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Fact Sheet

First detainees arrive in Cuba

SUMMARY:

The first group of al Qaeda and Taliban detainees arrived Friday at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Pentagon officials are downplaying the possibility of enemy fire being involved in Wednesday's crash of a Marine K-130 tanker/cargo plane. Seven Marines were killed in the crash in western Pakistan.

UPDATE:

Security was tight at the base when the 20 detainees arrived. On Thursday, the detainees - sedated, hooded and chained to their seats - were flown out of Afghanistan aboard a C-17 transport plane. They were flown to an undisclosed location and then transferred to a C-141 transport for the flight to Cuba. (Full story)

Singapore has broken an al Qaeda plot targeting the U.S. Navy presence there as the direct result of intelligence gathered in Afghanistan, U.S. officials told CNN on Friday. (Full story)

Authorities charged an Egyptian man Friday with lying to the FBI about his knowledge of aviation radios, one of which he allegedly had while staying near the top of a hotel facing the World Trade Center on September 11.

The Marines' refueling plane went down as it prepared to land Wednesday at a forward operating base in Shamsi, Pakistan, U.S. officials said. "There is no evidence that it was anything other than an aircraft crash," Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said Thursday. (Full story)

U.S. warplanes Thursday bombed the area around a suspected al Qaeda training camp in eastern Afghanistan for a fifth straight day. U.S. military reconnaissance discovered a massive network of caves and tunnels at the Zawar Kili camp, which officials say could cover 30 or 40 acres.


  •  Summary

  •  Update

  •  Key questions

  •  Who's who

  •  Impact


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 RESOURCES
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The widow of Army Sgt. 1st Class Nathan Ross Chapman, the first U.S. soldier to die in combat in Afghanistan, on Thursday accepted the Combat Infantryman's Badge Second Award, Purple Heart and Bronze Star on behalf of her late husband. Officials also unveiled a memorial stone bearing Chapman's name at a ceremony in the Special Forces compound at Fort Lewis, Washington. (Full story)

Suspected shoe bomber Richard Reid is a member of a previously unknown terrorist network that may have links to al Qaeda, according to European investigators and intelligence sources. (Full story)

The first of as many as 500 U.S. soldiers arrived in the southern Philippine city of Zamboanga on Thursday to train Philippine troops fighting against the extremist Muslim group Abu Sayyaf. Abu Sayyaf guerrillas took dozens of hostages last year, including an American couple, and have been linked to al Qaeda. (Full story)

KEY QUESTIONS:

Who are the key members of the newly installed Afghan interim government? (Click here for more)

Do the remaining Taliban and al Qaeda fighters in Afghanistan still pose a threat?

Where is Mullah Mohammed Omar, the spiritual leader of the Taliban?

What kind of permanent government will eventually rule Afghanistan?

How will a multinational peacekeeping force be received in war-weary Afghanistan?

How long will the U.S.-led military campaign in Afghanistan last?

What is the goal of the U.S. campaign in Afghanistan? What is the key to the mission's success?

WHO'S WHO:

George W. Bush: U.S. president

Hamid Karzai: A Pashtun tribal leader and the chairman of Afghanistan's interim government.

Osama bin Laden: A wealthy Saudi expatriate living in Afghanistan who U.S. authorities cite as one of the primary suspects in masterminding the attacks.

Condoleezza Rice: U.S. national security adviser.

Colin Powell: U.S. secretary of state. A former Army general, Powell also served as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the 1991 Persian Gulf War.

Gen. Richard B. Myers: Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Gen. Tommy Franks: Head of U.S. Central Command.

Donald Rumsfeld: U.S. secretary of defense.

The Taliban: A group of Islamic fundamentalists, mainly from Afghanistan's Pashtun ethnic group, which is the country's largest ethnic group. The Taliban that gained control of most of the country by 1997 and instituted an extreme form of Islamic law.

Northern Alliance: A group of former mujahedeen fighters, mainly from minority ethnic groups that oppose the Taliban.

George Robertson: NATO secretary-general and former British defense minister.

George Tenet: CIA director

IMPACT:

The military attacks that began October 7 mark the start of what the Bush administration says will be a lengthy struggle against terrorist organizations worldwide -- one that could take years.



 
 
 
 



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