Associated Press
WASHINGTON — U.S. commandos are prepared to use deadly force on Osama bin Laden, the nation’s top general said today, as the Pentagon pressed its bombing and covert ground campaign to hunt down America’s No. 1 terrorist suspect.
Opening a third week of air strikes, U.S. warplanes hit north of the capital, Kabul. And Afghan officials reported air attacks today around the western city of Herat, Kandahar in the south and the front line positions near the city of Mazar-e-Sharif.
Secret missions by special operations forces also were continuing, two defense officials said on condition of anonymity. They gave no details.
Asked whether U.S. forces would kill bin Laden on sight, Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said it depends on what happens when he’s found.
"If it’s a defensive situation, then bullets will fly, but if we can capture somebody, then we’ll do that," he said on ABC’s "This Week."
Asked the same question, Secretary of State Colin Powell told CNN’s ‘Late Edition’: "Our mission is to bring him to justice or bring justice to him."
President Bush signed an order last month directing the CIA to destroy bin Laden and his communications, security apparatus and infrastructure in retaliation for the Sept. 11 World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks, a senior administration official said today.
Bush also added more than $1 billion to the spy agency’s war on terrorism, most of it for the new covert action.
The U.S.-led military campaign already has crippled terrorists’ bases and their ability to train in Afghanistan, Myers said.
"They won’t be doing any training in the near future in Afghanistan," he said.
Myers said the fight against the ruling Taliban regime and bin Laden’s al-Qaida terrorist network is "a war we must win if we want to maintain our freedom."
The aerial bombing began Oct. 7, followed by the first publicly acknowledged ground assaults Saturday.
In lightning strikes under cover of darkness, 100 airborne Army Rangers and other special forces hit a Taliban-controlled airfield and a residence of Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar near the southern city of Kandahar. They destroyed a cache of weapons, killed an undetermined number of Taliban forces and accomplished their objectives, the Pentagon said.
Documents and other items taken during the assaults were being analyzed Sunday for their intelligence value, defense officials said.
As has been the Pentagon’s practice, Myers would not describe the continuing missions, citing safety concerns for troops.
"I doubt if a coach is going to give away his game plan for today before he executes that plan," he said.
But two defense officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said today that forces were pressing on with a wide range of operations, including some meant to be kept secret even after they are over.
Myers denied the Taliban’s claim that it shot down a U.S. helicopter, killing 20 to 25 American soldiers. He also said he had no information on reports that at least one U.S. soldier was injured by a land mine and several soldiers may be missing.
The Pentagon has said two Rangers were killed in Pakistan when a Black Hawk helicopter crashed during poor visibility. They were identified Sunday as Spc. Jonn J. Edmunds, 20 of Cheyenne, Wyo., and Pfc. Kristofor T. Stonesifer, 28, of Missoula, Mont.
Officials would not disclose the role of the Black Hawk, although some believed it was preparing to swoop across the border into Afghanistan in the event any Rangers had to be rescued.
U.S. warplanes bombarded Taliban positions today near a front line north of the capital of Kabul, marking what could be the start of a more aggressive campaign on behalf of opposition forces fighting the Islamic regime.
The attacks Sunday were the closest and most intense strikes so far against Taliban positions defending Kabul from north alliance forces.
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