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U.S. tries to put more troops in Afghanistan Rumsfield says three or four times as many troops needed . BY ROBERT BURNS ASSOCIATE^ PRESS WASHINGTON - The United States is urgently working to land more clandestine warriors in Afghanistan to intensify pres sure on the Taliban, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Thursday. Rumsfeld said the extra troops — three or four times as many as are there now — are crucial to U.S. efforts to improve the bomb ing campaign by pinpointing tar gets and coordinating with oppo sition forces. He said he wants to see increased coordination with a wider ring of rebel forces. “We have a number of teams cocked and ready to go,” he told a Pentagon news conference on the 26th day of U.S. bombing. “It’s just a matter of having the right kind of equipment to get them there in the landing zones... where it’s pos sible to get in and get out, and we expect that to happen.” Rumsfeld revealed that one re cent attempt to land U.S. special operations troops was called off after the helicopter-borne troops encountered ground fire, pre sumably from the Taliban mili tia. The Taliban control most of Afghanistan and are harboring Osama bin Laden and his al Qaida network. Other landing teams have been thwarted by bad weather, Rumsfeld said. , - He announced he’ll visit coun tries on the periphery of Afghanistan this weekend after meeting with his Russian coun terpart, Sergei Ivanov, in Moscow on Saturday. He declined to iden tify the other countries he would visit, saying meeting plans had yet to be worked out. Before the U.S. bombing campaign began on Oct. 7, he visited Uzbekistan, Egypt, Oman and Saudi Arabia. Rumsfeld on Tuesday had con firmed for the first time that a small number of U.S. special op erations forces were inside Afghanistan to help designate targets for U.S. warplanes and to act as liaison with the northern alliance of opposition forces who seek to oust the Taliban. The number of such special troops in Afghanistan apparently is between 100 and 200. The Pentagon has been reluctant to provide specific numbers out of concern for security. “I’d like to see as soon as hu manly possible the number of teams go up by three or four times,” Rumsfeld said. He said the present number was “nowhere near as many as we need.” “We’re going to be adding peo ple, to have a reasonable cluster of American special forces who are able to be in there, serve as liaison, assist with the communication, as sist with the targeting, assist with the resupply,” he added. Other officials have said the Pentagon is considering setting up a base inside Afghanistan from which such forces could op erate. The Army’s special operations soldiers include Special Forces, often called Green Berets, who are trained in unconventional warfare, clandestine reconnais sance and in training and advis ing rebel forces. Other special op erations troops, such as Army Rangers, specialize in airborne assaults behind enemy lines, such as the nighttime attack Oct. 20 on a Taliban-controlled airfield in southern Afghanistan. Bridges Earlier West Coast threats not credible CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 lion vehicle crossings since it opened in 1937. The 4 1/2-mile long San Franc isco-Oakland Bay Bridge carries some 270,000 ve hicles daily. “We feel we’re well-prepared for any nefarious and criminal actions,” said Jeff Weiss, spokesman for the ■ San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. “We’re routinely inspecting the IDs of workers... on the bridge to assure that everyone who is on the bridge belongs on the bridge.” Although hundreds of bomb threats have been called in to au thorities about sites in California, this is only the second threat judged to be credible since the Sept. 11 attacks, Davis said. The first targeted Los Angeles movie studios. Several Hollywood studios halted tours and increased armed patrols following a gen eral warning Sept. 20 from the FBI that television and movie fa cilities could be targets of ter rorist attacks. At Thursday’s press confer ence, Davis announced his ap pointment of George Vinson, a 23 year veteran of the FBI, to the newly created terrorism securi ty post. Vinson, 57, previously served as assistant special agent in charge of the San Francisco of fice. The state security officer will advise Davis on the latest anti-terrorism strategies and act as a liaison to the federal Office of Homeland Security, governor’s spokesman Steve Maviglio said. “This will make our job easi er. It will make us more effi cient,” said Maj. Gen. Paul Monroe, adjutant general of the California National Guard. YOtlH MOMMA WRRNEB YOU ABOUT COLLEGE WEEK AT SNOWSHOE MOUNTAIN - HUGE HAPPY HOURS • PARTIES EVERY NIGHT • WILD ON SLOPE GAMES • LIVE ENTERTAINMENT • MUCH MORE! JANUARY 1-5,2002 4 NIGHTS 6 4 DAYS AS LOW AS $170 PER PERSON 3 6 5 NIGHT PACKAGES ALSO AVAILABLE Rate based on quad occupancy with student lift tickets. Lodging at Spruce Lodge. Based on availability. Tai not included. SNOWSHOE CALL 877 441-4FUN OR VISIT