|
U.S.
Special Forces Target Specific Areas
Excerpt
from article describing Friday's incursions by U.S. Special
Forces ...
-
- - begin excerpt - - -
US
special forces kill 20 in fierce Afghan firefight. American
special forces were yesterday involved in pitched battles inside
Afghanistan after being parachuted into an area where Osama
bin Laden, the prime suspect in the 11 September terrorist attacks,
has been a frequent visitor.
More
than 100 US commandos and light infantry Rangers fought with
Taliban forces near the regime's spiritual stronghold of Kandahar
in southern Afghanistan. Some 20 Taliban soldiers were reportedly
killed. There were no American casualties.
After
a savage 30-minute firefight, US troops cleared a local airstrip
building by building, carried out controlled explosions at munitions
dumps and destroyed a Taliban command centre.
'We
have accomplished our objective at the airfield,' said General
Richard Myers, chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, last night.
Other operations involving ground troops were imminent, he added.
'We are going to have ongoing operations around the world.'
The
general revealed that the US commandos came across stores of
rocket propelled grenades, machine guns and ammunition and destroyed
them. 'We met resistance at both objectives, the airfield and
the other objective,' he added.
Grainy
film of the operation, including dramatic clips of night parachute
drops, was shown at a Pentagon briefing. Officials said neither
raid found members of the Taliban leadership or the al- Qaeda
group.
The
special forces were extracted by helicoptor at dawn after hours
inside Taliban territory. Sources at the Defence Department
in Washington also revealed details of a second operation in
an undisclosed area to the north, involving air cover by AC-130
gunships and MC-130 Combat Talons, a special operations aircraft
that carries troops and is heavily armed.
As
reports last night continued to suggest that another raid was
imminent, with US helicopters seen over Kandahar, it emerged
that the battle against Taliban militia began after troops boarded
aircraft at the remote Pakistani airstrip of Dalbandin, 37 miles
from the Afghan frontier.
US
troops began arriving at the base, the third now being used
in Pakistan by the Americans, on Thursday, military sources
said. They are believed to have acted with special forces troops
aboard the USS Kitty Hawk positioned in the Arabian Gulf.
Locals
reported that helicopters began taking off from Dalbandin at
10.30pm on Friday and air activity continued until 6am yesterday.
Two
American military personnel were killed and others were injured
when a Black Hawk helicopter involved in support operations
in Pakistan crashed at an airbase. The Taliban said that they
had hit it, a claim dismissed by the US.
'These
soldiers will not have died in vain,' President George W. Bush
said last night. 'This is a just cause. The American people
now fully understand that we are in an important struggle, a
struggle that will take time, and that there will be moments
of sacrifice.'
The
American raids appear to have been a double-headed attack aimed
at killing or capturing both Mullah Omar, the reclusive cleric
who leads the Taliban, and bin Laden.
Sources
said five helicopters landed at the small village of Baba Sahib,
in Arghandab district five miles north-west of Kandahar, the
city which is the spiritual home of the Taliban.
Omar
has recently built a house in the village, which has already
been the target of sustained air attacks. Afghan military sources
in Islamabad said that more than 20 Taliban soldiers had been
killed in a fierce gun battle.
Omar
was not in the area at the time of the attack, they said. Myers
said the Taliban leader had lived in the command and control
building the commandos raided.
The
raids signalled a new phase of the US-led coalition's war on
terrorism, after 13 days of strikes from the air alone. Military
sources in America and Britain said the lightning 'hit and run'
raids would be the first of many and that British troops were
now on standby to support further incursions.
...
-
- - end excerpt - - -
Source:
Highlights
of the press conference of US Joint Chiefs Chairman Richard
Myers (from Defense
Link) ...
Myers:
Good afternoon.
Yesterday
U.S. military forces conducted ground operations in addition
to our air operations in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.
Under
the direction of the president and the secretary of Defense
and under the command of U.S. Central Command, General Tom Franks,
Special Operations Forces, including U.S. Army Rangers, deployed
to Afghanistan. They attacked and destroyed targets associated
with terrorist activity and Taliban command and control.
U.S.
forces were able to deploy, maneuver and operate inside Afghanistan
without significant interference from Taliban forces. They are
now refitting and repositioning for potential future operations
against terrorist targets in other areas known to harbor terrorists.
...
On
Friday we struck in 15 planned target areas. These included
AAA sites, anti-aircraft sites, with dispersed armor and radar
at those sites, ammunition and vehicle storage depots, and military
training facilities including armored vehicles, trucks and buildings.
We used approximately 100 strike aircraft, about 90 of them
carrier-based tactical aircraft, and between 10 and 12 land-based
aircraft including long range bombers and AC-130s.
