Taliban may poison U.S. food donations
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October 25, 2001
BY SCOTT FORNEK STAFF REPORTERThey have been accused of exaggerating reports of civilian deaths and making bogus claims about shooting down U.S. helicopters.
And now the Taliban could be planning to secretly poison the food in the humanitarian relief packages U.S. planes are dropping on Afghanistan.
That was the claim made Wednesday by a top Pentagon official.
"There are reports that the Taliban might poison the food and try to blame the United States," said Rear Adm. John Stufflebeem, director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff. ''We are going to make sure that that is as widely known as fast and as far as we can.''
No cases of tainted food have been reported so far.
U.S. fighter jets pounded the Afghan capital of Kabul on Wednesday, a day after a U.S. strike killed 22 Pakistani militants--the deadliest attack yet on a group linked to suspected terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden.
Stufflebeem said he was surprised at "how doggedly they're hanging on to power."
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Wednesday that bin Laden may never be caught "dead or alive," USA Today reported.
But he predicted the Taliban would be ousted from power. "That is easier than finding a single person," he told the paper.
Secretary of State Colin Powell delivered a stinging rebuke to defenders of bin Laden, and a new survey showed the American public's faith in the military and pride in their country have soared since Sept. 11.
On the so-called second front, officials tried to grapple with the ongoing anthrax threat that has dug its claws into the nation.
Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson announced a deal to buy 100 million doses of Cipro at a deeply discounted price of 95 cents a pill "to be available if needed for treatment in the event of a bioterrorism event involving a very large number of patients."
Seeking to reassure Americans in the face of the nagging threat, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said mail delivered to people's homes is "overwhelmingly safe."
But Postmaster General John Potter sounded a more cautious note, agreeing the risk is slim, but still urging people to be on the alert.
''There are no guarantees that the mail is safe,'' he said.
And Surgeon General David Satcher conceded "we were wrong" not to respond more aggressively to tainted mail in the nation's capital.
''This is new for us," Satcher said on NBC. "We've never been through a bioterrorist attack before.''
Relief food ruse?
The packages of rations U.S. planes drop on Afghanistan have become a regular feature of the war effort. More than 785,000 have been delivered throughout the first 17 days of the campaign, Stufflebeem said.
But now the U.S. military has received reports the Taliban might be planning to taint them and blame the United States in the ongoing battle for public opinion.
"The report that we would do that is categorically false," Stufflebeem said. "We would never poison foodstuffs. We are humane people. We want to provide humanitarian assistance to those in need."
Besides the food packets distributed by the U.S. forces, other relief groups are passing out food in Afghanistan. The Taliban reportedly has confiscated some of those rations.
''If the food comes from America, it will not be tainted,'' Stufflebeem said. ''But if it comes from Taliban control, they must be careful.''
Contributing: Sun-Times wires
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