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Editor appeals for reporter's release

The Wall Street Journal reports that it received four photos from a group claiming to have kidnapped reporter Daniel Pearl, including one with a gun to his head.  


SUMMARY:

The managing editor of the Wall Street Journal has appealed via e-mail for the release of one the newspaper's reporters abducted in Pakistan.

The e-mail asked for 38-year-old Daniel Pearl to be released by abductors believed to have taken him hostage after arranging a clandestine interview.

Meanwhile, the Bush administration is considering a request from the Saudi government that about 100 detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, be sent to Saudi Arabia for questioning because they are Saudi citizens.

UPDATE:

A little-known Pakistani group, "the National Movement for the Restoration of Pakistani Sovereignty," claims it kidnapped Pearl in retaliation for the detention of Pakistanis at Guantanamo. The group sent an e-mail to several news organizations, including photos showing Pearl shackled and with a gun to his head. (Full story)

Saudi Arabia says the 100 or so Saudi citizens housed at Guantanamo should be returned because it wants to subject them to Saudi justice. U.S. officials have said they would return detainees to their home countries with the assurance they would face justice there but not until U.S. authorities have finished interrogating the captives. (Full story)

U.S. authorities at Guantanamo have started interrogating the 158 al Qaeda and Taliban detainees for the first time since they arrived from Afghanistan, a Pentagon official told CNN.

Afghanistan's interim leader, Hamid Karzai, says he supports President Bush's decision not to grant the detainees prisoner of war status.

"The people that are detained in Guantanamo, they are not prisoners of war, I see it in very clear terms, gentlemen and ladies," Karzai said in a speech Tuesday to the National Press Club.

"They're criminals, they brutalized Afghanistan, they killed our people, they destroyed our land." (Full story)


  •  Summary

  •  Update

  •  Key questions

  •  Who's who


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 EXTRA INFORMATION
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In-Depth: How prepared is your city?
 RESOURCES
On the Scene: Barbara Starr: Al Qaeda hunt expands?
On the Scene: Peter Bergen: Getting al Qaeda to talk

KEY QUESTIONS:

Are the detainees at Guantanamo Bay being treated humanely, as the United States contends? (Click here for more)

Should the Guantanamo Bay detainees by classified as prisoners of war? (Click here for more)

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

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 gained control of most of the country by 1997 and instituted an extreme form of Islamic law before their collapse in the U.S. war against terrorism.

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 Bush administration's decision on how to classify the detainees could affect how they are treated while in custody and how long they are detained. The treatment of detainees also could influence international opinion about the U.S. war against terrorism.



 
 
 
 



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