Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies
© St. Petersburg Times, published September 7, 2002
U.S. clears itself in attack on Afghan wedding party
WASHINGTON -- An American airstrike that killed dozens of Afghan civilians at a wedding party was justified because the plane fired back after coming under fire from the ground, a U.S. military investigation concluded.
A summary of the investigation report, released late Friday, said those who were firing at U.S. aircraft were to blame, not the Americans who fired back.
"While the coalition regrets the loss of innocent lives, the responsibility for that loss rests with those that knowingly directed hostile fire at coalition forces," the report said. "The operators of those weapons elected to place them in civilian communities and elected to fire them at coalition forces at a time when they knew there were a significant number of civilians present."
Afghan authorities say 48 civilians were killed and 117 were wounded in the attacks on July 1 by an AC-130 gunship on several villages in Afghanistan's Uruzgan province. The U.S. investigation could only confirm 34 dead and about 50 wounded, the report said.
WASHINGTON -- First lady Laura Bush is asking parents to turn off the television on Sept. 11 and instead read to their children and perhaps light a memorial candle.
"Don't let your children see the images, especially on Sept. 11, when you know it'll probably be on television again and again -- the plane hitting the building or the buildings falling," Mrs. Bush said in an interview Friday with Univision, a Spanish-language cable TV network.
Parents who decide to allow their older children to watch television on the anniversary should limit the time they spend in front of the set, Mrs. Bush said. Children need assurance they are safe, and it's important to remember and mourn those who died and support victims' families, she said.
WASHINGTON -- The United States and Saudi Arabia moved Friday to block the financial assets of a Saudi-born man they believe is an associate of Osama bin Laden.
The Treasury Department said Wa'el Hamza Julaidan was added to the country's list of more than 200 people and organizations suspected of financially supporting terrorist activities.
Officials said Julaidan fought with bin Laden in Afghanistan in the 1980s and is associated with several individuals and entities linked to al-Qaida.
AIR PATROLS RESUME: Military jets have resumed round-the-clock patrols over New York and Washington as the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks approaches.
SUSPECTS PLEAD INNOCENT: Three men accused of supporting terrorism and acting as a "sleeper cell" in Detroit pleaded innocent Friday to conspiring to provide material support or resources to terrorists.
Federal authorities allege Karim Koubriti, 24, Ahmed Hannan, 34, and Farouk Ali-Haimoud, 22, acted as "a covert underground support unit" and an "operational combat cell" for a radical Islamic movement allied with al-Qaida.
2-MILLION DONATED: More than 2-million people from around the world donated money to the Sept. 11 Fund, which has distributed nearly $336-million to victims of the attacks, a report said Friday. The American Red Cross, meanwhile, said it will have distributed $643-million of $1-billion raised by Wednesday.