BOOKING CODE: WB07 II you are under the age ol 21, it is against the law to buy atShobc beverages All ABC regulations enforced STATE BRIEFS Thurmond Jr. gets Senate nomination WASHINGTON -Strom Thurmond Jr., son of longtime South Carolina Sen. Strom Thurmond, is on his way to becoming U.S. Attorney in his father’s home state. Thurmond Jr. was one of 11 U.S. attorneys sent by voice vote by the Senate Judiciary Committee to the full Senate on Thursday. It wasn’t immediately known when the Senate would vote on the nominations, but senators rarely reject a nomination pushed by one of its members. Thurmond, the oldest and longest-serving senator at 98, could be heard voting aye when the block of U.S. attorney nominees came up for approval. The South Carolina senator is the former chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and the second-ranking Republican. The younger Thurmond is an assistant state prosecutor and a 1998 USC law school graduate. He has endorsements from both Republican and Democratic leaders for the job; he has no official affiliation. His father says he won’t run again, and the younger Thurmond will turn 30, the legal age for election to the Senate, a month before his father’s seat will be on the ballot again in 2002. But he has said he intends to be federal prosecutor for four years. IT HAPPENED NEWS YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED CONSEQUENCES OF HOAX: Ronak Ashok Desai, 18, and Brandon Paul Booker, 20, both of Greenwood, were arrested after they went trick-or-treating through a mall here, one dressed as Osama bin Laden and the other in a white sheet sprinkling white powder and saying "anthrax” in stores that didn’t offer candy. NATION BRIEFS Aviation security bill passes House WASHINGTON-TheHouse passed aviation security legislation Thursday after rejecting a Senate version that would have turned airport screening operations over to federal employees. The bill, which tajses steps to make airplanes and airports safer from attack, passed 286-139. It followed minutes after a crucial 218-214 vote to defeat the Senate-passed, Democratic-backed alternative. The Republican backed bill would allow screening to be contracted out to private employers. Lawmakers now face the task of trying to find a compromise with the Senate, which voted 100-0 three weeks ago to pass the measure making screeners federal employees. The Republican bill puts the government in control of the training and supervision of airport baggage screeners but allows the president to decide whether screeners should be public servants or private employees. Both bills require more air marshals on commercial flights as well as secure cockpit doors. They would expand anti hijacking training for crews and move toward inspecting all checked bags and matching passengers and bags. The measure must next go to a House-Senate conference for what could be a difficult attempt to resolve differences. IT HAPPENED NEWS YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED FEEDING PRACTICES HALTED, NOT CAUSING ATTACKS: The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission voted Thursday to ban shark feeding. The commission said the ban isn’t related to the recent shark attacks in the state’s coastal waters and stressed that there is no evidence connecting the feedings to the attacks. WORLD BRIEFS Tropical Storm Michelle kills four TEGUCIGALPA, HONDURAS - Tropical Storm Michelle quickly gathered strength Thursday in the Caribbean, threatening to become a hurricane as it battered Honduras and Nicaragua with flash floods. Flooding from the storm has already killed four and forced more than 115,000 people from their homes over the past week. Another 19 people were reported missing, seven in Honduras and 12 in Nicaragua. Michelle had winds of 66 mph and was predicted to become a * hurricane on Thursday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami reported. While its path remained uncertain, the storm could threaten the coasts of Mexico, the United States or Cuba. Some computerized forecasts show the storm striking the uillieu oiaLtra, peiiiajja uy utis weekend, but others show it turning west and striking Mexico, the National Hurricane Center said. Richard Pasch, a meteorologist at the center, said the storm is in an area of warm water south of Cuba where previous hurricanes have gained strength. Weak steering winds have made its path ^ hard to predict, he said. “I don’t think that we have any idea where it’s going because the steering is very weak,” Pasch said. “We’re not saying there’s a direct threat to anybody here in Florida now, but stay tuned.” IT HAPPENED NEWS YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED BLAIR URGES RESTRAINT: British Prime Minister Tony Blair, on a visit to Jerusalem Thursday, urged Israelis and Palestinians to stop violence and return to the peace table. MEXICO MEMORIAL: For this year’s Day of the Dead festival, some Mexicans are using traditional altar-like offerings to remember those killed in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States. ■ I _' I I