Non-Subscriber Extract
USA embarks on 'infinite' task
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| 21 September 2001 |
By Kim Burger, JDW Staff Reporter, Washington DC
As US troops mobilised around the world this week in preparation for an operation dubbed 'Infinite Justice', President George Bush described the forthcoming effort as a "task that does not end", and "a lengthy campaign, unlike any other we have seen".
"Our war on terror begins with al-Qaida [the terrorist group headed by Osama Bin Laden], but it does not end there. It will not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped, and defeated."
Bush said the war cannot be compared to the relatively short battle in the Persian Gulf with Iraq involving the occupation of Kuwait, or the air strikes in Yugoslavia "where no ground troops were used and not a single American was lost in combat". It will involve various actions, both overt and covert, to drive out terrorists and punish nations that support them. "Any nation that continues to harbour or support terrorism will be regarded by the United States as a hostile regime."
When and how such an assault will conclude is not entirely clear. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said it should continue "to a point that you are satisfied that the American people are going to be able to live their lives in relative freedom and have the kinds of linkages with the rest of the world that we feel are so central to our well-being.
"I say that victory is persuading the American people and the rest of the world that this is not a quick matter that's going to be over in a month or a year or even five years. It is something that we need to do so that we can continue to live in a world with powerful weapons and with people who are willing to use those powerful weapons."
Rumsfeld said the name for the operation may change as a result of concerns that Muslims may take offence at its religious implications. However US Army Secretary Thomas White said he thought "infinite" was consistent with the type of operation it is intended to be. "It's very hard to draw a finite box around those sets of activities and say, 'We expect it to be completed by date X,'" White said.
The army, which has units involved in the deployment order, is "ready to conduct sustained land combat operations as determined by the Secretary of Defense and the President".