Death of Patriots

2 Pages 616 Words

While covert ground operations continued, Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers said the fight against the ruling Taliban regime and Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida terrorist network is ``a war we must win if we want to maintain our freedom.'' ``We have no options here,'' the Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman said on ABC's ``This Week.'' The bombing that began Oct. 7 has ``hit a lot of their training camps so they won't be doing any training in the near future in Afghanistan,'' Myers said. The goal is ``to squeeze out al-Qaida and diminish the Taliban's influence.'' As has been the Pentagon's practice, Myers would not describe the continuing missions, citing safety concerns for troops. ``I doubt if a coach is going to give away his game plan for today before he executes that plan,'' he said, ``I think the American people understand why we have to keep the details of our operations confidential.''
Asked whether U.S. forces would kill bin Laden on sight, Myers said ``it depends on the circumstances.'' ``If it's a defensive situation, then bullets will fly, but if we can capture somebody then we'll do that,'' he said. Senior Bush administration official said Sunday that the president signed an order last month directing the CIA to destroy bin Laden and his communications, security apparatus and infrastructure in retaliation for the Sept. 11 World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks. Bush also added more than $1 billion to the spy agency's war on terrorism, most of it for the new covert action. Myers said Saturday's campaign - involving Navy strike aircraft, several Air Force bombers and a few Air Force fighter-bombers - was conducted on much the same scale as the day before, when about 100 aircraft attacked 15 target areas, including Taliban air defenses and ammunition and vehicle storage areas.
Myers would not discuss current U.S. ground operations under way inside Afghanistan. However, a senior defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, s...