Also
yesterday we again flew four C-17 missions in support of humanitarian
relief delivering approximately 68,000 rations and bringing
the total rations delivered via air drops to date to approximately
575,000. Yesterday's drops were in western Afghanistan in Northern
Alliance controlled areas.
Finally,
let me pass on my personal condolences to the families of the
two soldiers killed in yesterday's helicopter crash in Pakistan.
They and all who are participating in Operation Enduring Freedom
are heroes. They put their lives on the line on behalf of freedom
and on behalf of America, and they do it each and every day.
And I'm so very proud of them and their comrades in arms.
As
the president has said, they did not die in vain. ...
Elite
US Rangers Storm Mullah's Mountain Fort
Excepts
from article detailing the initial attack of U.S. Special Forces
on a formerly impenetrable Taleban stronghold.:
-
- - begin excerpts - - -
The
stronghold of Baba Sahib was never conquered by Russian forces.
It was a byword for invincibility to Afghans - but it fell in
a single attack.
The
first sign that something had changed came on Friday. Unlike
the previous week, there was no pause in the American bombing
for the Muslim day of prayer. US attack aircraft prowled the
skies above Kandahar, given the green light to go after random
targets and troop formations.
But
among the bombs came leaflets, fluttering down to the battered
and terrified people of the Taliban stronghold. They warned
them to avoid potential military targets and stay in their homes.
Then came four slow-moving EC-130CE planes, sweeping high over
the city and broadcasting radio messages in Pashtu.
The
tone was mocking and brutal as the signals cut into local frequencies
with jamming equipment. The words were aimed at the Taliban
fighters below, huddled over radio sets. 'You are condemned.
Did you know that? The instant the terrorists you support took
over our planes, you sentenced yourself to death,' they said.
The
war, barely two weeks old, was entering a bloody and dangerous
new phase.
The
attack came just after midnight yesterday: enough time for the
day of prayer to have ended, but giving enough hours of darkness
for the assault to be carried out during night-time.
This
time the aircraft would not be dropping bombs. They would be
dropping highly trained, heavily armed men.
They
had taken off a few hours earlier - reportedly from the aircraft
carrier USS Kitty Hawk - heading north over the Indian Ocean
and through Pakistani airspace.
Joining
them was an escort of AC-130s, the feared gunships which had
been laying waste to Taliban positions around Kandahar since
the start of the week. Helicopters, based at the newly opened
Pakistani airstrip of Dalbandin, 125 miles from Kandahar, also
flew in to join the mission.
As
the planes and choppers flew in low over hills and mountains
surrounding the city, at least 100 elite US Rangers slipped
out and parachuted down out of the night sky. They descended
silently, each man wearing night-vision goggles that would reveal
the landscape below bathed in an eerie green light.
His
enemies - perhaps still not knowing what was happening - would
have scanned the darkness in vain, looking for an attacker they
could not see.
The
target was Baba Sahib, a village of mud huts on a low hilltop
about five miles from the city centre. It is the base of a small
Taliban garrison set up to guard a home owned by the Taliban's
spiritual leader, Mullah Omar. The houses have mud walls and
straw roofs. The roads are potholed and difficult to pass.
The
only solid building of brick and concrete is Omar's house. But
the village holds a special place in the psyche of the Afghans.
It and the surrounding mountains were a stronghold of the anti-Russian
forces during the Eighties.
First
reports seem to indicate the attack was a surprise. For the
Rangers, it was time to put years of dedicated practice into
action. This was the moment they had been trained for.
If,
as analysts believe, the raid was a 'dry-run' for future operations,
this would have been vital to demonstrate that US forces can
take and secure territory inside Afghanistan.
As
the Rangers landed they split up into their individual weapons
teams and moved quickly to secure the area.
A
typical company of Rangers is equipped with two 60mm mortars
and three-man teams deploying an 84mm Carl Gustav anti-armour
weapon.
Each
company is also complemented by a weapons platoon that includes
a sniper section, consisting of two-man teams. A third team
section employs a .50 calibre Barrett rifle capable of penetrating
light armour.
If
Taliban forces had any doubts as to what was happening, they
would have been dispelled by the support fire of the AC-130s,
backed up by the Nightstalker attack helicopters that accompany
Rangers on all their missions. When the guns from the air opened
up, they would have known a battle was on its way.
The
AC-130s circled low overhead, always flying anti-clockwise so
as to bring the full brunt of their weaponry down upon Taliban
forces below. The gunships can put a round in every metre of
an area the size of eight football pitches in a single pass.
Their psychological effect is almost as crippling as their firepower.
