Note: The following text is a quote:
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=33024
Five Enemy Fighters Killed, Four Captured in Afghanistan
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, May 2, 2007 – Coalition and Afghan forces killed five enemy fighters and detained four others in Afghanistan during the past three days, military officials reported.
Afghan and coalition forces captured a man this morning while raiding a house in the Tani district of Khowst province. Inside the house, combined forces netted AK-47 assault rifles and military-style load-bearing vests.
Credible evidence led the forces to the detainee, a suspected operative in the Haqqani network, responsible for facilitating suicide bombing attacks in the province, military officials said.
“Facilitators like this are simply cowards, exploiting impressionable people for their own purposes,” said Army Maj. Christopher Belcher, a Combined Joint Task Force 82 spokesman.
No shots were fired, and no one was injured during the operation.
While manning a checkpoint 50 miles northeast of Qalat yesterday, Afghan border police and coalition forces engaged three vehicles approaching at high speeds that refused to slow down after appropriate warnings.
Once stopped, eight men exited the vehicles and began firing at the checkpoint. Combined forces returned fire, killing five. The three others managed to escape during the firefight. There were no Afghan civilians in the vehicles, and there were no injuries to Afghan or coalition forces.
“Enemy insurgents are attempting to slip through established security checkpoints to conduct illegal and terrorist activities,” Belcher said. “With the assistance of the Afghan people, Afghan boarder police and coalition forces will be able to put a stop to all insurgent activity in the area.”
Afghan national police and coalition forces detained three well-known improvised explosive device facilitators April 30 during a combat operation targeting a Taliban IED cell northwest of Khowst city in the Saberi district of Khowst province. Combined forces mounted an air assault into Zambar village and nabbed Haji Nazir, Nazir Khan and another individual known only as Latif, in three separate compounds.
The three suspects are believed to be mid-level Taliban leaders involved in Taliban fighter recruiting and financing, and they are the alleged masterminds behind an IED cell operating in the Sabari district, military officials said.
No shots were fired during the successful mission and there were no injuries to any Afghan civilians reported.
“The information gained from these three individuals will assist us in detaining other key Taliban leaders,” Belcher said. “We will continue to pursue and interdict Taliban leaders who threaten the people of Afghanistan.
“Taliban leaders have two choices,” he continued. “Stop fighting and reconcile with the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, or face elimination by Afghan national security and coalition forces.”
(Compiled from Combined Joint Task Force 82 news releases.)
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/05/20070502-4.html
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/05/20070502-2.html
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Note: The following text is a quote:
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=33028
Bush: Al Qaeda Cannot Gain Safe Haven in Iraq
By Sgt. Sara Wood, USA
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, May 2, 2007 – The decision America faces in Iraq is not whether to take sides in a sectarian civil war, but whether to continue the fight against al Qaeda, the organization that attacked the United States on Sept. 11, 2001, and is now threatening stability in Iraq and the entire Middle East, President Bush said here today.
“I fully recognize what happens in Iraq matters here at home,” Bush said at a meeting of the Associated General Contractors of America. “The recent attacks are not the revenge killings that some have called a civil war; they are a systematic assault on the entire nation. Al Qaeda is public enemy No. 1 in Iraq, and all people of that society ought to come together and recognize the threat, unite against the threat, and reconcile their differences.”
U.S. forces have a new strategy to fight al Qaeda in Iraq, and the early stages of that strategy are encouraging, but the terrorists are bound to fight back, Bush said. In the past few weeks, al Qaeda has stepped up its campaign of high-profile suicide-bomb attacks, which are designed to reignite sectarian violence, discourage Iraqi citizens, and break U.S. support for the war, he said.
“The terrorists will continue to fight back. In other words, they understand what they’re doing,” Bush said. “And casualties are likely to stay high. Yet, day by day, block by block, we are steadfast in helping Iraqi leaders counter the terrorists, protect their people, and reclaim the capital. And if I didn’t think it was necessary for the security of the country, I wouldn’t put our kids in harm’s way.”
As the Baghdad security plan unfolds, U.S. forces will not be able to prevent every terrorist attack, Bush cautioned. However, he said, the plan is designed to shrink the areas where al Qaeda can operate, gather more intelligence about their presence, and allow American and Iraqi forces to dismantle their network.
The new security plan is still in its early stages, Bush noted, as Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander of Multinational Force Iraq, hasn’t received all the reinforcements he asked for. Last night, Bush vetoed an emergency war-funding bill that included deadlines for withdrawing troops from Iraq, and today he reiterated his calls to Congress to give Petraeus more time to implement the new plan and gauge its success.
“This issue of Iraq and this war on terror deserves a serious discussion across the United States,” Bush said. “We don’t agree on every issue, but one of the things I have heard here in Washington is that people understand the consequences of failure in Iraq. If we were to leave Iraq before the government can defend itself, there would be a security vacuum.”
A security vacuum in Iraq would allow extremists to move in and take control, using the country’s significant natural resources to fund their objectives, Bush said. Al Qaeda terrorists would not be content simply to see U.S. forces leave Iraq, he said, but would see withdrawal as a sign of weakness and would attack America on its own soil.
“There would be no benefit in allowing chaos to spill out of Iraq and into the broader Middle East. There would be no benefit in emboldening Iran and endangering our allies in the region. And there would be no benefit in allowing the same terrorist network that attacked America on 9/11 to gain a safe haven from which to attack us again,” Bush said. “Even if you think it was a mistake to go into Iraq, it would be a far greater mistake to pull out now.”
Success in the war on terror is going to be difficult and will require sacrifice, but Americans must not forget the potential positive outcomes of success, Bush said. He pointed to Japan, which was once a sworn enemy of the United States and is now a close ally, as an example of “the possibilities of liberty to change history.”
“We fully understand that the long-term way to protect America is to defeat an ideology of hate with an ideology of hope,” he said. “I learned firsthand the power of liberty to transform an enemy into an ally.”