U.S. War Against Terrorism Waged From Shipboard in Horn of Africa
(General Sattler's shipboard briefing stresses coalition effort) (730)
By Susan Ellis
Washington File Staff Writer
Washington -- On board the USS Mount Whitney off the coast of
Djibouti, Marine Corps Major General John Sattler said that the
ongoing war against terrorism will be an extended war but one which
will be won with the assistance of the coalition partners.
"We will press the fight at every turn as long as it takes; and with
the help of our coalition partners, we will win this fight," he said.
Speaking live via telephone from the Red Sea January 10, Sattler,
commander of the Combined Joint Task Force Horn of Africa, gave the
Pentagon news media an overview of the task force's plans and efforts
in the region. The coalition naval flotilla - designated CTF-150 -- is
made up of French, Spanish, German, British and U.S. warships that
patrol the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean areas around the
Horn of Africa.
Sattler and his staff have visited all the sovereign nations in the
region, with the exception of Somalia, "meeting heads of state in
Djibouti, Yemen, Eritrea and Ethiopia," and also coalition military
leaders. Later will come Sudan and Kenya. He said the first in a
planned series of exercises and operations between CJTF Horn of Africa
and the CTF-150 maritime forces has just been completed.
Sattler's staff of about 400 people on board the USS Mount Whitney,
plus 900 personnel at Camp Lemonier in Djibouti and a small liaison
group in other parts of the region, "have the capability and will act
upon credible intelligence to attack and destroy and capture
terrorists and their support networks," Sattler said. Their job is to
collect information and turn it into "actionable intelligence." What
"action" they take depends on the target. One possible scenario could
involve a military attack-and-destroy mission "if we couldn't arrest
(the terrorists) to bring them to justice," he allowed.
"Our mission was very broad -- to track transnational terrorism across
the Horn of Africa, going from Yemen, across the Gulf of Aden and then
through the entire Horn," Sattler said. "We do have some areas that
we're concentrating on -- a couple of the border areas, some of the
coastline areas. We're taking not a broad casting of the net approach,
but we're honing in on certain areas. The porous border with Somalia
(is) one of the areas we're taking a very hard look at; as well as the
coastlines coming across the Gulf of Aden."
He would not discuss any intelligence that has been gathered and any
possible response, but said, "quite a bit of intelligence has come in
and has been shared" among the coalition partners and other
appropriate groups. "Let's just say that we are developing an
intelligence network which is really critical in a fight against
terrorism; and it's becoming more refined every day . . .We need to be
patient because we need to be absolutely correct when, in fact, we
come forward and identify a particular location as a training site or
camp harboring terrorists. The good news is that defeating the
terrorists is the ultimate goal."
Secondarily, he said, "we feel very confident that by breathing down
their neck; by looking at them through multiple intelligence
sources...that we're in fact disrupting them and keeping them off
balance so that we can go to that next phase, which is defeat and
bringing them to justice."
He emphasized that this is not a unilateral effort of the United
States, saying, "Many of these countries have very capable armed
forces and very capable internal security mechanisms. They can
certainly prosecute many of these terrorism targets on their own. And
our role in that would be to assist them with intelligence and
information and, if they so request, possible training and even some
equipment over the period of time here."
The third part of their mission, Sattler said, "is to enhance
long-term stability in the region." Mentioning the recent drought and
widespread famine in the Horn, he said his group will assist both
government agencies and non-governmental organizations "to go in and
enhance the quality of life and shore up where we're asked to." This
would include civil-military operations such as road building,
building schools and humanitarian assistance, he said.
(The Washington File is a product of the Office of International
Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site:
http://usinfo.state.gov)
