Military

DATE=October 9, 2001

TYPE=Dateline

NUMBER=7-35405

TITLE=Attack Against Terrorism

BYLINE=Neal Lavon

TELEPHONE=619-0112

DATELINE=Washington

EDITOR=Neal Lavon

CONTENT=

_

INTRO: On Sunday, October 7, 26 days after the terrorist attacks of September 11, the United States and Great Britain began their long-awaited military response. The two nations launched air attacks against military installations of the Taleban regime in Afghanistan, and al-Qaida [al K-EYE-eh-duh], the terror organization led by reputed mastermind, Osama bin-Laden.

Other nations in the global coalition to fight terrorism have pledged military forces to support the ongoing effort. But the initiative is not just being fought with bombs, as we hear in this Dateline report from Neal Lavon.

TAPE: BUSH STATEMENT, :12

"On my orders, the United States military has begun strikes against al-Qeida terrorist training camps and military installations of the Taleban regime in Afghanistan."

NL: The first round of strikes began on Sunday, October 7, and a second round commenced the following day. The president said the attacks were meant to hamper the Taleban's military effectiveness.

TAPE: CUT 2, BUSH, :12

"These carefully targeted actions are designed to disrupt the use of Afghanistan as a terrorist base of operations and to attack the military capability of the Taleban regime."

NL: The president again told the world that the United States was attacking terrorists, not the people of Afghanistan or the world's Muslims.

TAPE: CUT 3, BUSH, :19

"The United States of America is a friend to the Afghan people, and we are the friends of almost a billion worldwide who practice the Islamic faith. The United States of America is an enemy of those who aid terrorists and of the barbaric criminals who profane a great religion by committing murder in its name."

NL: But while planes were destroying military targets, the president said they were also delivering something else.

TAPE: CUT 4, BUSH, :14

"At the same time, the oppressed people of Afghanistan will know the generosity of America and her allies. As we strike military targets, we will also drop food, medicine and supplies to the starving and suffering men and women and children of Afghanistan."

NL: The Taleban authorities said its leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar, and alleged terrorist leader Osama bin Laden, were safe. The Taleban ambassador to Pakistan, Abdul Salaam Zaeef (AB-dool sah-LAMM zy-EEF) condemned the strikes saying Afghanistan was, as he put it, "a victim of American arrogance and expansion." He also carried a warning to reporters to the United States.

TAPE: CUT 5, ZAEEF, :11

"America will never achieve its political goals by launching horrendous attacks on the Muslim people of Afghanistan."

NL: U-S Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, speaking in Washington after the first round of strikes, said the initial attacks were successful.

TAPE: CUT 6, RUMSFELD, :10

"U-S and British forces hit some two dozen targets. All U-S military personnel and aircraft that took part in yesterday's strike are safe and accounted for."

NL: But the secretary noted that besides destroying terrorist targets, the United States is using its aircraft to drop food and humanitarian aid to the Afghan people. He says it's an ongoing process which is part of the greater overall U-S strategy.

TAPE: CUT 7, RUMSFELD, :42

"We believe the humanitarian assistance flights were successful. I also want to stress the larger context in which these actions take place. First, these are not strikes against Afghanistan. Even as we conduct these strikes, we are not only engaged in a massive humanitarian effort for the Afghan people, but we're reaching out to a range of Afghan groups on the ground, in the north, in the south, as well as Afghan exiles and disaffected elements in the Taleban who are opposed to Taleban's policy of turning their nation into a haven for foreign terrorists."

NL: The attacks on Afghanistan to date, seem to be part of a carefully orchestrated campaign, according to Robin Dorff, Chairman of the Department of National Security and Strategy at the U-S Army War College.

TAPE: CUT 8, DORFF, :37

"This is a very focused and targeted campaign. I have heard no evidence of what we might consider 'carpet bombing.' I think denying to the Taleban their military capabilities is clearly one step in this broader campaign to disorganize, I think with a primary objective of bringing down the Taleban government, if they are unable to continue to battle their opponents effectively on the ground in Afghanistan, then that certainly is an avenue that we are going to pursue. So far, the use of military force is certainly targeted against that very capability."

NL: Mr. Dorff points out that the recent humanitarian effort in Afghanistan broke down and has been helped by the American and British air offensive. He expects the humanitarian effort to continue alongside the military effort.

TAPE: CUT 9, DORFF, :31

"Many of those relief efforts overland have been effectively shut down over the last week, anyway. We've had increasing numbers of refugees fleeing the country, a number of the non-governmental organizations that were in place, prior to the events of 11-September, have either chosen to, or have been forced to, leave the country. I think probably, for the short term, you will see the military take on perhaps all, or certainly the most substantial part of that humanitarian relief effort."

NL: What are being delivered are humanitarian rations. The rations contain one daily ration of red beans, rice, fruit bars, peanut butter and strawberry jam. The food supplies are being dropped from the back of the cargo planes. The rations were designed not to violate any religious or cultural practices so they do not contain animal products. Brigadier General David L. Johnson, Deputy Chief of Staff for Air and Space Operations for the U.S. Air Force, has been involved in previous humanitarian relief operations. He says the U.S. supplying needed nutrition to combat hunger and drought.

TAPE: CUT 10, JOHNSON, :21

"It's a pretty good meal. It has about 2,200 calories. It's supposed to be very nourishing for folks because the target audience are people who are hungry and starving people like Afghans who have been suffering drought for many years, I think we've been talking about three years in Afghanistan."

NL: The U.S. State Department is helping the Air Force identify the best locations to drop food supplies. The main factors in choosing, says the State Department's Allan Kreczko, are areas affected by drought and people who can be classified as "internally displaced."

TAPE: CUT 11, KRECZKO, :37

"Working with our Agency for International Development, we tried to identify those places in Afghanistan where the humanitarian need is greatest, and where it is most difficult for traditional means of supply to get food to individuals, and we provided that list of identifications over to the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Frequently, it is for internally displaced persons, we're looking at areas that combine several factors. One factor is the area of drought, and another factor being areas of internal displacement because frequently, those people have no other means of getting food."

NL: But the fighting and military response in the area does mean that the humanitarian effort is at risk. Robin Dorff of the U.S. Army War College thinks that means that the relief supplies will go to those areas least marked by conflict.

TAPE: CUT 12, DORFF, 1:07

"There will likely be an increased amount of suffering. I think that is probably clear. I believe every attempt will be made to keep that as isolated as possible, and those areas that remain very, very risky to get to, I don't think those areas are likely to see that relief. We will concentrate humanitarian aid where we can get it at a reasonable minimization of the risks to human lives--U-S allies and others who are helping in the operation. I think it has to be substantially effective, it doesn't have to be one hundred percent effective. A lot of it depends on exactly what logistical plans we have for delivering what kinds of aid, where. I did detect an indication that this was going to be a more precise humanitarian operation than simply dropping packets and leaflets from very high altitudes in sort of a random and very scattered fashion. That would seem to me to suggest they want to make sure there are very clear, nearly unavailable airline supplies through to deliver that aid."

NL: In the end, the actions by the United States and Great Britain, and those being projected with the help of the forces of the international coalition against terrorism, will not only have military implications. There will be diplomatic and political consequences as well, according to White House spokesman Ari Fleischer, who outlined the administration's foreign policy goals.

TAPE: CUT 13, FLEISCHER, :10

"Suffice it to say that the United States will work with those who want to create a peaceful Afghanistan, an economically developing Afghanistan and an Afghanistan that is free from terrorism."

NL: The strikes and humanitarian relief efforts launched on Sunday, October 8, are the first steps in that process. For Dateline, I'm Neal Lavon.