US troops will be sent to search caves comment on hit convoy

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(21 Dec 2001) • • 1. U-S Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld and Peter Pace, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff entering briefing • 2. Rumsfeld and Pace at podium • 3. Cutaway reporters • 4. UPSOUND (English) • Question: Are US troops now in the region helping Afghan forces search those caves and tunnels and are, as has been reported, hundreds more perhaps on the way to thoroughly search that region? • 5. SOUNDBITE (English) Donald Rumsfeld, US Secretary of Defence • Yes and yes. No, let me say, yes and whatever is needed will be sent - and it won't be just US it will be coalition forces. So what you have is a bunch of caves that are being triaged and put in priority order, then the Afghan forces and coalition forces are going into those caves and looking for information and evidence and people and weapons and are trying to determine what we can do to deal with terrorists all across the globe and I must say that there has been information that has been gathered in Afghanistan that has directly resulted in the arrest of people across the world, the other side of the globe and undoubtedly has prevented other terrorist activities. So it's a very worthwhile thing to be doing. • 6. Cutaway reporters • 7. SOUNDBITE (English) Donald Rumsfeld, US Defence Secretary • Think of it this way. We were doing an awful lot of bombing, now we're doing relatively little because we don't have a lot of targets where we find concentrations of military equipment or military people, enemies. The people that are going into these caves obviously understand what they are up against. They are going into areas that are heavily bombed, the assumption is anyone in there is dead, but if you make that assumption you can get in a lot of trouble very fast so they are exercising a great deal of care. • 8. Cutaway • 9. SOUNDBITE (English) Peter Pace, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff • There was an attack on a convoy, of leadership that was identified through various intelligence means and that was known within the last 24 hours. • Question: Where was that? • Answer: I cannot give you that information. • 10. SOUNDBITE (English) Donald Rumsfeld, US Defence Secretary • I can't remember either. But it was a large convoy and there were a lot of people killed and a lot of vehicles damaged - or destroyed I should say. • 11. Cutaway Department of Defence emblem, pan up to Rumsfeld and Pace • • STORYLINE: • • US officials confirmed on Friday that American troops will be sent into Afghanistan's abandoned Al-Qaida cave complex to press the search for Osama bin Laden as news emerged an Afghan convoy may have been mistakenly bombed. • • Secretary of Defence Donald H. Rumsfeld declined to say exactly how many troops would be involved in the search of the caves but said as many as were needed would be sent. • • Senior defence officials say the Afghanistan war's commander, General Tommy Franks, proposed sending several hundred Marines, and possibly a smaller number of Army troops, to the Tora Bora area. • • Rumsfeld said the numerous caves could hold possible clues about the terrorist network. • • A few dozen U-S special operations troops are already in the area helping Afghan tribal forces search the caves, but the United States is concerned that the Afghans are unwilling or unable to complete the search anytime soon. • • Meanwhile, Marine Corps General Peter Pace, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, confirmed U-S warplanes had attacked a convoy on Friday in Afghanistan's Paktia province. • • Pace said the convoy of 10-12 vehicles carried suspected leadership, apparently referring to al-Qaida or Taliban officials. • • • • Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork • Twitter: / ap_archive • Facebook: / aparchives • Instagram: / apnews • • • You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...

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