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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Rollcast... who wrote (180792)	9/14/2001 12:45:46 AM
From: Nadine Carroll	Respond to of 769667

Here's what the Jerusalem Post has to say on the subject: US prepares its demands Analysis By Janine Zacharia WASHINGTON (September 14) - The US is preparing to launch a long-term, multi-pronged campaign to search and destroy Osama bin Laden's terrorist network and put an end to state sponsorship of his activities. The first strikes are seemingly set for Afghanistan. Yesterday, US officials were in constant touch with officials in Pakistan. The US believes Islamabad is crucial for mounting any type of offensive against the Taliban regime that shelters bin Laden, the primary suspect in Tuesday's terrorist strikes on the US. The US is readying a full list of requests - or really demands - of the Pakistanis. They start with an order to sever ties with the Taliban and include use of their air space and land for the passage and stationing of troops if necessary. Until now, officials said, the Pakistanis have largely paid the US lip service when it came to aiding in efforts to root out bin Laden's network. Next week, Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage will meet with Russian officials on Afghanistan, where the Russians have experience from when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in the early 1980s. While President George W. Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell have described the strikes as an act of war against America, officials have held off on giving any details of the scope of what the response will be. Speculation on how the campaign will begin has ranged from a full-scale invasion of Afghanistan to sending in special units to try to root out terrorist cells. The offensive is sure to be multi-faceted and lengthy and will require the cooperation of Arab and Moslem states that are hotbeds of Islamic fundamentalism, like Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Pakistan, analysts and officials said. "I think one thing is clear, that you don't do it with just a single military strike, no matter how dramatic. You don't do it with just military forces alone; you do it with the full resources of the US government. It will be a campaign," said Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz. The goal, he said, goes far beyond capturing those responsible and holding them accountable. The US wants to remove terrorist havens, remove their support systems, and end state sponsorship of terrorism, goals that could take years to accomplish. Statements like these fed speculation that the US is looking beyond an initial strike of some sort at Afghanistan and could go after other state sponsors of terror, most significantly Iraq, which is believed by many experts to have played a major role in Tuesday's attacks. Powell, who spoke with an array of world leaders yesterday, echoed Wolfowitz's emphasis on the multi-pronged approach and said that the US will try to minimize collateral damage in its military response. The emphasis on a long-term offensive seemed meant to contrast the Clinton administration's missile strikes on Sudan and Afghanistan, which were never followed up. The US will need intelligence help, primarily from Arab and Muslim states, where terrorists reside and receive funding. Former assistant secretary of state Ned Walker said the US "must take leadership of this effort and let our friends know that we expect no less than 100 percent cooperation. "Now is the time to find out who our friends are and to raise the cost to those who refuse, for whatever reason, to help us. We have to have the courage to put our relationships in the balance. It is time to stop giving countries a free pass when they refuse to cooperate." "On the demand for immediate and full counter-intelligence to cooperate. there will be no gray areas allowed," said Robert Satloff, executive director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. "On the issue of participation in a response, that's to be handled a little further down the road." Bruce Hoffman, of the Rand Corporation, cautioned that the internal situations of Arab allies cannot be wholly disregarded. "Considering terrorism is a transnational problem, it would be importune to ignore the diplomatic aspects of the problem," he said.