Hardball with Chris Matthews (8:00 PM ET) - CNBC October 1, 2001 Monday
US military moves in place to respond to terrorism while talk heats up of possible chemical and biological attacks
CHRIS MATTHEWS, host: In a moment we're going to talk more about the threat of chemical and biological weapons with Scott Ritter who is the UN--United Nation's chief weapons inspector in Iraq. But first to the Pentagon and NBC News correspondent Jim Miklaszewski.
JIM MIKLASZEWSKI reporting: The US aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk leaves Japan, but her decks are bare. She's carrying no warplanes. Sources report the Kitty Hawk could become a floating air base to launch special forces troops like these and to medevac any American casualties. And tonight Russian TV claims this is an American military cargo plane landing in a base in Uzbekistan, a possible staging area for American troops. At a ceremony today for the outgoing chairman of the joint chiefs, General Hugh Shelton, a hint that a shooting war may not be far off.
General HUGH SHELTON (Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff): As I leave office, I am proud to report that America's military is ready.
Mr. DONALD RUMSFELD (Secretary of Defense): The hour is coming when America will act, and you will make us proud.
MIKLASZEWSKI: But ready for what? US officials report the Pentagon is still working on plans to attack Afghanistan, aimed at Osama bin Laden and his terrorist organization. But the fear is how bin Laden may respond. US officials say there's evidence he could launch a chemical or biological attack against American targets at home or abroad, that bin Laden was experimenting with chemical weapons at this training camp outside Jalalabad and that he tried to obtain enough uranium to make a small, conventional bomb to spread deadly radiation.
(Clip of map courtesy globalsecurity.org, spaceimaging.com)
Afghanistan
Space Imaging's IKONOS satellite one-meter resolution image of the Darunta terrorist training complex in Afghanistan. |
MIKLASZEWSKI: It is not clear bin Laden has, in fact, developed such weapons. But experts warn that widespread fear and panic could be far worse than any actual casualties.
Dr. JONATHAN TUCKER (Monterey Institute for International Studies): It's more a weapon of mass disruption than mass destruction.
MIKLASZEWSKI: It appears the Pentagon still does not have enough fresh intelligence to pinpoint bin Laden himself. And as the US military prepares to take action, one Pentagon official admits, 'This may be the hardest thing we have ever done.' Jim Miklaszewski, NBC News, the Pentagon.
Copyright 2001 CNBC, Inc.
