New York Times. 27 September 2001. U.S. Says Military Strikes Are Just a Part of Big Plan; Does U.S. Have a Plan? Combined reports, edited.
BRUSSELS and WASHINGTON -- Facing some skepticism from NATO allies over going to war to eradicate terrorism, the Bush administration said today that military operations would not be the "primary piece" of its campaign. At a meeting of NATO defense ministers that offered the administration a first opportunity to convey detailed plans to the alliance, some European states pressed for, but did not get, a detailed showing of evidence that would justify any attack on Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda network in Afghanistan. Rudolf Scharping, the German defense minister, said he had expected Paul D. Wolfowitz, the deputy defense secretary, to arrive with a "white paper" spelling out the evidence connecting terrorist acts to Al Qaeda. But administration officials are still debating how much information to make public since much of it rests on secret communications intercepts. Mr. Wolfowitz provided an overview of the administration's case against Mr. bin Laden, but did not go into detail, officials said. In public remarks, Mr. Wolfowitz said the "evidence is there for the whole world to see." "Many of the people in this room watched it live on television," he said, referring the images of aircraft crashing into the World Trade Center. "There is no question that the Al Qaeda organization has been convicted in courts of law for acts of terrorism, including the bombing of our embassies in East Africa." The desire of some ministers for more evidence caused tension, but in the end there was at least public backing from the allies for the administration's antiterror campaign. Still, as Mr. Wolfowitz explained that the United States would seek different kinds of help from NATO states, some worried that the American approach could lead to a wider war. "Most people in Europe would like to see that only the ones who are found guilty are hunted down and penalized," one NATO official said. [N.B.] The NATO secretary general, Lord Robertson, questioned whether it was even necessary for "an ally to produce evidence." Two weeks after the devastating attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the question of the hour here is this: Does the Bush administration have a well-defined plan of action in what it calls the war on terrorism, or is it groping its way toward a plan? The plan seemed clear enough when President Bush addressed Congress last week, announcing an American-led global assault on terrorism and saying he had called the armed forces to alert for a reason: "The hour is coming when America will act and you will make us proud." The rhetoric was rousing, but what form of military action to take appears to be an increasingly awkward issue. For the moment at least, people in Washington who usually have a pretty clear notion of what the government is up to -- including senators, senior diplomats and national security specialists -- express doubts. Perhaps, several said in recent days, the seeming confusion is all part of a design to keep the enemy in the dark, but perhaps it is something else. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Barry Stoller http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ProletarianNews _______________________________________________ Leninist-International mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/leninist-international