But
for the Rangers on the ground the AC-130s meant security. Reports
from Kandahar spoke of huge amounts of gunfire and explosions
from the region of the village. Flashes and bangs lit up the
night sky and some residents reported seeing American ground
troops taking up positions. ...
-
- - end excerpts - - -
Source:
|
Old-fashioned
Raids Pave Way for New Kind of Fighting
Excerpt
from article describing the manner in which the Special Forces
war will be waged:
-
- - begin excerpts - - -
One
thing is now clear. The daring raid on Kandahar early yesterday
by elite Ranger soldiers will not be the last. Many more attacks
are set to come.
The
war in Afghanistan has moved into a dangerous and bloody new
phase.
It
is not the kind of war fought solely from the safety of a US
carrier's cruise missile tubes, or from the cockpit of a high-flying
B-52.
For
all the high-tech trappings of the US Rangers - with their night-goggles
and specially equipped helicopters - this is old-fashioned warfare.
This
is war fought by men against enemies visible as other men in
close combat. And inevitably this new phase in the 'war on terrorism'
will lead to American fatalities on the ground.
The
Kandahar raid had several purposes in paving the way for this
next cycle of the war.
Firstly
it was a 'dry run', attacking a largely abandoned site in a
quick in-and-out operation that would serve as a learning exercise
for bigger raids to come. The raid showed that such attacks
could be carried out.
Secondly,
it is a massive psychological blow to the Taliban. American
military might has reached out from the aircraft carriers in
the Gulf and attacked the heart of Taliban spiritual and political
power.
'[The
Taliban] said, "Come on in with 100,000 troops and face
us on the ground". Well, we're going in with 100 or 200
Rangers, and they should be sufficient to do the job,' said
former US Army colonel Mitch Mitchell.
Thirdly,
the raid had a message to send out to America's domestic and
international critics. It showed that the US is willing and
able to put its own flesh and blood in the line of fire, accepting
the risk of casualties and loss of American lives.
The
raid was the exact opposite of the sanitised image of a safe
war conducted by cruise missiles, bombs and minimal risk to
American life.
Fourthly,
and finally, the raid will have gathered vital intelligence.
The targeting of an airfield in such a key area will have put
troops on the ground to see with their own eyes whether the
facilities could one day be captured permanently and used as
a future base.
One
man looking on the ground is often worth a hundred photos from
a spy plane.
It
is raids like this, from bases inside or close to Afghanistan,
that mark out the next phase of the war - the need to capture
or kill Osama bin Laden. Pentagon officials know the 'pyrotechnics'
of their air war so far have little chance of fulfilling that
aim. Only men on the ground, able to launch swift raids as soon
as a target is identified, will be able to bring Bin Laden to
justice.
This
wider ground war plan is now emerging into fact. News of the
first ground incursions by US troops came after US defence officials
had confirmed that a small number of elite Special Operations
forces were already in Afghanistan and said to be working with
tribal factions in the south who oppose the Taliban leadership
as part of a CIA-controlled political thrust.
On
Friday, a commander with Northern Alliance forces opposed to
the Taliban also confirmed that eight US personnel had earlier
arrived in northern Afghanistan and been moving with warlord
General Abdul Rashid Dostum. They are Green Berets, trained
in liaison with friendly forces. They will help guide and support
alliance movements. ...
-
- - end excerpts - - -
Source:
Islam
Has Become Its Own Enemy
Complete
article on the reaction of the Islam faith leaders to the attack
on 9-11-01, an article which speaks for itself:
-
- - complete article - - -
Muslims
in denial.
Muslims
everywhere are in a deep state of denial. From Egypt to Malaysia,
there is an aversion to seeing terrorism as a Muslim problem
and a Muslim responsibility.
The
meeting last week of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference
in Qatar condemned the 11 September attacks, but refused to
accept any responsibility. Instead of taking the lead in tackling
the problem, once again they are being railroaded into joining
a 'global coalition'.
Terrorism
is a Muslim problem for some very good reasons. To begin with,
most of the terrorist incidents actually occur within the Muslim
world. In Pakistan, for example, terrorist violence is endemic.
Marauding
groups of fanatics, such as Sepa-e-Shaba ('Soldiers of the Companion
of the Prophet') and Sepa-e-Muhammad ('Soldiers of Muhammad'),
have spread terror throughout the country.
In
Egypt, militants of Islamic Jihad have killed tourists, and
members of the extremist organisation Gama-e-Islami have made
the life of ordinary Muslims a living hell.
The
Abu Sayyaf group of the Philippines, far from fighting for 'liberation',
is nothing more than a band of ruthless kidnappers who kill
other Muslims without hesitation.
Saudi
Arabia, Indonesia, Algeria, Bangladesh, Lebanon, Iran - there
is hardly a Muslim country that is not plagued by terrorism.
