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Strategies & Market Trends : VOLTAIRE'S PORCH-MODERATED -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Dealer who wrote (43704)	10/30/2001 3:22:01 PM
From: Sully-	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 65232

Rumsfeld: U.S. ground troops in Afghanistan October 30, 2001 Posted: 2:48 p.m. EST (1948 GMT) (CNN) - U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld publicly acknowledged Tuesday that there is a "modest" number of U.S. troops on the ground in northern Afghanistan. At a Pentagon briefing, Rumsfeld said the troops are there for "liaison purposes, coordination and targeting." In response to a question about the safety of the ground troops, Rear Adm. John Stufflebeem, a Pentagon spokesman, described the troops' presence as a "measured risk," but he said nothing was being done "blindly or haphazardly." Meanwhile, the commander of the U.S. military campaign in Afghanistan said Tuesday the allied coalition is committed "for as long as it takes" to oust the Taliban and Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network. After meeting with Uzbekistan's president, Gen. Tommy R. Franks refuted suggestions that the U.S.-led military operation has bogged down in its fourth week. (Full story) U.S. airplanes launched another round of airstrikes early Tuesday on the Taliban stronghold of Kandahar, with low-flying jets pounding targets around the southern Afghan city and Taliban forces returning anti-aircraft fire. (Full story) CNN's Kamal Hyder reported Kandahar was quiet Tuesday night, but electricity was out to most of the city and there was no running water. (Full story) Latest developments • Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge said Tuesday that the security alert issued Monday by Attorney General John Ashcroft was a "reiteration" of the October 11 alarm sent to law enforcement agencies. Ashcroft warned that there is a "credible" threat of new terrorist action in the United States in the coming days, and he told law enforcement agencies and the public to be on "highest alert." • Despite the new threat of more terror attacks in the United States, President Bush plans to be at Yankee Stadium in New York on Tuesday night to throw out the first pitch in the third game of the World Series. (Full story) • Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta announced Tuesday a new crackdown on security at U.S. airports, including more stringent passenger and bag searches. Mineta said there have been deficiencies in security screening since September 11, and the aviation industry must show improvement "right away." • American Airlines, the world's largest airline, announced Tuesday that it has secured the cockpits of its entire fleet of jet aircraft. American said the new locking devices prevent intruders from accessing the cockpit by securing it from the inside. • Amid growing criticism of the U.S.-led military campaign, British Prime Minister Tony Blair appealed to the public Tuesday to remember the images of September 11. "Thousands of people were killed in cold blood in the worst terrorist attacks the world has ever seen," Blair said in a keynote speech. (Full story) • An Egyptian-born man was charged Tuesday with conspiring with others to murder Northern Alliance leader Gen. Ahmad Shah Masood. The opposition leader was killed September 9 by suicide bombers posing as journalists. Yasser Al-Siri, who has lived in Britain for eight years, was charged under Britain's anti-terrorism act. (Full story) • Iraqi President Saddam Hussein warns that the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan could spread. Calling it a spark that may set "the world on fire," he called Tuesday on other countries to help defeat the United States. (Full story) • Vice President Dick Cheney on Tuesday was placed again at an undisclosed, secure location, administration officials told CNN. They said Cheney -- who made public appearances Monday in New York -- was returned to the higher level of security through at least next week in response to the latest warning that Ashcroft announced. • The United Nations refugee agency said Tuesday that thousands of Afghans continue to cross into Pakistan through unofficial entry points. At a briefing in Geneva, Switzerland, a U.N. spokesman said that more than 5,000 people crossed into Pakistan's Northwest Frontier province last weekend. • The U.N. special envoy to Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi, was meeting Tuesday with Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf and met with other top Pakistani officials Monday as part of the U.N.'s role in shaping a post-Taliban Afghanistan. Brahimi said the United Nations is considering a proposal by the Taliban ambassador in Pakistan to discuss the situation in Afghanistan.

To: Dealer who wrote (43704)	10/30/2001 3:24:39 PM
From: Dealer	Respond to of 65232

Mountain Caves Used by Taliban Latest Targets of U.S. Bombs By Steve Vogel Washington Post Staff Writer Tuesday, October 30, 2001; Page A12 ABOARD THE USS CARL VINSON IN THE NORTHERN ARABIAN SEA, Oct. 29 -- U.S. aircraft are carrying out strikes aimed at sealing off a network of mountain caves being used by Taliban and al Qaeda forces to protect their weaponry and fighters, a senior Navy commander said today. In recent days, fighter jets from this aircraft carrier have been dropping 2,000-pound bunker-penetrating bombs and other ordnance on the entrances and exits of some of the hundreds of caves used as mountain hideaways by the Taliban. "It's a fairly extensive network that's out there, but we'll systematically go after it the best we can," said Rear Adm. Thomas E. Zelibor, the commander of the Vinson battle group. The focus on sealing caves is part of a new U.S. emphasis on taking the air war directly to Taliban and al Qaeda fighting forces. "We've shifted more from facilities and the command and control and those kinds of things to now, where we're focusing more on the troops, the tanks, the command bunkers, caves, those types" of things, Zelibor said. But the admiral acknowledged that it was difficult to assess whether the strikes were achieving their goal. "We are going after the entrances and exits of that target set," Zelibor said. "Whether they're being sealed or not, that I don't know." He said that while U.S. jets would have no difficulty hitting the caves, closing off the underground mazes and entombing their contents "may be a hard thing." The BLU-109 "bunker busters" being dropped by the Vinson's jets have tips that allow them to penetrate deep into rock or concrete before exploding. The Afghan forces known as mujaheddin, or holy warriors, made extensive use of the network of caves, ancient aqueducts and tunnels during their resistance to the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s, and U.S. officials say they are being used again. "They would obviously be used to store equipment [and] weapons, [and] potentially be command bunkers," said Zelibor, whose command oversees the Vinson and seven other ships. An F-14 Tomcat pilot said hitting the caves with bombs was not easy. "Those are some of the more difficult ones," said the pilot, a lieutenant with the call sign "Shorn," who added that strikes on the mountain caves were complicated by "the fact you're on sloping terrain." Since the strikes against Afghanistan began Oct. 7, jets from the Vinson have flown more than 1,000 sorties and dropped more than 1 million pounds of bombs and missiles on Afghanistan, according to a Navy spokesman aboard the ship. Zelibor said that aircraft from the Vinson had been involved in at least one incident resulting in "collateral damage," the military's term for civilian casualties and damage. "When there are casualties or unintended drops . . . every level of the command looks at their particular areas of responsibility so that we can make sure . . . that we don't have it happen again," he said.