U.S. readying for multi-pronged operation

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

WASHINGTON, SEPT. 21. The Pentagon is assembling an impressive and awesome firepower in the war against terrorism, if statements of senior Defence department officials are anything to go by.

While all attention seems to be on Afghanistan, reports are surfacing that Osama bin Laden may have already fled his secret hideout and perhaps on his way to either Chechenya or Somalia.

Unnamed intelligence officials are saying that elaborate arrangements are being made in Somalia to receive Osama, his wives and many of his followers. If Osama actually moves to Somalia that African nation will be targetted by the U.S without a doubt.

The other impression is that the Saudi fugitive may seek refuge in one of the Central Asian countries such as Tajikistan where there are established networks.

Military analysts are maintaining that Operation Infinite Justice will be a multi-pronged operation that will involve the extensive use of Rangers, the Green Berets and the Delta Force who would all be backed by regular infantry forces and the air force. The Bush administration is using some $ five billion of the emergency package to buy more precision munitions such as rockets, bombs and cruise missiles.

``We are ready to deliver it across the whole array of force structure - heavy, light, air mobile, airborne, special operations. All of the combat capabilities'', the Secretary of the Army, Mr. Thomas White, said. Indications are that ground forces which have been largely kept out of operations during the Clinton administration is expected to be used.

If indications from senior Cabinet members over the last four or five days are anything to go by, there is going to be no knee- jerk military reaction to the horrific events of last week. Rather the campaign is going to be a sustained and a broad- based one including going after the financial resources of terror networks and perhaps even resorting to assassinating key individuals involved in terrorism.

In mounting the campaign against Afghanistan and Osama bin Laden, the Bush administration has made it known that this is not confined to just the Taliban. Rather if Osama manages to get into any other country, it will immediately becomes a target of the U.S.

Further, at a time when intelligence agencies are still trying to come to terms with last Tuesday's events, one information that is actively being pursued is the extent of Iraq's involvement. And there are two views on this subject. Some in the official and intelligence community believe that Baghdad's role was extremely minimal and there is no evidence of its direct involvement in the attacks against New York and Washington.

The other view is that Iraq is very much involved in the terrorist hits and there is evidence of Osama's operatives being in touch with Baghdad until the last stages. On Thursday, American and British planes attacked Iraqi defence sites around the No-Fly zones; but the Pentagon has said that the attacks were not related to the U.S. anti-terrorism campaign.

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Section  : International
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