It
goes without saying, then, that the bulk of victims of terrorism
are also Muslims, 11 September notwithstanding.
This
is particularly so when we consider that violence and brutalisation
has become the norm in unending quests for self-determination
in such places as Palestine, Kashmir and Chechnya.
Terror
and counter-terror forms an endless cycle that has cost countless
Muslim lives.
Thus,
terrorism, the horror it provokes and the consequences it breeds,
are more familiar to Muslims than to any other people.
Yet,
while they have been shocked and sympathise with the victims
of the atrocities in the US, Muslims have stubbornly refused
to see terrorism as an internal problem.
While
the Muslim world has suffered, they have blamed everyone but
themselves. It is always 'the West', or the CIA, or 'the Indians',
or 'the Zionists' hatching yet another conspiracy.
This
state of denial means Muslims are ill-equipped to deal with
problems of endemic terrorism.
Indiscriminate
violence, terror by governments against their own people, by
opposition groups and between factions, has now become such
an integral part of the political discourse of failed polities
that it is taken for granted.
In
the US-led coalition against the Taliban, liberal Muslims have
found an ideal substitute for self-examination and the critical,
internal struggle needed to address home-grown problems.
The
coalition now waging war against terrorism in Afghanistan harbours
another danger for Muslims. In the indiscriminate politics of
coalition, the first people that the hesitant Muslim states
will turn against are the few voices of sanity in their midst.
As
Anwar Ibrahim, the former Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia
and a rare lucid voice, points out, the democratic cause in
Muslim countries 'will regress for a few decades as ruling autocrats
use their participation in the global war against terrorism
to terrorise their critics and dissenters'.
Anwar
has to know. The article was written from the prison cell where
he is serving a 15-year sentence. His crime? To stand against
the tyranny of Mahathir Muhammad's government.
This
is not the time, he says, to stir up anti-American sentiments,
or sermonise over US foreign policy. It is time to ask 'how,
in the twenty-first century, the Muslim world could have produced
a bin Laden'.
The
answer has two components. Anwar hints at the first. There is
simply no place in the Muslim world to express dissent.
Autocratic, theocratic, despotic regimes allow no political
freedom, all thought is outlawed, and brute suppression is the
norm. In such circumstances, violence is seen as the only way
of expressing dissent.
In
his youth, Anwar Ibrahim founded a dynamic Islamic movement.
I also spent my youthful days working for various Islamic movements;
it was how we first met in the borderless internationalism of
the worldwide Muslim community.
And
it is in the Islamic movements that we must look for the second
reason for the violent state of affairs in Muslim societies.
In
the Sixties and the Seventies, the Islamic movements, such as
Jamaat-e-Islami of Pakistan and the Muslim Brotherhood of Egypt,
represented hope, the language of justice, the ideal of self-reliance
for the masses languishing in misery.
A
plethora of Islamic movements and initiatives made their appearance;
and we toiled against autocracies and despotism in Muslim societies.
But
the movements became a mirror image of what they were fighting.
The leadership passed from intellectuals to semi-literate demagogues.
What
the Islamic movements have generated is fanatic militancy, a
fundamentalism that is as autocratic, illiberal and repressive
as the established order they seek to dethrone.
Instead
of allowing debate, and a rethinking about the contemporary
meaning of Islam, fundamentalist notions became something to
die for and finally something to kill and destroy for in pure
hatred.
The
failure of Islamic movements is their inability to come to terms
with modernity, to give modernity a sustainable homegrown expression.
Instead
of engaging with the abundant problems that bedevil Muslim lives,
the Islamic prescription consists of blind following of narrow
pieties and slavish submission to inept obscurantists.
Instead
of engagement with the wider world, they have made Islam into
an ethic of separation, separate under-development, and negation
of the rest of the world.
The
struggle against violence in the Muslim world is much more than
a struggle against murdering fanatics like the Taliban. Or despotic
leaders like Saddam Hussein and Mahathir Muhammad.
It
is also a struggle against the Islamic movements whose simplistic
and virulent rhetoric often ends up sanctifying the fanatics
and demonises everything else in the absolutist, unquestioning
terms of all totalitarian perspectives.
The
answers to the problems of the Muslim societies are not hard
to find - merely difficult to initiate.
Political
freedom, open debate, the liberation of society to be civil,
plural and humane - these are obvious remedies. But the Islamic
movements have become a barrier to them.
We
need reasoned creativity and critical awareness. These used
to be favourite phrases of Anwar Ibrahim.
But
his most frequent prescription was humility. The humility to
acknowledge one's own mistakes and shortcomings.
-
- - end of article- - -
Source:
|
