https://www.theguardian.com/world/2000/nov/13/worlddispatch.lukeharding
Bin Laden: the question facing the next US president
13 Nov 2000
If either of the US presidential candidates had dropped into southern Afghanistan last month, he might have spotted a fleet of brand new Land Cruisers heading west towards the mountains.
Inside one of the vehicles, a tall, 43-year-old Saudi dissident by the name of Osama bin Laden, was busy plotting his next move. As his convoy sped away, towards the remote Hindu Kush, the chances of a Cruise missile landing anywhere near him in the immediate future receded almost to nothing.
And yet one of the new president's first decisions - assuming he ever makes it into office - will be whether to launch another US missile strike against Afghanistan.
The signs are ominous. Over the weekend, the US positioned its naval ships a few miles away from the Pakistani coast, in readiness for a possible attack.
Since October 12, US investigators have been searching for hard evidence implicating bin Laden in the attack on the USS Cole in Yemen, in which 17 US sailors died. But bombing his deserted camp would be a futile and preposterous gesture.
The fact that Afghanistan is in such a mess, and run by an Islamic fundamentalist movement, is, after all, partly the fault of the US.
It was the US that helped to train and equip the Mujaheddin back in the 1980s, as they waged their war against the invading Soviet Union.
One of the fighters who benefited from such US largesse was an obscure volunteer from Saudi Arabia with close links to its royal family - Osama bin Laden.
In 1986 the CIA even helped him build an underground camp at Khost, where he was to train recruits from across the Islamic world in the business of guerrilla warfare.
Twelve years later, the Americans bombed the same camp after holding bin Laden responsible for the devastating US embassy bombings in east Africa.
Some 34 people were killed in the Khost attack. Bin Laden left the camp an hour earlier.
By this stage, American policy had come full circle. The cold war over, a new generation of Mujaheddin leaders had sprung up - the Taliban.
Facebook announced Monday that Jennifer Newstead, a Trump appointee who served in the Department of Justice (DoJ) under President Bush, will join the social media company as General Counsel, supervising its global legal functions.
https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2019/04/newstead-and-pinette-join-facebook/
Jennifer Newstead to Join Facebook as General Counsel and John Pinette Becomes Vice President of Global Communications
Facebook announced today that Jennifer Newstead will join the company as General Counsel, overseeing the company’s global legal functions.
Newstead succeeds Colin Stretch, who announced in July 2018 that he planned to leave. He will continue at Facebook through the summer to help with the transition.
“Jennifer is a seasoned leader whose global perspective and experience will help us fulfill our mission,” said Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s Chief Operating Officer. “We are also truly grateful to Colin for his dedicated leadership and wise counsel over the past nine years. He has played a crucial role in some of our most important projects and has created a strong foundation for Jennifer to build upon.”
Newstead brings deep government and private sector experience to the role. She currently serves as the Legal Adviser to the United States Department of State, overseeing work on all domestic and international legal issues affecting the conduct of US foreign policy. She was confirmed by the Senate in December 2017 and before joining the State Department was a partner in the law firm of Davis, Polk & Wardwell LLP, where she had a global practice representing clients in cross-border regulatory, enforcement and litigation matters.
“I’m excited to be joining Facebook at an important time and working with such a fantastic team,” Newstead said. “Facebook’s products play an important role in societies around the world. I am looking forward to working with the team and outside experts and regulators on a range of legal issues as we seek to uphold our responsibilities and shared values.”
Earlier in her career, Newstead served in other senior roles in government, including as General Counsel of the Office of Management and Budget, as a Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General at the Department of Justice, and an Associate White House Counsel. She previously served as a law clerk for Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer and for Judge Silberman of the US Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, and as an Adjunct Professor of Law at Georgetown University Law Center in Washington. She graduated from Yale Law School and received her undergraduate degree from Harvard University.
https://twitter.com/BarackObama/status/302560295958749184
We're all clones.
This guy digs
looks like 3:05 PM (15h05)