Ditto JH2!
Posted on 10/07/2001 10:31:30 AM PDT by JohnHuang2
Washington, Oct 07, 2001 (EFE via COMTEX) -- Declaring "the battle is now joined," President George W. Bush on Sunday announced the beginning of U.S. attacks on the regime governing most of Afghanistan and on terrorist bases in that country.
Speaking from the White House, Bush said the attacks were designed "to disrupt the use of Afghanistan as a terrorist base of operations and to attack the military capabilities of the Taliban regime."
He said the targets of the attacks were "the Al Qaeda terrorist network and the Taliban regime." The Taliban governs about 90 percent of the Central Asian nation.
The president reiterated that the campaign was not directed at the Afghan people, and said humanitarian aid would be dropped to refugees.
Bush said British forces were taking part in the attacks, and that the offensive had the backing of many other nations, including Washington's NATO allies and friends in the Mideast.
"We will not waiver, we will not falter and we will not fail," vowed Bush, saying the war against terrorism will probably be a long one. He called on the American people to be patient.
The president noted that more than two weeks ago he demanded of the Taliban that it hand over alleged terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden, who has been based in Afghanistan since 1996 and who is blamed for the catastrophic terrorist attacks against New York and Washington on Sept. 11.
Bush also demanded that Afghan authorities arrest all other top officials of Al Qaeda, the organization headed by bin Laden, shut down terrorist training camps and allow U.S. officials to insepct the shut-down camps.
"None of those demands were met," said Bush. "Now the Taliban will pay a price."
The attacks, which involved cruise missiles and possibly manned aircraft, began after nightfall in Afghanistan. CNN reported explosions near Kabul, the Afghan capital, and Kandahar, where the ruling Taliban is based.
Bush had warned the Taliban on Saturday that "time is running out."
The attacks came after weeks of build-up of U.S. military forces in the region, including troops deployed to Uzbekistan, which borders Afghanistan to the north, over the weekend. Scores of naval vessels, including several aircraft carrier groups, have arrived in the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean, from where attacks could be launched.
CNN said strikes at the airport outside Kandahar destroyed the Taliban's main command-and-control center.
Ret. U.S. Gen. Wesley Clarke told CNN that the attacks would most likely target command-and-control centers, anti-aircraft artillery sites, electricity installations and bunkers of the Taliban.
"The idea would be to clear the decks and clear the skies so the U.S. can have as close to unimpeded access as possible," he said. EFE
emr/dgm
Copyright (c) 2001. Agencia EFE S.A.
Ditto JH2!
You got it. Send them to Hell!
The merit is that the lives of our troops are worth much, much more than these "multi-million dollar 1st world weapons." Here's how it works:
Amen.
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