Sunday October 21 11:59 AM ET

U.S. Gen.: Terrorist Bases Crippled

By JENNIFER LOVEN, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - The U.S. military campaign has crippled terrorists' bases and their ability to train in Afghanistan, a senior military official said Sunday.

While covert ground operations continued, Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers said the fight against the ruling Taliban regime and Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida terrorist network is ``a war we must win if we want to maintain our freedom.''

``We have no options here,'' the Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman said on ABC's ``This Week.''

The bombing that began Oct. 7 has ``hit a lot of their training camps so they won't be doing any training in the near future in Afghanistan,'' Myers said. The goal is ``to squeeze out al-Qaida and diminish the Taliban's influence.''

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. ``I think the American people understand why we have to keep the details of our operations confidential.''

Asked whether U.S. forces would kill bin Laden on sight, Myers said ``it depends on the circumstances.''

``If it's a defensive situation, then bullets will fly, but if we can capture somebody then we'll do that,'' he said.

Senior Bush administration official said Sunday that the president 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.

Bush also added more than $1 billion to the spy agency's war on terrorism, most of it for the new covert action.

Myers said Saturday's campaign - involving Navy strike aircraft, several Air Force bombers and a few Air Force fighter-bombers - was conducted on much the same scale as the day before, when about 100 aircraft attacked 15 target areas, including Taliban air defenses and ammunition and vehicle storage areas.

Myers would not discuss current U.S. ground operations under way inside Afghanistan. But a senior defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said operations meant to be kept secret even after they are over were being conducted. The official offered no details.

Myers did reveal some details of dark-of-night covert missions launched Friday by airborne Army Rangers on a Taliban-controlled airfield and a residence of Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar near the southern city of Kandahar. The force of more than 100 Rangers accomplished objectives, Myers said.

``They had two objectives, one was the Taliban leadership compound, especially Omar's compound, the other was an air field,'' Myers said Sunday. ``On both of them we thought there was a pretty good chance we could find some useful intelligence.''

Myers denied the Taliban's claim that it shot down a U.S. helicopter, killing 20 to 25 American soldiers during the secret missions. 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 Taliban's official Bakhtar news agency said four helicopters landed in Kohi Baba, 20 miles northwest of Kandahar, but found the camp deserted. ``The American air operation in Afghanistan has made no gain, and the helicopter operation has failed,'' Bakhtar said.

Myers would not say whether U.S. forces took anyone prisoner during the raid. Intelligence materials were collected and will be analyzed, he said. A small weapons cache discovered in a building at the airfield was destroyed and an undetermined number of Taliban forces were killed, he said.

Meanwhile, two soldiers, whose identities were withheld until relatives were notified, died in a helicopter crash in neighboring Pakistan. They were the first acknowledged combat deaths of the military campaign. Myers said heavy dust clouds created by the Black Hawk's rotating blades during a landing probably caused the crash.

Capt. Elizabeth Ortiz, an Air Force spokeswoman in Europe, said the bodies were flown to Germany's Ramstein Air Base. ``Appropriate military honors were rendered when they arrived,'' she said Sunday.

She declined to say when the remains would be returned to the United States.

-- Anonymous, October 21, 2001