08 October 2001
Transcript: Rumsfeld Says Air Strikes, Food Aid Launched
(More than 37,500 pounds of food, medicine air dropped) (1460)
U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says U.S. and British forces
began a series of attacks October 7 in Afghanistan to attack military
targets, Taliban and al-Qaida military targets, and to lay the
groundwork for a sustained effort to rout terrorists.
"It will take time," Rumsfeld said in an interview on NBC TV's Today
Show October 8. "It is an effort that is certainly not against the
Afghan people. Indeed, we're engaged in a massive humanitarian effort
for the Afghan people."
He said it would be later in the day October 8 before U.S. military
authorities will be able to determine the full damage of the first
night of attacks.
In the first round of attacks against targets in Afghanistan, U.S. and
British forces struck 30 targets with 15 land-based bombers, which
included B-2 Spirit stealth bombers, B-1 Lancers and the older B-52
Stratofortresses; 25 aircraft carrier-based strike planes and 50
cruise missiles launched from surface ships and submarines in the
Arabian Sea, according to Air Force General Richard Myers, chairman of
the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Rumsfeld said that, in addition, two C-17 Globemaster III cargo jets
dropped 37,500 packets of humanitarian food and medicine to
Afghanistan's beleaguered people. All of the aircraft returned safely,
he said.
The overall campaign, Rumsfeld said, is a "very broad-based effort
that involves diplomatic and financial as well as military, overt and
covert activities, to take this battle to the terrorists." He said
there is no other way to deal with the problem of international
terrorism than to go after the individuals who have killed thousands
of Americans.
During the attacks, Rumsfeld said the small Taliban air force never
left the ground and posed no threat to U.S. and British aircraft.
"The targets were carefully selected," he said. "They tended to be in
remote areas. And they were all very low collateral-damage targets."
Following is the Pentagon transcript of the interview on NBC-TV:
(begin transcript)
United States Department of Defense
Presenter: Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld
October 8, 2001
Secretary Rumsfeld Interview with NBC Today
(Interview with Katie Couric for NBC Today)
Couric: Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, just back from that part
of the world, is managing the U.S. military offensive.
Secretary Rumsfeld, good morning. Thanks for joining us.
Rumsfeld: Good morning. Thank you.
Couric: Tell us what the United States was trying to achieve and
whether it achieved its goals.
Rumsfeld: Well, I'd be happy to. The United States began, shortly
after the attacks on September 11th, a very broad-based effort that
involves diplomatic and financial as well as military, over and covert
activities, to take this battle to the terrorists, because, in
self-defense, there is no other way to deal with the problem of
international terrorism than to go after the individuals who are
killing thousands of Americans and threatening and terrorizing much of
the world.
The purpose of these attacks was to attack, very discreetly, military
targets, Taliban and al Qaeda military targets, to create the
conditions so that we can engage in a sustained effort to root out
those terrorists. It will take time. It is an effort that is certainly
not against the Afghan people. Indeed, we're engaged in a massive
humanitarian effort for the Afghan people. It's against terrorists,
pure and simple.
Couric: When will you have a BDA, a bomb damage assessment?
Rumsfeld: We'll have all of the information from a variety of
intelligence sources sometime later today, once we're able to sift and
sort it and compare the information. We do know already that all of
the planes have landed safely except for the two C-17 aircraft that
were engaged in the humanitarian effort of dropping food and medicines
for refugees in Afghanistan. They are still en route back to their
home base.
Couric: Having said that, did U.S. forces meet any resistance? Were
any of the planes ever in danger?
Rumsfeld: Well, any time you're flying over land where you know there
are surface-to-air missiles and there are manned mobile surface-to-air
missiles, one has to be exceedingly careful. And that is the case, and
the Taliban do have those weapons.
Couric: So is that answer a yes, Secretary Rumsfeld?
Rumsfeld: It is true that they have those weapons and that some were
fired.
Couric: Apparently --
Rumsfeld: No aircraft was hit. No aircraft was damaged. The allegation
by Taliban that they shot down coalition aircraft is flat untrue.
Couric: That was an allegation that was made prior to this military
attack, correct?
Rumsfeld: No, the allegation was made most recently.
Couric: They also claim that they've shot down another plane, though,
over the weekend, did they not? Do you know anything about that or can
you give us any information about that?
Rumsfeld: There is no manned coalition aircraft that has been damaged
or shot down.
Couric: What about an unmanned aircraft?
Rumsfeld: We have had unmanned aircraft that we have lost control of.
Whether or not the Taliban had anything to do with that is an open
question.
Couric: Apparently one of the targets was the Taliban's small air
force. Were U.S. forces able to take that out?
Rumsfeld: The aircraft, to our knowledge, did not leave the ground.
They were attacked by U.S. and British forces. We will not know
precisely what the battle damage is until later today.
Couric: Tell me about collateral damage, if you could, Secretary
Rumsfeld. I know the Taliban is claiming more than 100 civilians were
killed. What can you tell us about that?
Rumsfeld: Well, it is clearly not the case. The targets were carefully
selected. They tended to be in remote areas. And they were all very
low collateral-damage targets. There is no question but that any
people who were around those targets were around those targets because
they were part of the al Qaeda and the Taliban military.
Couric: You have called this a sustained attack. Is it safe to assume
that the bombing will continue for several days?
Rumsfeld: I think it's safe to assume that the entire effort, the
diplomatic and the financial and the military, both overt and covert
efforts, will continue until we have been successful in rooting the
terrorists out, not just in the Taliban and the al Qaeda network, but
in other networks as well.
Couric: As you know, Mr. Secretary, Osama bin Laden delivered a pretty
chilling statement to the United States, apparently videotaped prior
to these attacks. What is your reaction to some of the things he had
to say?
Rumsfeld: Well, my reaction to things that he had to say in that taped
message is really roughly the same as the messages that he has been
releasing for months and years. He clearly does not represent Islam.
What he is doing is counter to that faith. He has an aspiration to
become a leader of terrorists across the globe and to change
governments, and he is exactly the kind of person that needs to be
dealt with and his organization pulled out wherever it exists. And it
exists all across the globe. There's 50 or 60 cells.
Couric: Are his whereabouts known at this point in time?
Rumsfeld: It's pretty clear he's in Afghanistan somewhere.
Couric: And that's all you can say at this point.
Rumsfeld: Mmm-hmm. (Affirmative response.)
Couric: And before we go, what is the overall goal here? Is it to
overthrow the Taliban government and replace it with a different one?
And how can we ensure that that government is, in fact, more stable
and less oppressive and not as bad as the one it's replacing?
Rumsfeld: Well, I think that I would characterize the goal exactly as
President Bush said. It is that the victory, if you will, will take
time and it will be seen and understood when people are not
terrorized, when people are free to go about their business and have
their children go to school and know that they'll come home and people
can go to work and know they'll be coming home safely.
And as long as people that are making a business out of international
terrorism and countries are harboring those international terrorists,
people will not have that freedom. And it's important, as a free
people, that we recognize that the only way to deal with this is to
take the battle to the terrorists wherever they are.
Couric: Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. Mr. Secretary, thanks so
much for your time this morning. We appreciate it.
Rumsfeld: Thank you.
(end DoD transcript)
(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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