Posted on 12/23/2003 3:57:52 PM PST by W04Man
INTRO: Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Richard Myers has wrapped up his travels to meet with the troops. His last stop was Djibouti on the Horn of Africa, where the hunt is on for al Qaeda operatives. Fox News Pentagon correspondent Bret Baier accompanied General Myers on that journey and has this report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRET BAIER, FOX NEWS PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In a dusty base along the coastline of Djibouti sits the Camp Lemonier, home to 1400 U.S. troops. Combined Joint Task Force, Horn of Africa. While the focus in the wars on terrorism over the past two years has been on Iraq and Afghanistan, some of the most aggressive action against al Qaeda cells is taking place in this part of Africa.
Marine Brigadier General Matson Robeson is the Joint Task Force commander.
BRIG. GEN. MASTON ROBESON, CMDR., JOINT TASK FORCE: Everything that
we do is designed at finding the transactional terrorists.
BAIER: After U.S. involvement in Somalia, it became evident that the Horn of Africa was a breeding ground for international terrorist networks. After the 9-11 attacks, U.S. officials believed about 20 key al Qaeda operatives were hiding in the region. And today?
ROBESON: There have been dozens that have been captured or killed and hundreds that we now know by name that we need to talk to. So the exposure is what's really what we're accomplishing here.
BAIER: U.S. forces in the Horn of Africa have exposed, but not yet captured al Qaeda operatives, like Harun Fazul and Saleh Nabhan, who first surfaced in connection with the 1998 embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania. Both men are now believed to be behind the November 2002 simultaneous attacks in Mombassa, a car bomb at the Israeli owned Paradise Hotel and a failed surface-to-air missile launch against an Israeli airliner.
ROBESON: So it's like crab grass. You pull one weed up and you think I got it. But there is a whole runner that's connected to it.
BAIER: U.S. commanders are working with six sovereign nations in the Horn of Africa, trying to help those governments drive out terrorist elements in their countries; training African troops and helping communities uncover terrorists.
(on camera): The soldiers here are going after the terrorists themselves, though. Commanders don't talk about the covert missions in specifics. Only to say that they have managed to thwart several terrorist attacks in the making.
ROBESON: As many as 10, depending on how you count, that were planned, that were exposed, that did not occur.
BAIER: Significant attacks?
ROBESON: Significant attacks.
BAIER (voice-over): Significant attacks against U.S. interests abroad, broken up by covert, direct action. Special Operations to tear apart al Qaeda cells.
ROBESON: We're seeing a significant growth in the ability to pull the carpet up, so to speak, and see all cockroaches underneath it.
BAIER: U.S. commanders here acknowledge they like working out of the media spotlight, doing their work as the world focus on Iraq and Afghanistan. But what is happening in this corner of the world, according to many, is just as, if not more important, to dismantling Usama bin Laden's terrorist network.
In Djibouti, Bret Baier, Fox News.
--Boris
If you know of the cells why then don't you inform us and the FBI? Or is this just a general gripe?
Who, Me?
I talk to security people all the time and my conservative estimate is 25-50 active cells right now.
--Boris
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