Zone/911 - 26 October 2001-02

Fri Oct 26 19:07:36 CDT 2001

<x-rich>------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------

Zone/911 - Pynchonian Echoes in the Current Situation - 26 October 2001-02

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[...] The hatred these women feel for the Taleban is real. But it is
matched by a sense of bewilderment at the air strikes, a feeling that the
wrong people are being made to pay. Many of them call for the military
action to be targeted much more carefully, and for civilians to be
protected. "I don't want all the countries in the world to support us with
food and water or clothing - but to defend us," said another woman refugee
in Peshawar. "We're telling them we don't need anything from them. Why has
America intervened in our country? If they really want Osama [Bin Laden],
the Americans should go after him. "We do not say that America should not
fight the Taleban. They could fight the Taleban, but take the civilians to
a safe place," she said. [...]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/south_asia/newsid_1619000/1619627.stm

"A congregation of mainly Pashtun tribal and religious leaders opposed to
the Taliban demanded an end to the US bombing of Afghanistan on Thursday,
and sought support of the United Nations and the Organisation of Islamic
Conference to convene a loya jirga, or grand assembly, to begin a new peace
process for Afghanistan. A final resolution at the end of the meeting which
was called by Pir Ahmad Gailani, an Afghan resistance leader from the 1980s
with close connections to Pakistan, invited Mohammad Zahir Shah, the former
Afghan king who lives in exile in Rome, to lead a new peace process. [...]

http://news.ft.com/ft/gx.cgi/ftc?pagename=View&c=Article&cid=FT3SF21X8TC&live=tr
ue&tagid=ZZZC19QUA0C&subheading=asia%20pacific

"The Federal Bureau of Investigation is seeking to broaden considerably its
ability to tap into Internet traffic in its quest to root out terrorists,
going beyond even the new measures afforded in anti-terror legislation
passed by the House today, according to lawyers familiar with the FBI's
plans. Stewart Baker, an attorney at the Washington D.C.-based Steptoe &
Johnson and a former general consul to National Security Agency, said the
FBI has plans to change the architecture of the Internet and route traffic
through central servers that it would be able to monitor e-mail more
easily. The plans goes well beyond the Carnivore e-mail-sniffing system
which allows the FBI to search for and extract specific e-mails off the
Internet and generated so much controversy among privacy advocates and
civil libertarians before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. [...] "In the
current patriotic climate, enterprises of all types will likely play along
with the FBI in order to avoid a public relations disaster," said Gene
Riccoboni, an Internet attorney with the Stamford, Connecticut-based Grimes
& Battersby."

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,37203,00.html

"The anthrax attacks that have hit the U.S. Postal System are likely to
boost the use of the Internet, the president of America Online Inc. said
today. "It's incredibly positive for the Internet," Raymond J. Oglethorpe
told a breakfast audience of about 200 this morning in Chantilly.
Oglethorpe hastened to add that the anthrax attacks, which have killed two
Washington-area postal workers, were "unfortunate." He also maintained his
faith in the safety of the mail system. [...]

http://www.nbnn.com/news/01/171476.html

"Despite a surge in interest in military service since the Sept. 11
terrorist attacks, there has not been an increase in enlistments,
recruitment officials for the four services said Thursday. Most of the
people who inquired about enlisting did not follow through, and others were
found unqualified. Much of the interest has come from people with previous
military service." [...]

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-102601enlist.story

"A US distributor says Americans are drinking more beer since they went

to war with the Taliban. Gold Coast Eagle Distributing says beer sales
increased by 15% in the

week US forces attacked Afghanistan.The company says more than 12,000 extra
cases were delivered to grocery stores, restaurants and bars. Sales of beer
had dipped by about 5% in the week of the attack. Company president John
Saputo told the Bradenton and East Manatee Heralds: "When American military
forces began the bombing of Taliban and al Qaida strongholds, it's as if
the floodgates of excitement opened the

beer taps across Sarasota and Manatee counties, because our sales have
soared. "The local beer consumer not only cheered on the pilots, but they
drank a lot more Bud and Bud Light as the bombs fell on Afghanistan." The
company expects a 5.5% annual increase in sales after about five years when
sales increases were down between 2% andf 4%. "

http://www.ananova.com/business/story/sm_431945.html

" [...] New York Times' Eichenwald reports, bin Laden's family "is severing
its financial ties with" the Carlyle Group, a private investment firm
"known for its connections to influential" DC political figures, according
to execs "who have been briefed on the decision." A Carlyle exec: "This
wasn't done because anyone thought they did anything wrong ... We felt and
they felt that it was something that was causing more attention than it
deserved, so we both decided it made sense, given the circumstances, to
liquidate the position." The decision, "reached late last week, was by
mutual agreement," according to a senior exec with the investment firm. "It
came largely as a result of public controversy" about the family's stake in
a Carlyle fund "that invests in buyouts of military and aerospace
companies." After the 9/11 attacks, "the investment was criticized amid
speculation that the family might profit from increased military spending
from America's war on terrorism" (10/26). [...] ABC's Diane Sawyer
interviewed Osama bin Laden's sister-in-law, Carmen bin Laden. [...] on
Osama's fortune: "I really don't know how much, but I think Osama had a lot
of backing from Saudi Arabia and from the family, money wise. I don't think
he would have to take only his own money."[...] Sawyer: "Do you know, for a
fact, whether money has gone from the bin Laden family to Osama bin Laden?"
bin Laden: "If you ask me bring me the proof, I don't [have any]. But I
don't know that. But my opinion is yes. For Islam, they would give." [...]
"

http://www.theatlantic.com/hotline/ (26 Oct 01)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Zone/911 is an occasional enewsletter published by
www.Online-Journalist.com. It seeks shards of  the shattered geopolitical
crystal palace loosely linked by tangential threads that lead, eventually
and sometimes in very roundabout ways, to the works of Thomas Ruggles
Pynchon. Article excerpts appear without prior authorization of their
originating publications under established "fair use" principles. The
Editor encourages readers to click on the enclosed urls and read excerpted
articles in their entirety, monitor a broad spectrum of information
sources, and use their brains to integrate their own understanding of the
post-911 Situation. Feedback:  bozo at online-journalist.com.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
</x-rich>

Doug Millison - Writer/Editor/Web Editorial Consultant
millison at online-journalist.com
www.Online-Journalist.com