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Fighting terror: notebook
Compiled from Times wires Bush changes mind, wants commission to look into 9/11WASHINGTON -- In a change of position, President Bush said Friday he wants an independent commission to investigate the Sept. 11 attacks. Bush, who previously said an independent commission would risk public disclosure of sensitive intelligence information, said in a letter to Congress on Friday that he favors establishment of such a commission. The White House letter declared that now that an investigation into Sept. 11 by a joint House-Senate is "nearing its end, we must take the appropriate next steps." The House voted for an independent commission in July. But the proposal was held up in the Senate after the president said he opposed the idea because it would lead to leaks of classified information and also would consume the time and attention of senior U.S. intelligence officials who should be leading the battle to prevent another attack. Prosecutor asks judge to keep N.Y. suspects in jailBUFFALO, N.Y. -- The six suspected members of a New York terror cell must remain jailed until their trial to prevent the possibility of a terrorist act, a prosecutor said Friday. "The government and the American public just cannot afford to have a crime on the scale of al-Qaida ever occurring again," Assistant U.S. Attorney William Hochul said. The federal judge who will decide whether to set bail questioned Hochul's claims that the men pose an immediate danger. Authorities said previously they had no evidence of a pending attack planned by the alleged terror cell. "I haven't heard of any act of violence or propensity of violence in the history of these individuals," U.S. Magistrate H. Kenneth Schroeder Jr. said. He said he would rule on bail requests by Oct. 3. Prosecutors allege the six Muslims, U.S. citizens of Yemeni descent, were schooled in the tools of terror, including the use of suicide as a weapon, at a camp run by Osama bin Laden. Defense attorneys have described the men as victims of misinformation who pose no danger and won't flee. U.S. commander: Nearly 1,000 al-Qaida fighters likely remainBAGRAM, Afghanistan -- The U.S. commander in Afghanistan said Friday as many as 1,000 al-Qaida fighters could be active in Afghanistan and predicted it will take 18 months to two years to eliminate them and build a national army strong enough to deny terrorists a haven. "We haven't won this war yet, but we're winning," said Lt. Gen. Dan McNeill, the coalition task force commander. Despite a series of bombings and a failed assassination attempt on Afghan President Hamid Karzai two weeks ago, McNeill said members of the al-Qaida terrorist network no longer were capable of mounting large operations against U.S. and coalition forces or destabilizing the Afghan government. But he acknowledged that they would remain capable of harassing U.S. and coalition forces until their base of support is eliminated. "Where we're at today is that we have an enemy who is largely defeated, but not destroyed," he said. Earlier Friday, a U.S. military spokesman said several rockets were fired at a U.S. patrol in the Lwana area of eastern Afghanistan. No one was injured. Gunmen in burqas fire shots in market, injuring at least 6KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- Gunmen disguised in the burqas worn by many Afghan women fired shots and threw at least one grenade Friday in a vegetable market where Afghan soldiers were shopping, wounding two soldiers as other shoppers scrambled for safety, witnesses said. The attack by three assailants -- a driver and two men who drove up in a taxi -- occurred as hundreds of people were shopping shortly before lunch. Witnesses said as many as six people were injured. After the assault, residents surrounded the taxi, grabbed the driver and turned him over to police. Witnesses said two men escaped. The reason for the attack and the identities of the assailants were not immediately clear. In progress report, Bush says al-Qaida 'seriously degraded'WASHINGTON -- In a six-month progress report Friday on the war on terror, President Bush claimed some success in Afghanistan and the Philippines and left open the possibility that he will take the war elsewhere. Bush wrote House and Senate leaders that U.S.-led troops have "seriously degraded" al-Qaida's terrorist training capability in Afghanistan and virtually eliminated the ability of Afghanistan's ousted rulers, the Taliban militia, to support al-Qaida terrorists. He said about 550 al-Qaida and Taliban fighters are detained as "enemy combatants" at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba. "All are being treated humanely," the president reported. While combat-equipped American forces "made great progress in enhancing the Philippine government's counterterrorist capabilities" and are being scaled back in the southern Philippines, similar combat forces will remain in the former Soviet republic Georgia and in Yemen to help their armed forces improve counterterrorist operations, Bush said. "We continue to assess options for working with other nations to assist them in this respect," Bush wrote, warning anew that the antiterror war continues indefinitely. Sudanese pilot held on immigration chargesWASHINGTON -- A 30-year-old Sudanese pilot is being held on immigration charges as investigators try to determine if he is an al-Qaida operative who planned to fly an airplane into an American target, government officials said Friday. The unidentified man is in custody in North Carolina for making false statements while applying for a U.S. visa. Federal authorities believe he is linked to Osama bin Laden's terrorist group and are investigating the possibility that he might have been plotting to use a plane as a weapon, two government officials said.
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From the Times wire desk
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