Posted on 03/15/2002 12:28:45 PM PST by Diogenesis
GOTTA SEE THIS -- OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM 3/15-16/02
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REPORT FROM THEATRE 1 - AFGHANISTAN
Shahi Kot Mountains, Canadian and US forces deliver justice to Al Qaeda.
<===== Update from 3/15/02 DOD Briefing =====>
Anaconda Is Success; Enemy Killed Unknown, Say Officials
Gerry J. Gilmore, American Forces Press Service
brWASHINGTON, March 15, 2002 -- Senior DoD leaders today called Operation Anaconda a success, while noting the difficulty to fully ascertain enemy
losses as the campaign continues to wind down.
Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld and Marine Gen. Peter Pace, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told Pentagon reporters that the
two-week-old Operation Anaconda campaign against al Qaeda and Taliban troops in eastern Afghanistan was "highly successful."
U.S., coalition and allied Afghan forces are now making final sweeps of the mountainous region "looking into the caves that have been uncovered and those
types of things," Pace said. About 1,000 U.S. and coalition forces remain in the 65-square-mile area of operations, he estimated.
"The enemy forces that were there, to the best of our ability to monitor, are not there now," the general noted. "Some have been killed. Some have escaped.
We don't know the exact numbers.
"But, I think from the standpoint of a military operation - - the intent to go in and to take this area in Afghanistan and to clear it of Taliban and al Qaeda -- has
been highly successful to date," Pace added.
Some military officials have estimated that hundreds of al Qaeda and Taliban troops were killed in Anaconda fighting in the Shahi Khot region, but Rumsfeld
and Pace noted the difficulty of obtaining an accurate number of enemy killed.
"There are clearly a lot of people willing to guess at those numbers. I'm not one of them," Rumsfeld said. "We can't yet know how many (al Qaeda and
Taliban) fighters or bodies are still in the caves that have not been searched, or how many dead al Qaeda were buried, which is, of course, their custom to do
that very rapidly.
"Nor can we know precisely how many have escaped," the secretary continued, adding that "very few" al Qaeda or Taliban have surrendered in Afghanistan.
Rumsfeld said progress in one area of Afghanistan "does not mean that we can relax elsewhere." Pockets of Taliban and al Qaeda fighters are still in
Afghanistan, he explained.
Other terrorists who'd escaped across Afghanistan's borders would like to come back, the secretary noted.
"They are determined to attack U.S. military forces and U.S. interests in Afghanistan, and elsewhere, to attempt to show their strength," Rumsfeld said.
The United States is "making good progress" in achieving outlined anti-terror war objectives in Afghanistan, Rumsfeld noted. The Taliban are no longer in
power in Afghanistan and that country is no longer a haven for al Qaeda terrorists, he said.
It's also important to ensure "the well-trained terrorists who left Afghanistan do not set up sanctuaries in other nations," the secretary said. As a means to this
end, Rumsfeld said, the United States is providing training and equipment to other governments that are threatened by terrorists within their borders, such as
the Philippines and Yemen.
To questions about the establishment of a presidentially ordered special commission to try captured terrorists, Rumsfeld said location and committee
memberships haven't been decided.
"We have, however, pretty much completed the work as to how the commissions, generally, will be conducted in the event someone is ultimately appointed
to be tried by a commission," he added.
<===== Shahi Kot =====>
In the Shahi Kot mountains, the 10th Mountain Division search to bring justice to Taliban and Al Qaeda. REUTERS/Jim Hollander
In the Shahi Kot mountains, some heroes sustain injuries and dehydration. REUTERS/Jim Hollander
In the Shahi Kot mountains, heroes of the 10th Mountain Division, including the 'Misfits' of the 2nd Platoon, patrol. (AP Photo/Jim Hollander, Pool)
In the Shahi Kot mountains, Canadian soldiers from 3-PPCLI, watch bombing of Al Qaeda nearby and search caves. REUTERS/Jim Hollander
In the Shahi Kot mountains, Canadian heroes from 3-PPCLI, return from battle inside a U.S. Army Ch-47 Chinook helicopter. REUTERS/Jim Hollander
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END OF TRANSMISSION 3/15/02 .......... K
If you think Canadian hockey players are crazy violent men, then you haven't met our soldiers. ;^)
Hurrray for Canada!
Sgt. George, Harry Mullin, VC, MM George Mullin was born on the 15th of August 1892 in Portland, Oregan, USA. He enrolled with the 28th Infantry Battalion, joining the Princess Patricia's Light Infantry in the field on the 1st of March 1915. He was promoted to Lance Corporal on the 6th of May 1915 and to Sergeant on the 2nd of June 1916. For his actions during the Battle of Passchendaele on the 30th of October 1917, he was awarded The Victoria Cross. The Citation accompanying the award reads as follows:
While machine gunners officer Hugh MacKenzie drew the German fire, Sergeant Mullin actually performed the incredible feat of taking the pill box single-handed. He rushed a sniper post in front and destroyed the garrison with bombs and crawling on top of the pill box, shot the two machine gunners with his revolver. Sergeant Mullin then rushed to another entrance and compelled the garrison of ten to surrender. His gallantry and fearlessness was witnessed by many and although rapid fire was directed in his purpose, he not only helped to save the situation but also indirectly saved many lives. "
Sergeant Mullin was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant and subsequently struck of strength of the Regiment in 1918. He died in Regina, Saskatchewan on the 5th of April 1964.
Thanks again.
I beg to plead my ignorance. What is all that stuff the guys are carrying? Do they still have ALICE packs? Besides the canteens, what is issued to the men as standard equipment?
I hope it's a big pile.
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