Osama bin Laden or share his fate.

As the US intensified its military buildup, moving ground troops to within striking distance of Afghanistan and sending a third aircraft carrier battle group to the Persian Gulf, Mr Bush urged the troops to be prepared for battle because “the hour is coming.”

In an address to Congress perfectly pitched to rally anxious Americans, he said the US demands were “not
open to negotiation or discussion.”

“The Taliban must act and act immediately. They will hand over the terrorists, or they will share in their fate.”

In Islamabad, the Taliban's Ambassador to Pakistan called for a United Nations inquiry into claims of Osama bin Laden's involvement in last week's terror attacks and said the US needed to be patient until then.

In Britain, newspapers reported that the US was preparing to overthrow the Taliban, the fundamentalist Islamic regime which has controlled Afghanistan since the mid-1990s.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees called for a “humanitarian coalition” to help Afghan refugees as the country braced for attack. A spokesman said 200,000 Afghans had fled, many trying to breach the closed Pakistani border where mounted soldiers were beating them back with batons.

The World Food Program warned that at least a million Afghans faced starvation if it could not return
evacuated staff to the country.

In Peshawar, on Pakistan's border with Afghanistan, 5,000 protesters answered the call for a nationwide strike, shouting “God is Great” and “We will fight until the destruction of the USA.”
(More: smh.com.au News Source)

Dan