[iwar] [fc:Victory.Not.Certain,.Rumsfeld.Warns]

From: Fred Cohen (fc@all.net)
Date: 2001-10-22 07:44:40
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From: Fred Cohen <fc@all.net>
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Date: Mon, 22 Oct 2001 07:44:40 -0700 (PDT)
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Subject: [iwar] [fc:Victory.Not.Certain,.Rumsfeld.Warns]
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Chicago Tribune

Victory Not Certain, Rumsfeld Warns
By Michael Kilian Tribune national correspondent

WHITEMAN AIR FORCE BASE, Mo.  -- Warning that the outcome of the war on
terrorism remains uncertain, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said
Friday that the U.S.  would not declare victory in Afghanistan until
"the Taliban and Al Qaeda are gone."

With U.S.  Army Rangers battling the Taliban in southern Afghanistan in
the first commando raid of the war, Rumsfeld flew to Missouri to visit
other front-line troops--the crews of the B-2 stealth bombers that have
been flying long-range missions from their home base in west-central
Missouri.  Rumsfeld again refused to discuss any operations that
involved U.S.  special operations forces, which have been gathering
strength in and around Afghanistan for the last several weeks. 

But he acknowledged for the first time that American air strikes in
Afghanistan were being coordinated with troops on the ground.  Speaking
to reporters accompanying him on his flight to Missouri, the defense
secretary explained: "Certain things are being done from the air. 
Certain things, from time to time, will be done in coordination with the
ground."

Rumsfeld warned that the U.S.  faced a formidable foe in the Taliban and
its terrorist allies and that their defeat should not be taken for
granted.  "It is unwise to think that the outcome [of the anti-terrorist
campaign] is determined," Rumsfeld said.  "The people on the ground are
really tough.  They have been fighting for a long time.  They're
survivors.  They know the terrain.  They know how to move around in that
terrain."

Though questions have been raised about the sometimes minimal air
support U.S.  warplanes have been giving anti-Taliban Northern Alliance
troops in northern Afghanistan, Rumsfeld told reporters that it would be
easier to persuade such indigenous groups to oppose the Taliban than for
the U.S.  and its coalition allies to defeat it directly. 

"Our interest is in persuading them that the tide is going to go our
way," he said.  "That the foreign elements of the Al Qaeda that have
come into their country at the request of the Taliban and have been
spreading terrorism across the globe are doing the Afghan people no
good.  That they ultimately are going to lose and that the people who
have been quiet might want to get less quiet on our behalf."

Emphasizing the severity of the challenge, the defense secretary also
noted that if the anti-terrorism campaign fails, the U.S.  could face
the possibility of a catastrophe. 

Speaking to some 2,500 Air Force personnel at this base, Rumsfeld said
that the administration is addressing not only the recent anthrax scare
but the possibility of attacks using smallpox and other biological or
chemical weapons against Americans. 

He noted that "six, seven or eight" nations friendly to terrorists
possess biological and chemical weapons and are seeking nuclear arms. 
He warned that hundreds of thousand of people could be in peril unless
terrorists either directly supported by or allied with those nations are
put out of business. 

"It's just urgently important that we be successful," he said.  In terms
of the fighting in Afghanistan, he equated that success with the total
elimination of the enemy. 

The military role in Afghanistan will be over when the Taliban and Al
Qaeda are gone, he said.  "That's what this is about."

Rumsfeld likened the missions of the long-range Stealth bombers to the
role of the warplanes that struck Japan after the sneak attack on Pearl
Harbor.  "The terrorists thought they could strike fear in America's
heartland," Rumsfeld said, standing in front of one of the bat-shaped
bombers that had taken part in the initial air attacks on the Taliban. 
"But, through you, the heartland strikes back."

Flying more than 40 hours non-stop and refueling en route, crews have
flown B-2s from Whiteman to attack Taliban and Al Qaeda targets six
times since the air war against the terrorists and their Afghan sponsors
began nearly two weeks ago. 

Rumsfeld alluded to the fact that 5,000-pound "bunker buster" bombs have
wiped out caves in Afghanistan used as hideouts and munitions storage
facilities. 

"You know about those caves," he said.  One of the big bombers took off
from Whiteman just before Rumsfeld spoke, but it was not known whether
it was on a mission to Central Asia.  The aerial bombardment resumed
early Saturday in Afghanistan, with the Kabul area hit by at least eight
large explosions. 


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