An ugly prospect, true, and one unfavorable to the House of Saud. More on the "Saudi-centric" view of the present situation in further posts.
(Excerpted from an AP release today) Monday October 29 11:34 AM ET
U.S. Extends Afghanistan Bombing .......
But Sen. John McCain (news - bio - voting record), R-Ariz., said Sunday that America must unleash ``all the might of United States military power,'' including large numbers of ground troops, to prevail in Afghanistan.
``It's going to take a very big effort, and probably casualties will be involved, and it won't be accomplished through air power alone,'' McCain said on CNN's ``Late Edition.''
The largest known U.S. ground force in the Afghanistan region is 2,100 Marines, who are aboard the USS Peleliu in the Arabian Sea. In addition, 1,000 soldiers with the Army's 10th Mountain Division, are at an air base at Khanabad, Uzbekistan, 90 miles from the northern Afghan border. These troops are trained for combat in wintry and mountainous conditions.
Thousands of U.S. soldiers and Marines were in Egypt this week for training exercises.
White House chief of staff Andrew Card, and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld were noncommittal Sunday when asked about significant ground forces. ``Let's not go there yet,'' Card said on NBC's ``Meet the Press.''
Some 100 airborne Rangers and other special ground troops struck a Taliban-controlled airfield and a residence of a Taliban leader earlier this month, but McCain said that was inadequate. He called for a ``very, very significant'' force large enough to capture and hold territory. McCain, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee (news - web sites) and Bush's rival for the 2000 Republican presidential nomination, has contended that undue restraint by the U.S. military and allies was emboldening Taliban fighters.
Considerations such as civilian deaths from U.S. bombing and the Muslim holy month of Ramadan that begins in mid-November must be ``secondary to the job at hand, which is to wipe out nests of terrorism,'' McCain said.
Card defended the intensity of the military attacks by the United States and Britain. ``We're not holding back at all,'' he said on ``Fox News Sunday.'' ``We'll do what we have to do to win.''
In back-to-back TV interviews, Card emphasized Americans need to be ready for a protracted struggle, using the word ``long'' six times to describe it. ``It could take years,'' he said on NBC.
Card backed off of the Pentagon's assertion Oct. 16 that the combat power of the Taliban has been ``eviscerated,'' saying instead it has been ``disrupted.'' He also pointed to signs of progress.
``We've certainly taken out most of the significant targets in Afghanistan with our superior military force, and we'll be working with the ground forces to make sure that we can rout the Taliban out so that we can get to al-Qaida (terror network) and Osama bin Laden (news - web sites),'' he said.