The Americans could have said they were just going after those who bombed the World Trade Towers and the Pentagon and in that way maintained a certain credibility. Instead the Americans have pulled out all the ready-to-go crusader-like military/CIA plans and have targeted every and anyone either in opposition to American hegemony worldwide or Israeli hegemony in the Middle East. By doing so the Americans have not only lost their credibility they have sparked new and more dangerous escalations of already existing conflicts that had no direct connection to what happened in New York and Washington. By portraying everything in black and white terms, by insisting that everyone (other than themselves, Israel, and other U.S.-sponsored client regimes) who uses military means regardless of the specific situation and specific means is a "terrorist", by pursuing the broad-based "crusade" to enforce the "new world order" that George Bush first enunciated even though the terminology has now been changed, the sparks of war and destruction are flying in many places and the year 2002 could be catastrophic.

New Delhi (dpa - Sat Dec 29 2001 03:12:37 ET ) - Four Pakistani soldiers were reported killed, 30 wounded and six of their bunkers destroyed when Indian troops opened heavy retaliatory artillery fire across the Line of Control (LoC) in Kopri area of Poonch sector Saturday morning.

The United News of India said Pakistan Army opened heavy, unprovoked fire on forward Indian positions around 0330 hours local time with 81 MM mortar guns and heavy machine guns, targeting bunkers and communication towers.

The shelling continued for an hour. In retaliation Indian troops fired 82 MM mortar shells on Pakistani positions and destroyed three bunkers.

After Indian retaliation, Pakistani troops opened fire from 105 MM guns on Indian positions to which Indian troops retaliated destroying two more Pakistani bunkers.

LUCKNOW, India (Reuters) - It may be a monument to love, but these days the Taj Mahal is poised for war.

As war clouds loom over the neighbourhood, Indian officials are working on plans to camouflage the white marble monument to protect it from attack.

Officials at the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) said on Saturday they planned to drape the shrine in the northern city of Agra with olive green cloth so that it blended with the surroundings.

"We had covered the Taj Mahal with green cloth in 1971 when war broke out with Pakistan. We must keep ourselves in readiness for such an eventuality," ASI's Chief Archaeologist K.K. Mohammad told Reuters.

"Having prepared the blue-print, we are now in the process of carrying out the desired drill."

He said arrangements had been made for scaffoldings and cloth so that everything could be put in place at the shortest notice.

Agra, about 200 km (126 miles) south of New Delhi, was the venue of a failed summit in July between Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf.

The nuclear-armed South Asian foes have massed troops along their borders and traded tit-for-tat sanctions as relations nosedived after an attack on India's parliament on December 13.

India has blamed two Pakistan-based Kashmiri militant groups for the attacks and even accused them of planning the raid under instructions from Pakistan's spy agency. Islamabad and the two groups have rejected the charge.

Although the most famous symbol of Hindu-dominated India, the Taj Mahal was built in the 17th century by Emperor Shahjahan at the height of Muslim rule over the subcontinent.

Built as a tribute to the emperor's beloved second wife, Mumtaz Mahal, who died in childbirth, the Taj Mahal -- or Crown Palace in Urdu -- has the distinction of being among the seven wonders of the world.

A trip to the famous shrine is considered almost a rite of passage by the millions of tourists who visit India each year.

Musharraf and his wife also played tourists at the shrine during the summit talks.

But many may have to change their path if a war breaks out.

"We will also have to take the unpleasant decision of shutting the doors of the Taj," Mohammad said.

The Taj Mahal stands on a marble platform surrounded by ornamental gardens. White minarets grace each corner and two smaller red sandstone buildings balance the postcard-perfect image on the banks of the Yamuna river, which flows into the sacred Ganges.

ISLAMABAD (Reuters - Saturday December 29 1:18 PM ET ) - Pakistan began thinning out troops patrolling its western border with Afghanistan in search of Osama bin Laden, freeing men for possible duty on its eastern frontier as the threat of war with India grew.

President Bush, whose administration has been working to avoid a fourth war between the nuclear neighbors, telephoned his Pakistani counterpart Pervez Musharraf, state television said.

No details of the conversation were immediately available.

Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar urged caution, saying tensions were so high that one wrong move could ignite conflict between the two nuclear-armed neighbors.

At the southwestern border town of Chaman, a Reuters reporter saw troops pulling out and packing up anti-aircraft guns installed at some checkpoints with Afghanistan.

``We have received orders to move,'' one soldier said when asked why they were leaving the Afghan frontier where several battalions of additional troops had been deployed to keep out Saudi-born militant bin Laden and his al Qaeda fighters.

``You know what's going on there or what may happen,'' he said, referring to the troop build-up on the border with India and fears of war.

The two enemy states have mounted the biggest troop buildup on the border for 15 years following a December 13 attack on the Indian parliament.

New Delhi blames two Pakistan-based militant groups fighting Indian rule in the disputed Kashmir region for the raid, which left 14 people dead, including the five assailants.

It wants the leaders arrested and is furious that Pakistan has not done more to meet those demands.

``The possibility a... small action could trigger a chain of action and reaction leading to a conflict that neither side desires is unfortunately very high,'' Sattar sad.

``Pakistan does not seek any war,'' he told a news conference.

Musharraf would be happy to meet Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee to ease the tensions, he said.

``We have made no specific request. If there is a desire on the part of the Indian prime minister, then surely a meeting will be arranged,'' he said.

But he said Pakistan would not request a meeting, after India scrapped talks scheduled for a regional summit in Kathmandu next week.

``I am sure no responsible person would like Pakistan to make a request that would give India the satisfaction of saying they have rejected it,'' he said.

Musharraf said on Friday he was willing to meet if the Indian prime minister wished. ``I don't mind meeting with him but you can't clap with one hand,'' Musharraf told reporters.

India swiftly dismissed any possibility of talks.

Vajpayee vowed to crush what he called cross-border terrorism and said India would do its best to avoid a war with Pakistan.

Sattar said the Indian troop deployments along the recognized international border to the south and along the de facto ``Line of Control'' which divides the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir posed a threat to Pakistan's security.

``If these threats are executed, that will lead to terrible consequences.''

He reminded that the two countries, which stunned the world with their tit-for-tat nuclear tests in 1998, had signed an agreement in the 1990s not to attack each other's nuclear installations in the event of a conflict.

``Any violation of that agreement would entail very serious consequences,'' he said.

Pakistan blocked Indian television news channels on Saturday.

``The Pakistan government has banned showing Indian satellite channels as well as Star channels on cables for their poisonous propaganda against Pakistan,'' the official APP news agency quoted Major General Shahzada Alam Malik, chairman of the state-owned Telecommunication Authority as saying.

Pakistan has condemned the parliament attack but sought evidence from India before taking action against Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad outfits.

Islamabad has already frozen the bank accounts of Lashkar-e-Taiba and detained the head of Jaish-e-Mohammad, Maulana Masood Azhar and some 50 activists of unidentified radical groups.

Azhar, a firebrand Islamic cleric, was released from an Indian jail in a swap for the passengers of an Indian airliner hijacked to Afghanistan in 1999.