The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, November 02, 2001, Page 2, Image 2
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