Marines Launch Helicopter Strike
Nov. 26 -- The U.S. Marines who set up operations at an air base near the Taliban stronghold of Kandahar did not wait long to make their presence felt today, launching a helicopter strike on an armored column that included tanks and personnel carriers.
A Marines spokesman said Cobra gunships destroyed some of the 15 vehicles in the column in an attack shortly after midnight local time. He said the column was attacked after it was spotted by "fast-moving aircraft," but would not identify what kind of troops were hit or where they were heading.
It was the first action by the Marines since they took control of the Dolgani airstrip, about 65 miles southwest of Kandahar. The airstrip was built by Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network and according to a Reuters report, Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar's helicopter was parked there just days ago.
General James Mattis told reporters the airstrip seizure went well. "The New York school of ballet could not have orchestrated a more intricate movement more flawlessly," he said.
About 500 Marines secured the small, private airstrip near Kandahar, the Taliban's spiritual center and last stronghold in Afghanistan early today, as President Bush warned of the increased risk of U.S. troop casualties in this new stage of the war on terrorism.
"This is a dangerous period of time," President Bush said at the White House today. "America must be prepared for loss of life."
Asked if Americans will accept casualties, Bush said: "Obviously, no president or commander in chief hopes anybody loses life in the theater, but it's going to happen." He added that he believes the American people understand "that there will be a sacrifice."
"I think the American people understand we're in for a long, long struggle in order to rid the world of terrorism and that there might be loss of life," he said. "I pray that not be the case. But our brave men and women who signed up for the military understand the risk inherent with being in the military."
An Expanding, Unclear Role
In a Pentagon briefing just hours before the helicopter attack was announced, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld refused to say whether the Marines would be involved in the hunt for accused terror mastermind Osama bin Laden or an assault on the city.
"They are not an occupying force," Rumsfeld said. "Their purpose is to establish a forward base of operations to help pressure the Taliban forces in Afghanistan, to prevent Taliban and al Qaeda terrorists from moving freely about the country."
The deployment of the Marines has "gone well so far," said Gen. Richard Myers, the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
"We have landed and we now own terrain in south Afghanistan," Gen. James Mattis said earlier today aboard amphibious assault ship USS Peleliu.
Neither Rumsfeld nor Myers would acknowledge that the decision to send so many Marines into Afghanistan represented a major change in policy. They also refused to provide details on the mission for the group.
"I think I would take our words exactly as we put them out, that we think of them as establishing and holding a forward-operating base," Rumsfeld said. "And we don't discuss future plans or developments."
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