Big Military Strike Not Soon Expected

Associated Press ^ | 10-5-01 | PAULINE JELINEK

[MichelleWSC]

WASHINGTON (AP) - Administration and European officials are signaling that a major military action may not come anytime soon, even as U.S. troops, warplanes and ships gather in the Gulf region.

Meanwhile, Taliban soldiers were reported Friday to be taking heavy weapons into the mountains of Afghanistan to await an assault.

There were growing signs that the coalition the United States is assembling for the anti-terrorism campaign is still struggling to decide exactly what to do

[American Soldier]

What in the hell does everybody think us and the Brits and Aussies throwing together 30,000 people amounts to anyways? We could engage in piss-them-off bombing (like the bombing that famously devastated the armored forces of Mighty Serbia) but the U.S. presence there now is not one tenth of what we had the Gulf War to take on the Iraqis (who were also facing internal civil strife during the fight). Plus some of the Arabs were actually (to their temporary credit) good guys during that war.

It'll take some time before we can do anything the sheeple will get to read about in U.S. News and World Report. The shadowy, covert business was already getting geared up the day of the attacks, though some of it may never be revealed.

[snooker]

>With Ramadan around the corner

I assume the terrorist will take Ramadan off as well?

See how considerate we are to those who murder and maim.

snooker

[dirtboy]

But back then we weren't worried about a 'coalition building' exercise to act...nor were we waiting because we wanted to. We were forced to wait....

We also didn't import over fifty percent of our oil back then.

[MichelleWSC]

That's your opinion:)

[Capitalist Pig]

So Michelle, after you have reviewed all of the classified data, conferred with our miltary leaders, considered all of the practical and political ramifications associated with an attack, conferred with our allies, reviewed tactical maps of the Middle East, spoken with our intelligence community, spoken with the foreign intelligence committees, you think we should have attacked by now. Too bad your not on the Joint Chief of Staffs. (sarcasm off)

[dirtboy]

In the mean time, how many visas are being issued from friendly and non friendly muslim countries each day? How many potential terrorists are being let into the country each day, bringing with them god only knows...

The INS has suspended issuing new visas for the time being.

[SunStar]

Uh huh. You know all of this first-hand?

[madison46]

More 'disinformation'?

[veronica]

All foreplay no payoff? What a bore...what a disappointment. Where is the man I voted for? 6000 dead. They deserve justice.

[dirtboy]

It'll take some time before we can do anything the sheeple will get to read about in U.S. News and World Report. The shadowy, covert business was already getting geared up the day of the attacks, though some of it may never be revealed.

Exactly. If we have teams inserted into hostile terrority, the best way to get them killed is to trumpet their initial successes. Best to wait until they are done unleashing hell and back at base.

[Mr. Lucky]

the article is non-news

But doncha just love the chickens-with-their-heads-cut-off running about of these cyber military experts.

[American Soldier]

Right now the most important short-term things are being done -- isolating the Taleban, preventing them from building up or acquiring greater offensive capabilities, scaring the sh** out of them, getting information from refugees and (probably) Northern Alliance fighters about the internal situation in Afghanistan, etc. etc. etc.

This kissy kiss business with some of the Arab states I'm really skeptical about, however...

[SamAdams76]

You are indicative of the worst traits of the "Nintendo" immediate-gratification generation. The product of too many TV movies that are neatly resolved by the 11:00 news.

We might attack this weekend. On the other hand we might not attack until November. Or next spring. The only thing certain is that we aren't going to do "nothing." We have a commander-in-chief who is going to attack the enemy only when the time is right and our troops are ready. President Bush will act on his timetable, not yours. He couldn't care less about satisfying the morons sitting at home with a bowl of popcorn in their laps, hoping to see some "bombing action" on CNN on a boring Friday night.

[Jefferson Adams]

Dammit. This is what we get for having peacenik Powell as Secretary of State.

In a word: "Yep."

[Slip18]

"We were forced to wait...."

Just until we got our two big boom booms finished.

There are a lot of rumors going around. I, personally, feel our Commander in Chief has more up his sleeves than we're hearing.

[madison46]

Your right, we exported it.

[beckett]

This is good strategy. We should frustrate Bin Laden and wait until spring before commencing ground operations. Betwen now and then, we can take many measures to identify and isolate terrorists around the world.

[veronica]

He will appease the 70% of American Muslims who voted for him.

That is a MYTH BTW. Some Islamic groups claims that but it is NOT true that 70% voted Pubbie.

[rumrunner]

The lows get into the 20's in Kabul by mid-november, much much colder in the mountains obviously.